This volume celebrates the thought of Louis Dupre, a man who, in such important works as Passage to Modernity, has assayed our present situation by plumbing the spiritual foundations of the present crisis. Dupre’s probing into the genesis and maturation of the cultural epoch we call modernity not only enthralled a decade of Yale undergraduates but impels a new generation of scholars reconsidering the configuration of premodern, modern, and postmodern.

A rich collection of wise, sophisticated, and elegant essays developing a Christian theological and spiritual genealogy of modernity in its various forms. Theology, philosophy, the arts, and the history of ideas are brought together, taking further the conversation that Louis Dupre’s work exemplifies with consummate skill and erudition. No one seeking to ponder the relation of faith to modernity can fail to profit from this fine set of reflections.

The fourteen scholars contributing to this volume all carry with them some measure of Dupre’s hope, and they enter into conversation with his view of modern culture from a variety of perspectives philosophy, theology, the history of ideas, social ethics, and the study of mysticism. This substantial work constitutes both an excellent entree into Dupre’s thought and a valuable resource for reevaluating the most basic categories or our thinking.

Contributors: David Tracy, Thomas P. McTighe Adriaan Peperzak, Charles Trinkaus, Philip Clayton, Michael J. Buckley, S.J., Cyril O’Regan, Kenneth Schmitz, James Wiseman, O.S.B., Karsten Harries, William O’Neill, S.J., George P. Schner, S.J., Peter Casarella, Philip Chmielewski, S.J.

Peter J. Casarella is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Program in Medieval and Byzantine Studies at Catholic University of America.

The main objective of this book is to demonstrate that in Louis Dupre's work all religious expression, insofar as it has a transcendent reference, is intrinsically symbolic. Religious language is never purely objective nor purely subjective, but a dialectical relation with a transcendent dimension; as such religion is never detachable from its symbolic expression.

The main methodology of this project is a synchronic investigation of Dupre's thought. While some historical ordering of his books and articles will be noted, the primary presentation is by way of synthesis. The strategy of this book is not to critique his works, but to provide an elucidation and application of his conception of symbols and the ideas it entails. Note that in his earlier writings Dupre followed the accepted style of his day employing masculine pronouns instead of inclusive terms. We will leave the quotations as originally printed, acknowledging this limitation here and recognizing that in later works he is sensitive to this need.

In investigating symbols of transcendence, Chapter One first asserts the necessity of employing symbols in general for religious expression. The author begins by taking a look at the meaning of "religious" for Dupre, in order to clarify the field of study. Then, a twofold justification to speak of symbol as primary is presented. The first is theological and proceeds from Dupre's conception of mysticism as belonging to the essence of religious faith. Mysticism must use the language of symbols, and since Dupre argues that a mystical impulse belongs to the core of religion, religion of necessity must employ symbolic language. The second argument is philosophical, employing Schleiermacher polemically and Hegel in a more positive fashion. In contrast to Schleiermacher, Dupre distinguishes religious experience which requires symbolic expression from a purely aesthetic feeling which does not. In agreement with Hegel, Dupre accepts religion as representation, and interprets this as asserting the necessary use of symbols for religious expression. The justification also extends beyond the question at hand to the larger justification of the methodology that Dupre embraces, which is to some extent both philosophical and theological, phenomenological and ontological.

The second and third chapters study in detail Dupre's appreciation of symbol. Chapter Two investigates Dupre's symbol theory in general. It begins with an outline of certain features of the thought of Cassirer, Hegel, and Langer. These authors are foundational for Dupre's perception of symbol. Next, symbols are discussed in their necessary relationship to Dupre's interest in culture and metaphysical ultimacy. In addition, three general patterns essential to understanding symbols are culled from Dupre's thought. They are form, representation, and language. In investigating these concepts, key elements of Dupre's general regard for symbols are manifested. Chapter Three applies this general knowledge to the specific religious symbols of ritual, sacraments, and religious art. At this point transcendence is singled out as the unique referent that sets symbols which give rise to religious understanding apart from symbols which do not. Chapter Four examines the modern inability to fully form religious symbols. In the history of Western culture, the shift from premodernity to modernity entails the breakup of the unified concept of nature into its component parts of cosmic, human, and transcendent spheres. This fracturing occurs in the eviction of transcendence to a realm distinct from nature, and in the severing of the human subject from the cosmos. These occurrences created a new situation in which human culture became devoid of a transcendent dimension. This predicament is still operative today as Dupre designates the contemporary scene more properly as "late modernity" than "postmodernity." Without a transcendent referent, religious symbols lose their religious significance. While some suggest solutions such as returning to the past or locating transcendence within secular experiences, Dupre advances an inward turn akin to the mystical practice of past ages. This does not recover a sense of transcendence for culture, however, but it is successful in doing so for one's personal spiritual life. The fourth chapter develops these ideas under three sections detailing first, the move from premodernity to modernity, second, the modem situation and third, hope for the future.