Title: The givenness of desire : concrete subjectivity and the natural desire to see God /
Authors: Rosenberg, Randall S.,
Year: 2017
Subjects: Lonergan, Bernard J. F. Criticism and interpretation.; Natural theology.; Subjectivity.
Abstract: "In The Givenness of Desire, Randall S. Rosenberg examines the human desire for God through the lens of Lonergan's "concrete subjectivity." Rosenberg engages and integrates two major scholarly developments: the tension between Neo-Thomists and scholars of Henri de Lubac over our natural desire to see God and the theological appropriation of the mimetic theory of René Girard, with an emphasis on the saints as models of desire. With Lonergan as an integrating thread, the author engages a variety of thinkers, including Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jean-Luc Marion, René Girard, James Alison, Lawrence Feingold, John Milbank, among others. The theme of concrete subjectivity helps to resist the tendency of equating too easily the natural desire for being with the natural desire for God without at the same time acknowledging the widespread distortion of desire found in the consumer culture that infects contemporary life. The Givenness of Desire investigates our paradoxical desire for God that is rooted in both the natural and supernatural."--
Contents: Part 1. De Lubac, Ressourcement, and neo-Thomism -- De Lubac's lament: loss of the supernatural -- Ressourcement and neo-Thomism: a narrative under scrutiny, a dialogue renewed -- Part 2. A Lonergan retrieval: pure nature to concrete subject -- The erotic roots of intellectual desire -- Concretely operating nature: Lonergan on the natural desire to see God -- Being-in-love and the desire for the supernatural: erotic-agapic subjectivity -- Part 3. Mimetic desire, models of holiness, and the love of deviated transcendence -- Incarnate meaning and mimetic desire: saints and the desire for God -- The metaphysics of holiness and the longing for God in history: Thérèse of Lisieux and Etty Hillesum -- Distorted desire and the love of deviated transcendence -- Conclusion.