From Pure Nature to Wounded Nature: Aquinas on the Effects of Original Sin

Abstract

From Pure Nature to Wounded Nature: Aquinas on the Effects of Original Sin Jacob W. Wood IN HIS 1948 review of Henri de Lubac’s Surnaturel, Philip Donnelly pointed out a remarkable deficit in the “nature/grace debate” as it was then emerging: Probably the most enlightening phase of future discussion will revolve around the concept of nature, its historical development in relation to the evolution of dogma, and particularly, the divergent viewpoints of many patristic writers and of the Scholastics. The cardinal point here will be the integration of the dogma of original sin into a complete synthesis of the supernatural order.1 Although de Lubac was aware of—and had read—Donnelly’s critique,2 he never did take Donnelly up on this challenge to engage in a careful exposition of the theological tradition on the relationship between original sin and nature, to complement his work on the relationship between nature and grace. It is not that de Lubac was unaware of the importance of unpacking the extent to which nature, as we experience it, has been wounded by original sin. Going back as far as Catholicism in 1938, he had expressed a reticence over the teaching of his fellow Jesuit and erstwhile cardinal, Louis Billot, which had guaranteed [End Page 173] happiness apart from Christ for large swaths of the human race, even adults. 3 De Lubac referred to Billot’s idea as “natural salvation” (salut naturel).4 He saw it as the logical consequence of Francisco Suárez’s idea that fallen nature is pure nature, with a complete set of natural virtues oriented towards a completely fulfilling natural happiness.5 The specter of such a natural salvation for such a perfectly natural man drove an immense portion of de Lubac’s argument against the commentatorial tradition’s understanding of nature in Surnaturel.6 The naïveté of it, especially in light of the horrors of Nazi Germany, stood behind the warnings of The Drama of Atheist Humanism.7 And what de Lubac perceived as an attempt to revivify it after Vatican II stood behind what he referred to as the postconciliar “allergy to sin” (allergie au péché)—not that the members of the Church stopped committing sin, but that we ceased to acknowledge sin, to talk about it, and to seek personal healing and forgiveness for it from Jesus Christ.8 De Lubac was not the only theologian of his day concerned about a lack of attention to the wounds of original sin, or even more specifically about Billot’s idea of natural salvation. As unlikely an ally as Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange also devoted significant attention to the subject. It hardly needs repeating that Garrigou-Lagrange was among the fiercest critics of de [End Page 174] Lubac’s theology of nature and grace,9 but on the subject of nature’s wounding by original sin the two saw relatively eye to eye. To be sure, Garrigou-Lagrange sets up his consideration of original sin differently, rooting it in a firm distinction between humanity’s natural and supernatural ends.10 But from that point onwards, he speaks similarly to de Lubac. Fallen humanity’s aversion from its final end, he argues, is caused by a “weak will, inclined to a private good.”11 That selfish orientation of the will, in turn, prevents us from achieving without grace a variety of perfections which humanity, created in a state of pure nature, would have been able to achieve: for example, loving God above all things with natural love,12 fulfilling the natural law,13 or forming virtues which are connected by prudence.14 Simply put, “man has less power to do natural moral good in a state of fallen nature than he would have had in a state of pure nature,”15 a view with which Garrigou-Lagrange tells us “several authors of the Society of Jesus disagree.”16 [End Page 175] Although Garrigou-Lagrange tends to lump his Jesuit interlocutors together under the generic title of “Molinists,” he does—like de Lubac—single out one: Louis Billot. He sees Billot’s opinion that human beings can form natural virtues in relation to supernatural objects...