The Liturgical and Ascetical Heart of Louis Bouyer’s Trinitarian Theology

The Liturgical and Ascetical Heart of Louis Bouyer’s Trinitarian Theology1 Keith Lemna The French Oratorian Louis Bouyer (1913-2004) is mostly known, at least in the Anglophone world, as a specialist in liturgy and spirituality , when in fact he was one of the most important, and even in some ways influential, Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. He published a large body of writings covering the full scope of traditional theological themes.2 At the center of his theological output was a Trinitarian theology that is arguably as rich, deep, and multifaceted as any to have been expounded in the twentieth century. Cardinal Angelo Scola has himself placed it at the head of a list of what he calls the most “farseeing” Trinitarian theologies of the twentieth century.3 1 Presented as a paper delivered at the 2012 general conference of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, held 26-28 January in St Louis, Missouri. 2 There have been several books and dissertations written in recent years on the full scope of Bouyer’s thought. For a concise summary of Bouyer’s theology, written in English, see Jake C. Yap, “Louis Bouyer and the Unity of Theology,” in Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in TwentiethCentury Catholic Theology, ed. Gabriel Flynn and Paul D. Murray (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) 289-304. For a thorough overview, see especially: Davide Zordan, Connaissance et mystère: L’itinéraire thélogique de Louis Bouyer (Paris: Cerf, 2008) and idem, Louis Bouyer (Brescia: Editrice Morcelliana, 2009); Jean Duchesne, Louis Bouyer (Perpignan, France: Artège, 2011); Guillaume Bruté de Rémur, “La Théologie Trinitaire de Louis Bouyer” (diss., Pontifical Gregorian University, 2010); Fabio Quartulli, “Approches de la théologie de l’Eucharistie selon les écrits de Louis Bouyer” (diss., Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, 2008); Vincent Guibert, À l’ombre de l’Esprit, Collège des Bernardins (Paris: Parole et Silence, 2009); Christian Villenueve, “Captivité démoniaque et lutte contre le diable chez Louis Bouyer” (diss., University of Laval, 2007). An excellent overview of Bouyer’s thinking, in his own words, is found in Louis Bouyer, Le métier de théologien: Entretiens avec Georges Daix (Geneva: Ad Solem, 2005). 3 See Angelo Scola, The Nuptial Mystery (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2005) 279. More specifically, Scola places Bouyer’s nuptial theology of the Holy Spirit as the first among a list of theologies that each recognize that “the Holy Spirit is really the principle of the unity of family life, since he is Antiphon 16.2 (2012): 86-99 87 The Liturgical and Ascetical Heart of Louis Bouyer’s Trinitarian Theology Drawing on both Western and Eastern sources, Father Bouyer developed his understanding of the Trinity—which he considered, quite frankly, to be the Church’s deepest liturgical understanding, often sedimented in the modern age—in many books and articles. His theology of the Trinity was always connected to the heart of Christian life. He understood that the doctrine flows from the Church’s life of prayer and should inspire the Christian to seek to live in accordance with God’s holiness. He thought that much modern theology had lost sight of the liturgical grounding of Trinitarian theology and its implications for the whole of Christian existence. He sought to overcome this deficiency with an explicitly articulated liturgical and ascetical theology that was a forerunner to the liturgical and ascetical theologies of such eminent figures as Alexander Schmemann, Jean Corbon, and Pope Benedict XVI. It is my goal in this study to suggest briefly the intertwining in Bouyer’s thinking of liturgical theology, ascetical theology, and Trinitarian theology. I shall do so by looking at his theology of the Trinity first in its eucharistic/liturgical dimension and then in its implications for the pursuit of Christian perfection through ascetical practice. I hope to communicate with this exposition a sense of the singular importance of Bouyer’s work for bringing together systematic theology and liturgiology. I. A Eucharistic Theology of the Trinity Bouyer may have been the theologian par excellence among the group of Catholic thinkers such as Romano Guardini, Josef Pieper, and Jean Daniélou, who sought to counter the prevalent bland optimism...

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