In today’s episode, we begin with a very amusing conversation about recurring dreams. This conversation quickly reveals that we don’t really know how math works (although we do learn that Jon likes “trashy, voluptuous equation[s]”)! We also learn that Robyn’s stockpile of recurring dreams is fascinating and intrepid. Jon’s King Lear dream, on the other hand, gets him yelled at by Orson Welles! After this most interesting introduction, we pivot into a discussion of Lonergan’s 1976 essay, “Mission and the Spirit.” First, we set the scene for by unpacking finality and its place in metaphysics and epistemology. This leads to a discussion of how incredibly complex and mid-blowing the universe is, as higher, sublative processes integrate and order lower schemes of recurrence (which gets even more interesting when we bring human agency into the picture). Even more fascinatingly, finality extends beyond even proportionate being, as all things have a relationship of absolute finality to God. Come back next week for an overview of how Lonergan relates this framework to trinitarian theology and soteriology.

TITLE NAMED IN MAIN SEGMENT

Aristotle. “Metaphysics.” In The Basic Works of Aristotle, edited by Richard McKeon, translated by W.D. Ross, Reprint Edition., 681–926. Modern Library Classics. New York: Modern Library, 2001.

Blondel, Maurice. Action: Essay on a Critique of Life and a Science of Practice. Translated by Oliva Blanchette. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 1984.

Lonergan, Bernard, J.F. “Finality, Love, Marriage.” In Collection. Edited by Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran, 17–52. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 4. (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1988.

Lonergan, Bernard J.F. Insight: A Study of Human Understanding. Edited by Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran. 5th Edition. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.

Lonergan, Bernard J.F. “Mission and the Spirit.” In A Third Collection, edited by Frederick E. Crowe, 21–33. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 16. University of Toronto Press, 2017.

Lonergan, Bernard J.F. “The Natural Desire to See God.” In Collection: Papers by Bernard J.F. Lonergan, edited by Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran, 81–91. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 4. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

Lonergan, Bernard J.F. Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas. Edited by Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran. Vol. Volume 2. Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Lubac, Henri de. The Mystery of the Supernatural. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998.

Rahner, Karl. “Christology within an Evolutionary View of the World.” In Theological Investigations, translated by Kevin Smyth, 4:157–92. Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1966.

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Our theme music is “14 Ghosts II” by Nine Inch Nails, available at https://archive.org/details/nineinchnails_ghosts_I_IV

“14 Ghosts II” is used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. We would like to thank Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails for the use of this track.

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