The Greek edition of That All Shall Be Saved, translated by the great Sotiris Mitralexis, has at last—after a long delay in its printing schedule—been published by Akritas Press. The book had been scheduled to appear in print more than a year ago (or perhaps longer than that, come to think of it). I share the news here not because I think any of my readers are especially eager to get hold of a Dēmotikē version of the book, but simply to share the image on the dust-jacket, which bears the Greek rendering the title I had originally intended for it: Apokatastasis Pantōn. Needless to say, that title seems less daunting for a Greek publishing house than it did for an American one.
A more significant publishing event would be the appearance from Angelico Press of the Australian-Polish poet Jakob Ziguras’s book Venetian Mirrors this month (a few weeks back I believe). It is a long poetic sequence built around a brilliant conceit (the poems appear both in their “proper” formal state and in their considerably more diffuse “reflected” versions, rather as the cityscape of Venice is reflected in the canals). I will say no more about that here, though, as I have already put my thoughts into the foreword I wrote for the volume. Here, however, is the publisher’s description of the text:
Venetian Mirrors takes the reader on a meandering tour, whose path traces a poetic portrait of Venice—as mediated through the history of its representations—in which multiple voices and layers intermingle: fact and fiction, waking consciousness and dream, the past and the present, the living and the dead. This imaginal itinerary also presents, as much through its form as through its content, a sustained reflection on reflection—hence, on the relation between original and image—and on the inseparable, if tense, bond between nature and art, which that city so consummately exemplifies.
Finally, I should call attention to the appearance of a massive tome (in French) by Sr. Marie de l’Assomption (Émilie d’Arvieu) called Nature et grâce chez saint Thomas: L'homme capable de Dieu. I have on occasion, here and elsewhere, lamented the revival—or, rather, let’s say the recrudescence—of the manualist Thomist and Bañezian reading of Thomas on nature and grace, and most especially the pestilential reappearance of the notion of pure nature as a coherent concept within Christian thought. The recently resuscitated opposition to Henri de Lubac’s Surnaturel among reactionary Catholic scholars and the new enthusiasm of many of those scholars for the work of the truly awful Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange even inspired me to write the book You Are Gods. Sr. Marie has set out to vindicate de Lubac and his allies on a scale hitherto unattempted, and with a degree of scholarly and philosophical rigor that it is difficult not to find impressive.
The book’s description on the publisher’s site is as follows:
La publication par Henri de Lubac de Surnaturel en 1946, en accusant l’ensemble des thomistes d’infidélité à Thomas d’Aquin sur la question des rapports entre nature et grâce, déclencha une controverse célèbre. Sa démonstration donna ensuite l’impression de s’imposer. Depuis le début du XXIe siècle pourtant, plusieurs études tentent de réhabiliter l’interprétation prédominante depuis Cajetan. Pour reprendre le problème, la seule méthode était une lecture intégrale de l’oeuvre thomasienne. Celle-ci permet d’établir que, pour Thomas, la capacité naturelle à la grâce de l’homme n’est pas une puissance obédientielle, et qu’il y a un appétit naturel et inné de l'intellect pour la vision de l’essence divine. Par conséquent, aucune autre fin ultime ou béatitude n’est envisageable en dehors de cette vision. Elle reste cependant gratuite du fait qu’elle est inaccessible aux facultés naturelles. Par-delà la polémique, il s’agit de voir comment s’articulent les relations entre la nature et la grâce chez l'homme concret : dans l’état d’innocence d’abord, puis après le péché originel, en examinant les conséquences de celui-ci, et la restauration apportée par le Christ. On peut ainsi mesurer l’originalité de l’anthropologie de l’Aquinate. Celui-ci donne à la nature une consistance qu’elle n’avait pas chez Augustin. Et s’il intègre Aristote, c’est en le réinterprétant de manière radicale, à la lumière de la révélation.
Which might be rendered as:
Henri de Lubac’s publication of Surnaturel in 1946, wherein he accused the faction of the Thomists of being unfaithful to Thomas Aquinas on the question of the relationship between nature and grace, sparked off quite a famous controversy. Thereafter, his argument seemed to have gained the upper hand. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, a number of studies have attempted to rehabilitate the interpretation that had prevailed since the time of Cajetan. The only proper way in which to confront the problem is to undertake a complete reading of Thomas’s work. In this manner, one can establish that, for Thomas, humanity’s natural capacity for grace is not an obediential potency, and that there is a natural and innate appetite of the intellect for the vision of the divine essence. Consequently, no other ultimate end or beatitude is conceivable apart from this vision. Yet it remains gratuitous because it is inaccessible through the natural faculties. Setting the controversy aside, what is at issue is recognizing how the relationship between nature and grace is articulated in concrete humanity: first in the state of innocence; then, in the wake of original sin, by examination of sin’s consequences and the restoration brought about by Christ. This reveals the originality of Aquinas's anthropology. He grants nature a consistency that Augustine did not. And, while he integrates Aristotle, it is by radically reinterpreting him in the light of revelation.
I cannot pretend to have read the book in its entirety, though I happen to have read quite a lot of the dissertation on which it is based (written back when Sr. Marie was still just plain Émilie d’Arvieu). Note how even in the publisher’s short announcement the vital distinction between natural potential and natural faculty is clearly drawn. (If only someone could explain this to Edward Feser.)
In any event, if these matters interest you and your French is fairly decent—well, there it is.
I am tempted to buy the Greek edition of TASBS just for its looks. Come to think of it, there are one or two people I'd like to give it to. Come to think of it again, I wonder if it would feel different to read the ideas in Greek.
Just in case anyone wants the links. I’m nearly done with my course for modern Greek, so this is wonderful reading material!
Link: https://www.akritasbooks.gr/eng/apokatastasi-ton-panton-kolasi-paradeisos-katholiki-sotiria-mia-orthodoxi-protasi