Conventional wisdom has it that thinking on nature and grace among Catholic intellectuals was severely clouded by the work of Cajetan and his fellow Thomistic commentators from about the sixteenth century to the eve of Vatican II. Henri de Lubac has rightly been given credit for pointing this out; and to all appearances, de Lubac's influence won the day, as can be seen by the imprint of his thought upon not just the Second Vatican Council, but also the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. However, in recent years, a new crop of Thomistic scholars has arisen who question whether de Lubac's word on nature and grace should be the last; hence, the debate over the nature-grace relation, so heated at mid-twentieth century, has been stirred once again. Dr. Swafford here offers a "third way" by way of the nineteenth-century German theologian Matthias J. Scheeben--who, for some reason, has never really been considered especially relevant to this debate. Swafford shows that Scheeben can capture the very best of both sides, while at the same time avoiding the characteristic pitfalls so often alleged against each.

"Bring up a child in the way he shall go and when he is older he shall not depart from it." Grace Lee believed that Bible verse fervently. She was certain her daughter, Rosemary, would be not only an active Southern Baptist but a foreign missionary as well. During the late ‘60s, changes were afoot, forcing Grace to realize things were not what they ought to have been. Though she tried to close her eyes to political and social turmoil, the glaring faults she began seeing in her church were another matter. Dorothy Blackwell, a fellow-member in the Woman’s Missionary Union, had the reputation of being a “good” Southerner but church members were often askance at her vocal championing of what was considered the “Radical Left.” Dorothy’s strong convictions prompted Grace to explore her own unspoken doubts about the new direction their church was taking. She was utterly amazed when she realized the profound influence Miss Dorothy had on Rosemary, as well. While the rumble of fundamentalism shook her church to its very foundations, Grace also struggled with her vision of service for Rosemary. Was she prepared for the consequences of what she and Dorothy championed: the commitment to conscience?

Extract from Augustine's Retractions (Book II, Chapter 42): At that time also there came into my hands a certain book of Pelagius', in which he defends, with all the argumentative skill he could muster, the nature of man, in opposition to the grace of God whereby the unrighteous is justified and we become Christians. The treatise which contains my reply to him, and in which I defend grace, not indeed as in opposition to nature, but as that which liberates and controls nature, I have entitled On Nature and Grace. In this work sundry short passages, which were quoted by Pelagius as the words of the Roman bishop and martyr, Xystus, were vindicated by myself as if they really were the words of this Sixtus. For this I thought them at the time; but I afterwards discovered, that Sextus the heathen philosopher, and not Xystus the Christian bishop, was their author. This treatise of mine begins with the words: 'The book which you sent me.'"

For Scheeben, our status as creatures means that not only all our actions but even our very existence from moment to moment depend on God, who, as our loving Creator, grasps us at the root of our being. This is radical dependence also means that we have certain duties toward God. Ultimately, the only proper posture we can adopt toward him is to bow our heads in profound humility before the one who has granted us participation in being from his infinite generosity. On a very practical level, this dependence means that our true exaltation can only come about through humble submission in love to him who made us. We do this through the handing over of our being to him in sacrifice (made possible by the sacrificial self-offering of Christ), just as true Aufklärung (enlightenment) can only come about by the sacrificium intellectus, the handing over of our intellect to the one who gives it back to us divinized by the light of faith. Everything is ultimately grace in that creation itself is absolutely gratuitous, a pure gift. But in God’s providence, we stand in relation to God in distinct ways on account of his stupendous generosity and love. While everything is indeed grace, there is a “double gratuity” that marks the Christian life: the grace of creation and that of divine sonship. The whole point of distinguishing nature and grace lies precisely in preserving the supernatural splendor of this twofold gratuity—that is, in distinguishing the grace of the natural order from the grace of our supernatural participation in divine life. If we don’t have a robust sense of the natural order, we won’t see how transcendent the supernatural order truly is.

