Although many have suggested that de Lubac saw human nature as always-already graced, in Henri de Lubac and the Drama of Human Existence, Jordan Hillebert advances a new reading of de Lubac’s theology of the supernatural that is at variance with most prevailing interpretations. Through his analysis of how a “hermeneutics of human existence” pervades de Lubac’s writings, Hillebert argues that, in de Lubac’s theology, the relation between the human being and humanity’s supernatural finality is best considered in terms of the “supernatural insufficiency of human nature.” In this way, Hillebert demonstrates that de Lubac’s theology of the supernatural offers a via media between neo-scholastic “extrinsicism” on the one hand and post-conciliar “intrinsicism” on the other. Although some authors have drawn attention to the theme of human existence in de Lubac’s writings, this book is an original study that shows how a hermeneutics of human existence provides an interpretative key to his writings.
