For half a century Rene Girard's theories of mimetic desire and scapegoating have captivated the imagination of thinkers and doers in many fields as an incisive look into the human condition, particularly the roots of violence. In a 1993 interview with Rebecca Adams, he highlighted the positive dimensions of mimetic phenomena without expanding on what they might be. Now, two decades later, this groundbreaking book systematically explores the positive side of mimetic theory in the context of the multi-faceted world of creativity. Several authors build on Adams' insight that loving mimesis can be understood as desiring the subjectivity of the other, particularly when the other may be young or wounded. With highly nuanced arguments authors show how mimetic theory can be used to address child and adult development, including the growth of consciousness and a capacity to handle complexity. Mimetic theory is brought to bear on big questions about creativity in nature, evolutionary development, originality, and religious intrusion into politics.

For half a century Rene Girard s theories of mimetic desire and scapegoating have captivated the imagination of thinkers and doers in many fields as an incisive look into the human condition, particularly the roots of violence. In a 1993 interview with Rebecca Adams, he highlighted the positive dimensions of mimetic phenomena without expanding on what they might be. Now, two decades later, this groundbreaking book systematically explores the positive side of mimetic theory in the context of the multi-faceted world of creativity. Several authors build on Adams insight that loving mimesis can be understood as desiring the subjectivity of the other, particularly when the other may be young or wounded. With highly nuanced arguments authors show how mimetic theory can be used to address child and adult development, including the growth of consciousness and a capacity to handle complexity. Mimetic theory is brought to bear on big questions about creativity in nature, evolutionary development, originality, and religious intrusion into politics."

Method in Theology stands with Insight as Bernard Lonergan's most important work. It is Lonergan's answer to those who would argue that in this time of cultural change and dissolution, the believer is afloat on a sea of multiplying theologies, without rudder or compass. Lonergan was resolute in his refusal to be defeatist on this point. While agreeing that theology must continually change to mediate between religion and culture, he worked out an integral method to guide and control this ongoing process. Method in Theology is the fruit of this labour. This critical edition has benefited from extensive research into Lonergan's typescripts and from consulting the recordings from several institutes where he lectured over the course of the work's development. Lonergan's intention was to provide a set of methods that would guide a collaborative community in the ongoing construction of a theology that would move from recovery of the data through resolution of conflicts to contemporary formulations and applications. With this work, the cognitional theory of Insight: A Study of Human Understanding underwent a surprising set of developments in the form of what he calls functional specialization.

Insight is Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. It aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, a comprehensive view of knowledge and understanding, and to state what one needs to understand and how one proceeds to understand it.

In Lonergan's own words: 'Thoroughly understand what it is to understand, and not only will you understand the broad lines of all there is to be understood but also you will possess a fixed base, and invariant pattern, opening upon all further developments of understanding.'

The editors of the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan have established the definitive text for Insight after examining all the variant forms in Lonergan's manuscripts and papers. The volume includes introductory material and annotation to enable the reader to appreciate more fully this challenging work.

Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a professor of theology, taught at Regis College, Harvard University, and Boston College. An established author known for his Insight and Method in Theology, Lonergan received numerous honorary doctorates, was a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1971 and was named as an original members of the International Theological Commission by Pope Paul VI.

For the edition of A Second Collection prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky have added archival materials directly related to almost every one of the papers, bringing the reader closer to the original compositions. The papers date from 1966 to 1973, and span the most creative period in Lonergan's development. Two major themes run through these papers: the primacy of the fourth, existential level of human consciousness, and the significance of historical mindedness with all its implications for culture, hermeneutics, and phenomenological thinking. The theme of conversion makes a grand entrance in 'Theology in Its New Context,' a paper that charted the course for the unfolding of Method in Theology. This new edition makes extensive use of original manuscripts, variants in drafts of the essays, and hand-written corrections.

