Fifty Years of Insight: Bernard Lonergan’s Contribution to Philosophy and Theology

Bernard Lonergan is one of the greatest Catholic intellectuals of the twentieth century. His writings cover an enormous range of topics including philosophy, theology, science, history, art, education and economics. His collected works, currently being published by University of Toronto Press, will number over twenty volumes. However, for most people he is best known for two works, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding and Method in Theology. If these were the only two works he ever wrote, his reputation would be undiminished, marking him as a unique mind capable of the most profound philosophical and theological analyses. Perhaps because of the profundity of his writings he nonetheless remains an intellectual terra incognita for many people. He has a well deserved reputation for being difficult to read, particularly if one’s starting point is Insight. It is not that his writings are particularly dense or obscure, but his appeal to mathematical and scientific examples can leave an unprepared mind floundering. His writing assumes a reader who is at the ‘level of the times’, abreast of the scientific and cultural achievements of the day. At the same time, many have found that Lonergan’s work invites and challenges them precisely to reach to that level. They discover that the engagement bears such fruit that it is well worth the effort and provides a sure grounding for the widest possible variety of intellectual and other human endeavours. The essays contained in this work demonstrate this wide application of Lonergan’s work, covering three general areas - philosophical, theological and what one might call broadly cultural.