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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
The concept of ‘desire’ offers an interesting bridge between cultural phenomena of contemporary society and the theological tradition. The exploration of some key elements of this tradition concerning desire supports the launching of a ‘theology of desire’. Although the natural desire for God, as discussed in the so-called ‘théologie nouvelle’, provides very valuable material for this exploration, ‘desire’ is conceived here in a somewhat broader sense. Three levels of desire are distinguished. The ‘lover's desire’ refers to the conscious affirmation of the presence of God's love. The second level, called the ‘seeker's desire’, concerns a more general desire for happiness. Third, the desire for God as an ontological term refers to the relationship between God and humankind. The desire for God, revealed by Jesus Christ, demonstrates the ultimate capacity of our human nature. Thus christology, and especially the creed of Chalcedon, offers the key to systematic anthropology. Finally, the daily reality of the desire for God is discussed with the help of Gregory of Nyssa's concept of asceticism. The integrating power of the Holy Spirit makes the channelling of our desires possible, so that the desire for God forms a part of daily life. Three challenges to encourage continuation on the way toward a theology of desire form the conclusion. The reconsidering of an ontological approach in theology, the priority to christology in systematic anthropology and the ethical and missionary possibilities of the desire for God are invitations for theologians to further explore the theology of desire.
1 Lleó, Xavier Quinzá, La cultura del deseo y la seducción de Dios (Maliaňo: Sal Terrae, 1993)Google Scholar and Pasión y radicalidad: Posmodernidad y vida consagrada, (Madrid: San Pablo, 2004).
2 Sarah Coakley, ‘Pleasure Principles. Toward a Contemporary Theology of desire’, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, 33/2 (autumn 2005).
3 Figura, Michael, Der Anruf der Gnade: Über die Beziehung des Menschen zu Gott nach Henri de Lubac (Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag, 1979)Google Scholar. Note 15 on p. 249 offers an impressive list of literature on ‘desiderium naturale visionis Dei’.
4 Eef Dekker gives a nice summary of this debate in ‘Human Being and the Natural Desire for God: Reflections on the Natural and the Supernatural’, in Sarot, Marcel and Stoker, Wessel (eds.), Religion and the Good Life (Assen: Royal van Gorcum, 2004)Google Scholar. An evaluation of the theology of H. de Lubac can be found in Alfred Vanneste Nature et grace dans la théologie occidentale: Dialogue avec H. de Lubac (Leuven: University Press/Peters, 1996), pp. 251–92. Kolakowsky, Leszek, God Owes us Nothing: A Brief Remark on Pascal's Religion and on the Spirit of Jansenism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 102–10Google Scholar, even argues that the papal bull Unigenitus (1713), a symbol of the theology of the Catholic Reform, signifies the victory of ‘semi-Pelagian’ theology in Roman Catholic doctrine and indicates, therefore, the rift with traditional Augustinian theology of grace.
5 This name, ‘a two stocks theology’, is used by H. de Lubac himself in his Petite catéchèse sur nature et grâce (Paris: Fayard, 1980), pp. 29–30.
6 There is a lot written on the theology of Cajetan. I refer here to de Lubac, H.. Mystère du surnaturel (Paris: Aubier, 1965), pp. 26–31Google Scholar, 98–102, etc., Figura, Anruf, pp. 151–4, and Alfaro, Juan, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural: Estudio histórico desde Santo Tomas hasta Cayetano (Madrid: Publicaciones del instituto Francisco Suarez, 1952)Google Scholar.
7 In this text, I will try to avoid the use of the term ‘natural desire’ or desiderium naturale, because it is a confusing term, as I will argue later on. I think it is possible to integrate what is meant by ‘natural desire’ in the following analysis of the three levels of desire.
8 As in Psalms 25 and 42, but above all in the Song of Songs (in the allegoric interpretation). Paul expresses his desire to be ‘with Christ’ (Phil. 1:23).
9 1 John 4:8.
10 Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, pp. 39–41. Duns Scotus, however, gives a certain priority to will, ibid., p. 43.
11 Bochet, Isabelle, Saint Augustin et le désir de Dieu (Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1982), pp. 107–10Google Scholar.
12 Pascal, Blaise, for example, wrote that the search for happiness is even the motive for suicide, L. Lafuma (ed.), Œuvres complètes (Paris: Seuil, 1963)Google Scholar, Pensées, fragment 148, p. 519. For more on Pascal's perspective and the desire for God, see Klaas Bom, ‘Pascal en het verlangen naar God’, in Nico den Bok and Arjan Plaisier (eds.), Bijna goddelijk gemaakt: Gedachten over de menselijke gerichtheid op God, (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2005), pp. 178–99.
13 Cf. Bochet, Saint Augustin, chs 1–3, where the author analyses different terms and images of this abuse of desire used by St Augustine.