In the mid- to late-1930s, while he was a student at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan wrote a series of eight essays on the philosophy and theology of history. These essays foreshadow a number of the major themes in his life's work. The significance of these essays is enormous, not only for an understanding of the later trajectory of Lonergan's own work but also for the development of a contemporary systematic theology. In an important entry from 1965 in his archival papers, Lonergan wrote that the "mediated object" of systematics is Geschichte or the history that is lived and written about. In the same entry, he stated that the "doctrines" that this systematic theology would attempt to understand are focused on "redemption." The seeds of such a theology are planted in the current volume, where the formulae that are so pronounced in his later work first appear. Students of Lonergan's work will find their understanding of his philosophy profoundly affected by the essays in this volume.

In the mid- to late-1930s, while he was a student at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan wrote a series of eight essays on the philosophy and theology of history. These essays foreshadow a number of the major themes in his life's work. The significance of these essays is enormous, not only for an understanding of the later trajectory of Lonergan's own work but also for the development of a contemporary systematic theology. In an important entry from 1965 in his archival papers, Lonergan wrote that the "mediated object" of systematics is Geschichte or the history that is lived and written about. In the same entry, he stated that the "doctrines" that this systematic theology would attempt to understand are focused on "redemption." The seeds of such a theology are planted in the current volume, where the formulae that are so pronounced in his later work first appear. Students of Lonergan's work will find their understanding of his philosophy profoundly affected by the essays in this volume.

A companion to Philosophical and Theological Papers 1958-1964 (Volume 6 in the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan series), this anthology contains Lonergan's lectures on philosophy and theology given during the later period of his life, 1965-1980. These papers document his development in the discipline during the years leading up to the publication of Method in Theology, and beyond to 1980 when he was more engaged in his writings and seminars on macroeconomics. Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965-1980 is divided into five sections, forming units on the basis of dates. The three central sections are each a set of lectures respectively given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gonzaga University in Spokane, and Trinity College (University of Toronto). Although there is some repetition amongst the lecture sets and in relation to other more familiar works, this repetition displays occasional new turns of phrase that the careful reader will note. In at least one instance, familiar material suddenly opens out onto expressions not to be found anywhere else in Lonergan's work. Other very interesting developments regard the movement from speaking of the immutability of dogmas to their permanence of meaning and the permutations among 'real self-transcendence,' 'performative self-transcendence,' and 'moral self-transcendence.'

Continuing where Volume 23 left off, Volume 24 of the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan traces the background to Lonergan's notion of functional specialization as it emerges in his Latin courses and seminars on method. This volume contains editorial reports based on Lonergan's handwritten notes for two courses in 1963, both entitled "Method in Theology." Also included is the lecture "De Notione Structurae," dating from 1964, along with an English translation on facing pages. Together with Volumes 22 and 23, Early Works on Theological Method 3 provides readers with a thorough presentation of the data on Lonergan's development through the 1960s as he worked out what became the classic book Method in Theology (1972).

Early Latin Theology presents seven of Bernard Lonergan's most important early theological works in English translation and the original Latin on facing pages under one cover for the first time. First composed as supplements to the texts he used in his courses, these writings are considered to be Lonergan's initial efforts in the functional specialty he would come to call 'systematics.' They also represent ideas that would remain constant throughout his career. Among the significant works included is 'Supplementary Notes on Sanctifying Grace.' This seminal essay contains what is likely Lonergan's most complete systematic treatment of the topic, and a much more extensive presentation of Lonergan's four-point hypothesis regarding the divine relations and created grace than many have previously read.

The renowned Christian theologian Bernard Lonergan was also a professor, teaching courses on theological method at universities in Canada, the United States, and Italy. This volume records his lectures and teaching materials, thus preserving and elucidating his intellectual development between the publication of Insight in 1957 and Method in Theology in 1972.

The present volume contains a record of the lectures delivered in 1962 (Regis College, Toronto), 1964 (Georgetown University), and 1968 (Boston College). This is the most 'interactive' volume yet published in the Collected Works series. The audio recordings of the 1962 and 1968 lectures are now available on the website www.bernardlonergan.com, as are PDF files of original papers from his 1964 institute at Georgetown. These lectures help to elucidate the development of Lonergan's ideas on such key notions as horizon, conversion, and meaning, as well as his evolving opinion on how best to divide theology into fields of specialization.

