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The Art of Retrieval and the Science of History, or How to Think Ressourcement Historically

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Published/Copyright: October 8, 2025

Abstract

This article takes up Peter Hünermann’s treatment of historicist thinking and its potential to help, in the words of Bernard Lonergan, “get history into theology.” It does so as a way to avoid both a withdrawal from thick ressourcement and a “new ressourcement” that, in its zeal to find common cause with Thomism, sees historicist thought as a danger to the preservation of theological truth.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit Peter Hünermanns Auseinandersetzung mit dem historistischen Denken sowie dessen Potenzial, in den Worten von Bernard Lonergan „die Geschichte in die Theologie zu integrieren.“ Auf diese Weise sollen sowohl die Ablehnung eines umfassenden Ressourcement als auch ein „neues Ressourcement,“ das in seinem Eifer, Gemeinsamkeiten mit dem Thomismus zu finden, das historistische Denken als Gefahr für die Bewahrung der theologischen Wahrheit betrachtet, vermieden werden.


Note

This article grew from an invitation to give a paper at a workshop organized by the editors of New Ressourcement. I thank the editors for the invitation and for the discussions had over the course of the workshop.


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Published Online: 2025-10-08

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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