14 See Figura, Anruf, pp. 294–5, where De Lubac's thoughts on this point are summarised.
15 Concerning Gregory of Nyssa, see Peter Phan, Grace and the Human Condition (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988), pp. 177–8 and 182. Concerning St Augustine, see van Bavel, J., ‘De weg naar God volgens Augustinus’, in Hutsebaut, D. and Corveleyn, J. (eds.), Over de grens: De religieuze behoefte kritisch onderzocht, (Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven, 1987), pp. 188–9Google Scholar.
16 Although the desire is transformed in another mode, eternity is also full of moving Godwards. See Rowan Williams, ‘Macrina's Deathbed Revisited: Gregory of Nyssa on Mind and Passion’, in G. H. Stead, L. R. Wickham, C. P. H. Bammel and E. C. D. Hunter, Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 1993), pp. 227–46.
17 See Dupré, Louis, Passage to Modernity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press 1993)Google Scholar.
18 Vanneste, Nature et grâce, pp. 19–20 and 161–83.
19 Cajetan's main problem with Scotus’ approach of the natural, innate appetite is to be located in the so-called ‘principle of plenitude’ (see A.O. Lovejoy), see Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, chs 2 and 3. Scotus’ clear refusal of this principle is explained by Veldhuis, Henri, ‘Hoog aangelegd. Duns Scotus' persoonsbegrip in de Proloog van de Ordinatio’, in Beck, Andreas and Veldhuis, Henri (eds), Geloof geeft te denken: Opstellen over de theologie van Johannes Duns Scotus (Assen: Koninklijke van Gorcum, 2005), pp. 75–82Google Scholar.
20 Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, pp. 242–3. See also Figura, Anruf, p. 275.
21 See Figura, Anruf, pp. 258–76. and Veldhuis, ‘Hoog’, p. 81, who uses the term ‘natural’ in the significance of essential, as De Lubac does (Figura, Anruf, p. 264).
22 See Dekker, ‘Human Being’, pp. 273–7, where the author explains that an essential directedness toward God does not destroy human freedom.
23 See Figura, Anruf, p. 265 and pp. 276–82 (‘desiderium inefficax’) and Veldhuis, ‘Hoog’, pp. 78–80.
24 See Figura, Anruf, pp. 283–7, and Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, ch. 1 (pp. 36–8, etc.).
25 As Scotus puts it in his Ordinatio Prologus, par. 32: ‘concedo Deum esse finem naturalem hominis, sed non naturaliter adipiscendum sed supernaturaliter’. See Krop, H.A., De status van de theologie volgens Johannes Duns Scotus: De verhouding tussen theologie en metafysica, (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987), p. 119Google Scholar.
26 See Veldhuis, ‘Hoog’, pp. 81–2. I could not find this kind of clear statement on the effect of grace in De Lubac's keywork Le Mystère du surnaturel (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2000). De Lubac is, on the other hand, preoccupied with the question as to whether the so-called desiderium naturale can oblige God to realise the ‘visio Dei’, in which case grace is no longer a free gift.
27 See Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, pp. 60–3. For Scotus on the act of love, freedom of will and human merit in Lectura I, 17, see A. Vos, H. Veldhuis, E. Dekker, N.W. den Bok and A.J. Beck (eds), Duns Scotus on Divine Love: Texts and Commentary on Goodness and Freedom, God and Humans (Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2003).
28 See Alfaro, Lo natural y lo sobrenatural, pp. 51–4.
29 Veldhuis therefore prefers to use ‘supernatural desire’, ‘Hoog’, p. 81.
30 Here, Quinzá refers to older traditions, see for example Pascal, Blaise, Lettres Provinciales (Paris: Garnier, 1965), p. 359Google Scholar.
31 On the epistemological implications of the desire for God, see Dekker, ‘Human Being’, pp. 275–9.
32 See Antonie Vos, ‘Betrokken op God: Aspecten van de christelijke antropologie in historisch perspectief’, in Nico den Bok and Arjan Plaisier (eds), Bijna goddelijke gemaakt, pp. 45–6 and 60–4.
33 Cf. Phan, Grace, ch. 2
34 See Dekker, ‘Human Being’, p. 269. The creation to God's image (Gen. 1) and the Logos, becoming Flesh (John 1) offer the two principal references from the Bible that inspired the theologians of the first centuries, see Juan L. Ruiz de la Peňa, El don de Dios: Antropología teológica especial (Maliaňo: Sal Terrae, 1991), p. 268.
35 See Quinzá's book, Pasión y radicalidad.
36 Martin Laird, ‘Under Solomon's Tutelage: The Education of Desire in the Homilies on the Song of Songs’, Modern Theology, 18/4 (October 2002), pp. 507–25, offers a summary of the recent research on the writings of Gregory by Williams, Hart, Laird, Behr and others. It is noteworthy that some of these authors perceive their approach as an alternative to the ontological interpretation of Gregory's theology by Hans Urs von Balthasar.
37 See La cultura del deseo, pp. 24 and 27–31. This is elaborated in his book Pasión y radicalidad.
38 La cultura del deseo, p. 23.
39 I would like to thank the Protestant Church in the Netherlands for the sabbatical leave that enabled me to write this article. Also, I thank Eef Dekker, Antoon Vos and Hans Wierenga for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.
