The Suspended Middle: Henri De Lubac And The Debate Concerning The Supernatural

Arguably the most revolutionary theologian of the twentieth century, French Jesuit Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) proposed that Western theology had lost sight of the key to integrating faith and reason — the truth that all human beings are naturally oriented toward the supernatural. In this vital book John Milbank defends de Lubac's claim and pushes it to a more radical extreme.

As his writings on the supernatural implicitly challenged the reigning assumptions about Christian intellectual reflection, de Lubac met with opposition and even papal censure. Detailing de Lubac's relation to these opponents, as well as to proponents of the "new theology," Milbank's book clarifies the subtle but crucial divisions within recent Roman Catholic theology.

The most substantial treatment in English of de Lubac's as yet untranslated "Surnaturel" and the subsequent debate, Milbank's "Suspended Middle" lays down an energetic challenge that every serious student of theology and Christian philosophy will want to engage.