A Comparative Study of the Hermeneutics of Henri de Lubac and Hans-Georg Gadamer Concerning Tradition, Community and Faith in the Interpretation of Scripture
This dissertation investigates and compares the hermeneutics of the French Jesuit theologian, Henri de Lubac (1896-1991), and the German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2001). The writings of both Gadamer and de Lubac continue to generate scholarly investigation, including proposals to apply their insights to contemporary biblical interpretation. Although de Lubac and Gadamer were contemporaries, they never directly engaged each other's writings; this dissertation brings their thought into dialogue. Chapter One provides a biographical overview of the lives of both scholars by situating the texts that will be examined within the broader context of each work. Since de Lubac approached the subject of biblical interpretation chiefly as an historian of exegesis, the first step in this comparative investigation is a formulation of de Lubac's hermeneutical principles. Chapter Two, which constitutes the major portion of this dissertation, analyzes de Lubac's works Catholicisme, Histoire et Esprit, Exegese medievale, and La Posterite spirituelle de Joachim de Flore in view of understanding his hermeneutics. An historical account of the formation of de Lubac's theology of the four-fold sense of Scripture is provided, together with a description of its final synthesis. This chapter proposes that de Lubac's later works must be read in light of his writings of the 1930s in order to grasp the scope of his desired integration of traditional interpretation and modern science. It also provides a more detailed analysis of the exegetical import of La Posterite spirituelle than previous literature. Although the writings of Gadamer concern general hermeneutics, he occasionally applied his theories to biblical interpretation. Chapter Three examines Gadamer's Wahrheit und Methode in order to compare his hermeneutics with those of de Lubac that were presented in Chapter Two. The conclusion appraises the similarities between de Lubac and Gadamer in their treatment of the role of tradition and community in interpretation. The conclusion also explores the tension between their views on the role of faith in interpretation and suggests that certain principles of Gadamer's general hermeneutics may provide the philosophical support that de Lubac desired for his theological hermeneutics of Scripture. An appendix analyzes the textual relationship of Histoire et Esprit to its sources.
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