Authenticity as Self-Transcendence: The Enduring Insights of Bernard Lonergan

by Michael H. McCarthy

Overview

Michael H. McCarthy has carefully studied the writings of Bernard Lonergan (Canadian philosopher-theologian, 1904-1984) for over fifty years. In his 1989 book, The Crisis of Philosophy, McCarthy argued for the superiority of Lonergan's distinctive philosophical project to those of his analytic and phenomenological rivals. Now in Authenticity as Self-Transcendence: The Enduring Insights of Bernard Lonergan, he develops and expands his earlier argument with four new essays, designed to show Lonergan's exceptional relevance to the cultural situation of late modernity. The essays explore and appraise Lonergan's cultural mission: to raise Catholic philosophy and theology to meet the intellectual challenges and standards of his time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268035372
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	11/11/2015
Edition description:	1
Pages:	456
Sales rank:	918,914
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael H. McCarthy is professor emeritus of philosophy at Vassar College. He is the author of a number of books, including The Political Humanism of Hannah Arendt.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Chapter 1 The Tangled Knot of Old and New: Lonergan's Project of Critical Appropriation 1

The Tangled Knot 5

Where Are We Now? 11

A Critical Cultural Center 24

The Vetera 51

The Nova 83

Chapter 2 Objective Knowing and Authentic Living 107

The Defining Revolutions of Modernity 109

The Anthropological Turn: Human Nature and History 117

The Critique of Objectivity and Truth 130

The Polymorphic Subject 135

Cognitional Theory: From Logic to Method 142

The Centrality of Insight 149

Critical Realism 156

Objectivity Reconsidered 166

Authenticity as Self-Transcendence 171

Maturity Is Comprehensive 180

Chapter 3 Authentic Faith in a Secular Age 181

Our Secular Age 182

Rising to the Challenge of Our Time 207

Enlightenment, Science, and Faith 219

Exclusive and Religious Humanism 230

Religious Authenticity 248

Chapter 4 The Chill Winds of Modernity: The Profound Challenge of Catholic Renewal 259

Critical Christian Humanism 261

The Catholic Struggle with Modernity 265

Aggiornamento 271

The Second Vatican Council 275

Critical Aggiornamento 283

Critical Reason and Religious Truth 286

An Ethics of Authenticity: Personal and Communal 323

Realism, Repentance, Reform, and Renewal 351

Epilogue 353

Notes 359

Bibliography 373

Index 403

Editorial Reviews

No other work provides such a comprehensive and historically rooted account of Lonergan’s achievement . . . McCarthy’s treatment of Lonergan’s contribution to renewal in the Catholic Church should serve as a final corrective to the especially pernicious anti-modernist Catholic misunderstandings of Lonergan’s account of human authenticity which are still appealed to by Catholic philosophers and theologians to justify inattention to and dismissal of the extraordinary achievements of one of the foremost Jesuit thinkers of the twentieth century.

Journal of Jesuit Studies

"The true genius of Michael H. McCarthy's work is to show how Bernard Lonergan's own dissatisfaction with modernist epistemology led him to an interior appreciation of knowing that he would dub 'method,' by contrast with simple logic, and certainly with Descartes. Lonergan's special and peculiar use of 'method' is the key, as McCarthy demonstrates, showing deep affinities with Aquinas, particularly through Lonergan's study of verbum. A study of a complex thinker who can easily be complicated by his commentators, McCarthy's analysis shows his own maturity as a philosopher as well as his indebtedness to Lonergan in a way that cuts to the heart of Lonergan's philosophy and theology by demonstrating how the former can be at the service of the latter."

David Burrell

"McCarthy has spent decades carefully studying Lonergan's extensive corpus. His studies have been deeply enriched by his simultaneous and equally deep engagement with the works of some of the most important twentieth century political thinkers—notably, Arendt and Taylor. This book's erudition and seriousness is a major contribution to Lonergan scholarship."

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

McCarthy is a capable expositor with an impressive grasp of the range of Lonergan’s philosophical work. Non-devotees will probably find his exposition clearer than Lonergan’s own.

Theology

"To address the cultural crises of our time—epistemic, moral, and spiritual—Michael McCarthy lucidly details their sources in Western history, and he expounds Bernard Lonergan’s remedial prescriptions. McCarthy’s timely diagnosis will help readers to understand better the past and the present of influential views, and to envision the future of the human race with both hope and realism."

Louis Roy

"Michael McCarthy's book is a masterpiece of cultural synthesis and interpretation. I know of no other recent books on the same or similar topic to which Authenticity as Self-Transcendence can be compared. It is definitely unique. It will interest students and teachers of modern philosophy, theology, and history. It will be a fine classroom text, especially in courses on history and culture, politics, and religion, as well as specifically Catholic thought."

Richard Liddy

"Michael McCarthy's book is a masterpiece of cultural synthesis and interpretation. I know of no other recent books on the same or similar topic to which Authenticity as Self-Transcendence can be compared. It is definitely unique. It will interest students and teachers of modern philosophy, theology, and history. It will be a fine classroom text, especially in courses on history and culture, politics, and religion, as well as specifically Catholic thought." —Richard Liddy, University Professor of Catholic Thought and Culture at Seton Hall University

"To address the cultural crises of our time—epistemic, moral, and spiritual—Michael McCarthy lucidly details their sources in Western history, and he expounds Bernard Lonergan’s remedial prescriptions. McCarthy’s timely diagnosis will help readers to understand better the past and the present of influential views, and to envision the future of the human race with both hope and realism." —Louis Roy, Dominican University College in Ottawa

"The true genius of Michael H. McCarthy's work is to show how Bernard Lonergan's own dissatisfaction with modernist epistemology led him to an interior appreciation of knowing that he would dub 'method,' by contrast with simple logic, and certainly with Descartes. Lonergan's special and peculiar use of 'method' is the key, as McCarthy demonstrates, showing deep affinities with Aquinas, particularly through Lonergan's study of verbum. A study of a complex thinker who can easily be complicated by his commentators, McCarthy's analysis shows his own maturity as a philosopher as well as his indebtedness to Lonergan in a way that cuts to the heart of Lonergan's philosophy and theology by demonstrating how the former can be at the service of the latter." —David Burrell, C.S.C., Theodore Hesburgh C.S.C. Professor emeritus in Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame

"McCarthy has spent decades carefully studying Lonergan's extensive corpus. His studies have been deeply enriched by his simultaneous and equally deep engagement with the works of some of the most important twentieth century political thinkers—notably, Arendt and Taylor. This book's erudition and seriousness is a major contribution to Lonergan scholarship." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“No other work provides such a comprehensive and historically rooted account of Lonergan’s achievement . . . McCarthy’s treatment of Lonergan’s contribution to renewal in the Catholic Church should serve as a final corrective to the especially pernicious anti-modernist Catholic misunderstandings of Lonergan’s account of human authenticity which are still appealed to by Catholic philosophers and theologians to justify inattention to and dismissal of the extraordinary achievements of one of the foremost Jesuit thinkers of the twentieth century.” —Journal of Jesuit Studies

“McCarthy is a capable expositor with an impressive grasp of the range of Lonergan’s philosophical work. Non-devotees will probably find his exposition clearer than Lonergan’s own.” —Theology

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