Everyone leaves a mark.What would you do if yours was erased?Grace has lived in the Smokies with her forest ranger father, learning about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival.When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he's dead.She fights against town authorities, tribal authorities, and the forces of nature to find him.One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by a cute guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. Soon, Grace becomes entangled in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder.This time, it's going to take a lot more than a compass and an attitude to save everything she loves."Untraceable will tug at and rip out your heart, yet cause you to fall in love with a new kind of hero who is vulnerable, unyielding in her convictions, and impossible to forget." - Suspense Magazine"A dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance." - Kirkus Reviews

Neither Nature nor Grace operates at the intersection of systematic and philosophical theology, exploring in particular how St. Thomas Aquinas variously uses the latter in service to the clarification and faithful advancement of the former. More specifically, Neither Nature nor Grace explores the overlooked logical difficulties that have followed the late modern debates in ecumenical Christian theology as to whether knowledge of God is available solely through God’s gracious self-revelation (e.g., Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture), or through revelation and the deliverances of natural reason. Van Wart takes the prominent French Dominican Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange as paradigmatic for the case that knowledge of God can be had by both revelation and natural reason. Representing the opposing position, that God can only be known through divine revelation, Van Wart highlights the work of influential Protestant theologian Karl Barth. By placing these two imposing 20th century theologians in conversation, and by providing a careful theo-philosophical analysis of the logical mechanics of each thinker’s respective arguments, Van Wart shows how both inadvertently overreach their self-professed epistemological bounds and just so run into significant problems maintaining the coherence of their relative theological positions. That is, against their expressed intentions to the contrary, both thinkers unwittingly evacuate the divine essence of the mystery Christian tradition has always previously claimed it to have, effectively reducing the being of God to mere creaturely being writ large. As a contrasting corrective to this problem, Van Wart proffers a constructive grammatical reading of Aquinas’s measured account of the crucial but often overlooked logical differences between what can be said of the divine, on the one hand, versus what can be known of God, on the other. While many recent works have attempted to solve the ongoing arguments which Garrigou-Lagrange and Barth epitomize regarding the epistemic use of God’s effects, Van Wart’s contribution constructively pushes the conversation to a different level in showing how Aquinas’s grammar of God provides a salutary means of dissolving and moving beyond these contentious debates altogether.

Amid all the controversy, criticism, and celebration of Terrence Malick's award-winning film The Tree of Life, what do we really understand of it? The Way of Nature and the Way of Grace thoughtfully engages the philosophical riches of life, culture, time, and the sacred through Malick's film. This innovative collection traverses the relationships among ontological, moral, scientific, and spiritual perspectives on the world, demonstrating how phenomenological work can be done in and through the cinematic medium, and attempting to bridge the gap between narrow "theoretical" works on film and their broader cultural and philosophical significance. Exploring Malick's film as a philosophical engagement, this readable and insightful collection presents an excellent resource for film specialists, philosophers of film, and film lovers alike.

Were all asking the same kinds of questions, with the same goal in mind: How do I fit in? How can I navigate life gracefully? How can my life be more satisfying? How can I experience more love, joy, awe, and wonder? By learning, understanding, and applying the inherent wisdom that we find in the natural world, we can connect with people and with our planet, with our own hearts and souls, and create a life that is not only better for us as individuals, but perhaps together, create a world that works for everyone. With simplicity and humor Jeff shows how the wisdom of nature can free us, untangle us from the complexity of our ego-driven lives. This is the wisdom of the ordinary for each of us to treasure. Allow these clear and profound teachings to awaken you, so that you can glimpse the divine that is within you and all around. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee , Ph.D., Sufi teacher and author like a friendly sharing across a backyard fence or an informal exchange of insights across a cup of coffee, Jeff Anderson has written...about the times we live in, the challenges we face, and the kind of life and consciousness that may help us not just survive but prosper." David Spangler, author of Apprenticed to Spirit and Facing the Future A thought-provoking, humorous and touching collection of truly helpful ideas. Dr. Edward Viljoen, author of Practice the Presence and Spirit Is Calling

This booklet highlights Herman Bavinck's basic thesis that GRACE RESTORES NATURE, or that salvation means the restoration of creation. Veenhof focuses on this succinct formulation of a dimension of biblical teaching that has been a distinctive strength of the Calvinist tradition of Christian thought, both in theology and in a wide range of other academic disciplines.