A Vindication of Finitude: Maurice Blondel's Ascetic Philosophy
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Description
Through a fresh reading of the French Catholic philosopher Maurice Blondel, this book confronts a fundamental theological and philosophical problem: how an infinite God can be united to finite human beings without bringing about their annihilation.
Unusually for his time, Blondel is presented as undertaking a proto-ressourcement of ascetic themes drawn from the mystical tradition. This recovery enables him to articulate a robust yet intricate realism that avoids the dangers posed by two competing, annihilative visions of personhood: absorption into nothingness, exemplified by Arthur Schopenhauer, and absorption into the infinite, exemplified by Baruch Spinoza.
By locating Blondel's philosophy of action between these two extremes-the nothingness of creatures and their absolute identity with God-the book asks how divine–human union can be possible without finite beings ceasing to be themselves. It argues that Blondel's answer lies in a reciprocal abnegation of the human and the divine, a proposal that calls for a renewed assessment of the value of ascesis within finite life.
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Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: Annihilation from Below
1. What can Negation Yield?
2. Action and the Abyssal Will
3. Will We Find a Salvation?
Part II: Absorption from Above
4. The Problem of Beatitude for Finite Creatures
5. No One Sees God Without Dying
6. Becoming Real
Conclusion
Index
Bibliography
Product details
| Published | 21 Jan 2027 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 9780567728579 |
| Imprint | T&T Clark |
| Series | T&T Clark Studies in Ressourcement Catholic Theology and Culture |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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