Reading Aquinas with David Burrell, CSC: how Lonergan’s exegesis and method open a way to Grammatical Thomism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Though a central figure in Grammatical Thomism, David Burrell, CSC’s work is also deeply influenced by his teacher Bernard Lonergan, SJ. This paper articulates a twofold influence of Lonergan on Burrell, both of which support Burrell’s grammatical reading of Thomas Aquinas. First, Burrell developed his grammatical readings of Thomas Building on Lonergan’s exegesis of the ‘inner word’ of understanding which becomes grammatical in Burrell’s interpretation. Second, Burrell reads Lonergan’s method, in Insight and Method in Theology, and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations as complementary, non-foundational quests for understanding, despite their radically different styles.