Book Review: Partakers of the Divine: Contemplation and the Practice of Philosophy

Abstract

Partakers of the Divine: Contemplation and the Practice of Philosophy. By Jacob Holsinger Sherman. Emerging Scholars. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2014. xiii + 283 pp. $39.00 (paper).In this provocative and erudite study, Jacob Sherman seeks to recover ancient and medieval Christian contemplative philosophy. In contrast to mainstream modern philosophical methodologies, Christian contemplative philosophy integrates intellectual theory with a rich praxis of contemplation, of theoria. Theoria involves delight and self-transformation in the presence of the divine and includes the whole life of passionate devotion, prayer, study, devotion, and charity. Contemplative philosophy affirms the intellect, the mutual transformation of both and reason. As Nicholas of Cusa declared in the fifteenth century, The mind without cannot understand; the mind without intelligence cannot love (p. 49). Ultimately, Sherman poses a deeply significant question: Is such a holistic union of philosophy and contemplation, of thinking and thanking (p. ix) viable in our present philosophical and theological world (pp. 32-33)?In the introduction, Sherman traces the historical roots of contemplative philosophy in both ancient pagan and Christian philosophy. Of crucial importance to his analysis is the impact of the Christian doctrines of the Incarnation and Resurrection on both the path and the goal of the contemplative mind. Following 2 Peter 1:4, ancient church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius, and Augustine revolutionized the Platonic vision of ascent by acknowledging that theosis, or participation in the divine nature, is possible only because of the transforming power of divine grace. In the words of Athanasius, The Son of became human in order that we might become God (p. 16). For Christian thinkers in this contemplative tradition, the intellectual pursuit of wisdom, transformed and enriched by divine grace and contemplative practices, is the culmination of the philosophical life, not its elimination.In chapter 1, Sherman examines forms of contemporary philosophy of religion that, for all their insight, fail to achieve the richness and depth of the contemplative philosophical tradition. He considers, among other contributions, the work of the analytic philosopher William Alston and that of the continental thinker Jean-Luc Marion. While affirming Alston s rigor and insight in defending the rationality of belief in God, Sherman argues that Alston overlooks the role of contemplative practices in transforming our most basic philosophical intuitions and beliefs. Sherman then offers a sensitive and probing critique of the phenomenological theology of Marion. Unfortunately, given Marions axiomatic conviction of the death of all metaphysics, his theology, saturated with a mysticism of ineffability, lacks any coherent, even approximate language or clarity with which to speak of or yearn to commune with a personal God. In their veiy different ways, argues Sherman, Alston and Marion provide us with works of elegance and brilliance that fail to understand the holistic nature of the adorative intellect and to appreciate its superior philosophical potential.By way of contrast, chapters 2 and 3 present two compelling examples of contemplative philosophy, Anselm s Proslogion and Nicholas of Cusas De Visione Dei. Sherman argues brilliantly that the fundamental argumentum of the Proslogion is not merely an intellectual construction that hinges on the much-debated ontological argument. …