Written in Latin for students at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan's De Deo Trino (The Triune God) is a monumental two-part examination of trinitarian theology published initially in 1961 and again, in revised form, in 1964. The first part, the pars dogmatica, is here translated into English in an edition that includes the original Latin on facing pages. The work begins with the Prolegomena, which traces the dialectical development of trinitarian doctrine by Christian thinkers from the time of the New Testament to the Council of Nicea (AD 325). Following is a discussion of five theses outlining the evolution of the principal features of trinitarian doctrine from the New Testament through the patristic era. Along with its companion volume on systematics, The Triune God: Doctrines represents the most comprehensive treatment of trinitarian theology in recent centuries. This English translation ensures that Lonergan's masterpiece will at last be available in its entirety to contemporary readers.

Buried for more than forty years in a Latin text written for seminarians at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan's important work on systematic theology, De Deo Trino: Pars systematica, is presented here for the first time in a facing-page edition that includes the original Latin along with a precise English translation. De Deo Trino, or The Triune God, the second part of which is the pars systematica, continues a particular strand in trinitarian theology, namely, the tradition that appeals to a psychological analogy for understanding trinitarian processions and relations. The psychological analogy dates back to St Augustine but was significantly developed by St Thomas Aquinas. Lonergan advances it to a new level of understanding by bringing to it his extensive exploration of cognitional theory and deliberative process. Suggestions for a further development of the analogy appear in Lonergan's late work, but these cannot be fully comprehended and implemented without the background provided in this volume. With this definitive translated edition, one of the masterpieces of systematic theology, will at last be available to contemporary scholars.

Bernard Lonergan's theological writings have influenced religious scholars ever since the first publication in the 1940s of the series of five articles which make up "Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas." These articles first appeared in "Theological Studies" and were subsequently republished in book form in 1967 under the present title. This volume contains a new preface by the editors and full translations of all Latin texts.

"Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas" is a product of Lonergan's eleven years of study of the thought of Thomas Aquinas. The work is considered by many to be a breakthrough in the history of Lonergan's theology and a foundation upon which his later contributions were constructed. Here he interprets aspects in the writing of Aquinas relevant to trinitarian theory and, as in most of Lonergan's work, one of the principal aims is to assist the reader in the search to understand the workings of the human mind.

"Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas" is a vital component of Lonergan's oeuvre, and of continuing relevance to trinitarian theology, Aquinas studies, and inquiries into human cognition.

Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a professor of theology, taught at Regis College, Harvard University, and Boston College. An established author known for his Insight and Method in Theology, Lonergan received numerous honorary doctorates, was a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1971 and was named as an original members of the International Theological Commission by Pope Paul VI.

The period during which Bernard Lonergan delivered the eleven lectures in this volume was one of important transition for him: he was moving rapidly toward a new conception of theology and its method; and he was on the verge of what is now recognized as a major breakthrough in his thought on method, the idea that came to him in February 1965 of the eight functional specialities.

While the lectures maintain a continuity with Lonergan's previous work, they also reveal new and significant ideas, especially in regard to his drive toward a new conception of theology as a whole, and his particular concern for the relevance of theology to the spiritual life. The lectures here include The Redemption, ' Method in Catholic Theology, ' The Philosophy of History, ' The Origins of Christian Realism, ' Time and Meaning, ' Consciousness and the Trinity, ' Exegesis and Dogma, ' The Mediation of Christ in Prayer, ' The Analogy of Meaning, ' Philosophical Positions with Regard to Knowing, ' and Theology as Christian Phenomenon.'

This volume provides a key to understanding the development of Lonergan's philosophical and theological thought, his major influences, and the pivotal moments of transition in the road leading up to Method in Theology and beyond.

Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a professor of theology, taught at Regis College, Harvard University, and Boston College. An established author known for his Insight and Method in Theology, Lonergan received numerous honorary doctorates, was a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1971 and was named as an original members of the International Theological Commission by Pope Paul VI.