Grace, Modernist authors, Modernism, Catholic Church 

Christianity has often been accused of disdaining the good things of this world and of cultivating in individual Christians a separatism and detachment which make it impossible for the Christian to maintain a sense of balance. Even the best of Christians - the saints - are frequently considered unbalanced and even inhuman.

The reader of this volume will be led to the conclusion that the foregoing accusations are totally unfounded and that they represent at best an erroneous concept of Christian teaching. The most balanced person is actually the saint, because as a perfect Christian he has succeeded in achieving a harmonious equilibrium between the world and himself, between the natural and the supernatural, between the temporal and the eternal.

The Christian who has not yet attained the perfect equilibrium of the saint is a man who is still striving for balance and harmony. In this search, some persons turn to the therapist or the counselor, but all too often this proves to be a futile effort. The reason is that the equilibrium of the human person does not come from nature alone, however much it may be aided by science and technology. Ultimately a man must turn to God and to the supernatural helps which God provides.

Father Andre sees the problem of personal equilibrium as a problem of establishing the proper balance between the order of nature and the order of grace. Repeatedly he applies the fundamental principle: grace does not destroy or replace nature, but it perfects and elevates nature. He shows that this principle is valid whether it is applied to life of the individual Christian or to the more universal problem of the world and the temporal order.

The author approaches the study of equilibrium from three different aspects: the theological, the psychological and the pastoral. First, he treats of Christianity in the world today, the role of the temporal, the natural and the supernatural, the Word made flesh, and the body and soul of man. He then discusses psychic equilibrium, conformity and non-conformity, introversion and extroversion, and similar psychological questions. Finally, the author applies theological and psychological principles to the solution of particular problems in contemporary Christianity: the apostolate, the precept of charity, suffering, and prayer.

But lest the reader expect too much, Father Yves Congar states in the Introduction: "Perfect equilibrium would be - will be - the kingdom of God, the definitive result of his reign. Here below, as long as the mystery of the Holy Spirit is so incomplete and so precarious, the Christian life appears as an alternation between two fidelities: to nature and to grace."

Taken from the inside flaps.