Articles

Typology, Spiritual Exegesis, and the Theology of History: A Fault Line in Ressourcement Theology?

Kevin L. Hughes

Abstract

Kevin L. Hughes argues that Jean Daniélou and Henri de Lubac shared a profound commitment to patristic exegesis as a theology of history. Daniélou emphasized typology and the horizontal unfolding of salvation history in events, while de Lubac stressed allegory, interiorization, and the Church’s sacramental mediation of divine action. Their nuanced disagreements reveal complementary visions: Daniélou’s outward, historically engaged approach contrasts with de Lubac’s inward, anagogical focus, together shaping a rich, multifaceted ressourcement understanding of history, Scripture, and discipleship.

Citations

Henri de Lubac, The Splendor of the Church (Ignatius, 1986), 206.

Jean Daniélou and Henri de Lubac, Correspondance, 1939–1974, in Henri de Lubac, Oeuvres completes 48 (Cerf, 2021), 260.

Brenna Moore, “How to Awaken the Dead: Michel de Certeau, Henri de Lubac, and the Instabilities of History,” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 12, no. 2 (Fall 2012), 172–79.

Jean Daniélou, The Lord of History (Longmans, 1958), 4.

Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, vol. 1 (Eerdmans, 1998), xix.

Sigmund Freud, On Sexuality, Penguin Freud Library 7 (Penguin, 1991), 272.

Jean Daniélou, From Shadows to Reality: Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers (Ex Fontibus, 2018, repr. of Burns & Oates, 1960), 219.

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Kevin L. Hughes, “Ressourcement and Resistance: La nouvelle théologie, the Fathers, and the Bible, Against Fascism,” in Reading Scripture as a Political Act: Essays on the Theopolitical Interpretation of the Bible, ed. Matthew A. Tapie and Daniel Wade McClain (Fortress, 2015), 221–40.

Cyril O’Regan, “A Theology of History,” in The T&T Clark Companion to Henri de Lubac, ed. Jordan Hillebert (T&T Clark, 2015), 289.

Marc C. Nicholas, Jean Daniélou’s Doxological Humanism (Pickwick, 2012), 10.

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Henri de Lubac, “Typology and Allegorization,” in Theological Fragments, trans. Rebecca Howell Balinski (Ignatius, 1989), 160.