This week, the King and I spoke with Dr. Lawrence Feingold, professor of theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, a Roman Catholic seminary in St. Louis, MO. Professor Feingold is the author of The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas and His Interpreters, among other books. He trained in Carrara, Italy as a classical sculptor, alongside his wife. Both were converted to Christ while in Italy, where Dr. Feingold then studied theology for nine years. The fruit of his study was The Natural Desire to See God, a rebuttal of five decades of interpretation of Aquinas known as the Nouvelle Théologie, stemming from theologian Henri De Lubac.
Traditional Thomistic interpretation had held that man’s supernatural end - the beatific vision, seeing God - transcended human nature; it exceeded what human nature was capable of on its own. God could have created man in a state of pure nature, not offering him the beatific vision, without any injustice to man. Even if man had not sinned, the offer of a supernatural telos was an act of grace, a free offer of something not deserved.
In parallel with Protestant Neo-Orthodoxy, the Nouvelle Théologie argued that human nature could not be understood apart from its supernatural end. Human beings, in virtue of their nature alone, had a supernatural telos. This conclusion led some interpreters, including John Milbank, to an explicitly Christian politics, denying the possibility of any liberal neutrality. All thought about secular things and all political activity must be based on explicitly Christian principles.
In The Natural Desire, Dr. Feingold argued for a return to the traditional Thomistic synthesis. Man has, by nature, a desire for the good itself, a desire that nothing created can satisfy. But man’s supernatural end is disproportionate to his nature; it transcends his natural end and only comes to him as a gratuitous offer.
My own project parallels Dr. Feingold’s in its reaffirmation of nature in Christian theology; see my book, The Natural Theologian. I reject the Nouvelle Théologie and radical orthodoxy for the same reason I reject Christian presuppositionalism, worldview-ism, and coherentism: They ignore the goodness of created, finite human nature in itself and the possibility of natural human knowledge.
In the interview, we discuss Dr. Feingold’s own path to faith, including how a love of Christian art paved his way to Christianity. We discuss the Catholic debate over the natural desire to see God and its theological and cultural implications. Finally, we discuss how I am attempting to appropriate some aspects of his view for Protestant theology - and to reject others. The discussion closes with an exchange on whether Christ’s grace, in addition to restoring nature, also exceeds and elevates it.
Enjoy this conversation of The Flâneur and the Philosopher.
You can also listen to this and previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Chapters
Introduction 0:00
Dr. Feingold’s Conversion 2:08
Art as Preparation 8:34
The Bifurcation of Art and Theology 15:38
The Creator and the Creature 22:51
The Retreat from Nature 28:29
De Lubac’s Position 32:40
Aquinas’s Position 39:09
Platonic v. Aristotelian 48:24
De Lubac Again 1:00:52
The Gratuity of Creation 1:07:10
Brainless Slugs 1:15:50
Practical Implications 1:24:39
Natural Law 1:33:31
Protestant Doubts about Grace Elevating Nature 1:36:51
The New Commandment 1:45:53
The Sacredness of Secular Life 1:49:04
Resources
Dr. Feingold’s The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas and His Interpreters
De Lubac’s Surnaturel, or The Mystery of the Supernatural
Steven Long, Natura Pura: On the Recovery of Nature in the Doctrine of Grace
St. Francis De Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life
John Paul II Fides et Ratio and The Theology of the Body
Music: Lofi Study Musician: FASSounds Site: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-study-112191/
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