Ressourcement Anti-Semitism? Addressing an Obstacle to Henri de Lubac’s Proposed Renewal of Premodern Christian Spiritual Exegesis

What is it about?

Henri de Lubac hoped that his works on premodern Christian exegesis would help the church recover a more holistic Christian approach to Scripture, but the presence of anti-Jewish rhetoric in the tradition, which he reproduces in his major works, is a significant obstacle to any such recovery. While he did not address this difficulty in his major works, his resistance to Anti-Semitism during World War II provides a resource for addressing this problem. His early writings offer principles for a renewed and recentered approach to Christian use and interpretation of Scripture.

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Why is it important?

This work is important because it identifies a persistent tendency in Christian scriptural interpretation to demean the Jewish people and Jewish faith and provides resources for countering that tendency. Ultimately the tendency itself is anti-Christian.