Henri de Lubac’s “Mystical Confrontation” with Nietzsche

Henri de Lubac is well-known for his critical writings on atheist humanists like Friedrich Nietzsche, whom he saw as the most formidable opponent of Christianity. However, few have appreciated the extent to which de Lubac’s confrontation with Nietzsche provided him with an additional motive for crea...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gardner, Patrick X. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2021
In: Modern theology
Year: 2021, Volume: 37, Issue: 4, Pages: 959-976
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Lubac, Henri de 1896-1991 / Nietzsche, Friedrich 1844-1900 / Paganism / Mysticism
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AG Religious life; material religion
AZ New religious movements
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KDB Roman Catholic Church
TJ Modern history
VA Philosophy
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Summary:Henri de Lubac is well-known for his critical writings on atheist humanists like Friedrich Nietzsche, whom he saw as the most formidable opponent of Christianity. However, few have appreciated the extent to which de Lubac’s confrontation with Nietzsche provided him with an additional motive for creatively retrieving early Christian sources. This article examines de Lubac’s engagement with Nietzsche across his career, focusing on his interpretation of Nietzsche as a mystic. It demonstrates how de Lubac’s understanding of Nietzsche’s mysticism is informed by his resistance to anti-Semitism and his critique of rationalism in the contemporary French Church. It also shows how this confrontation occasioned some of de Lubac’s most important thoughts on the apologetic value of the Catholic mystical tradition. De Lubac’s response to Nietzsche, therefore, has significant implications for understanding his theology as a whole and the nature of Christian engagement with contemporary atheism.
ISSN:1468-0025
Contains:Enthalten in: Modern theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/moth.12707