The Drama of Atheist Humanism by Henri de Lubac
"The Drama of Atheist Humanism" by Henri de Lubac is a thought-provoking work that creatively presents the philosophical conflicts surrounding atheist humanism through a play-like structure. De Lubac explores the tensions between notable thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard, as well as the antitheist Auguste Comte, contrasting their views with Christian thought. Central to his analysis is the idea that while atheist humanists sought to liberate humanity from religious constraints, they overlooked the spiritual essence of human nature and the possibility of a transcendent destiny.
De Lubac argues that this neglect can lead to moral and societal consequences, citing historical examples of totalitarian regimes that emerged from secular ideologies. He positions Fyodor Dostoevski as a critical figure in this discourse; through his literary characters, Dostoevski articulates the dangers of a godless existence while also presenting a vision of redemption through faith in Christ. De Lubac emphasizes that true humanism is inseparable from the teachings of the Gospel and encourages a deeper understanding of humanity's divine origins. His reflections resonate beyond their immediate context, influencing discussions on faith, human dignity, and the role of religion in contemporary society.
On this Page
The Drama of Atheist Humanism by Henri de Lubac
First published:Le Drame de l’humanisme athée, 1944 (English translation, 1949)
Edition(s) used:The Drama of Atheist Humanism, translated by Edith M. Riley. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1950
Genre(s): Nonfiction
Subgenre(s): Critical analysis; didactic treatise; history
Core issue(s):Alienation from God; atheism; God; good vs. evil; Gospels; redemption; religion
Overview
Although Henri de Lubac’s The Drama of Atheist Humanism is a work of nonfiction, he structured the work as a play. He analyzes the drama of atheist humanism in terms of conflicts between such philosophers as Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard and between antitheist Auguste Comte and Christianity, the religion he opposed. Lubac resolves these conflicts through a person who, unlike the atheist humanists, was not a philosopher but a novelist—Fyodor Dostoevski. This Russian Orthodox Christian used the teachings of Jesus Christ to assuage the alienation and sufferings of those trapped in a world seemingly without providential succor.
De Lubac structures his drama in three parts: “Atheist Humanism,” “Auguste Comte and Christianity,” and “Dostoevsky as Prophet.” He writes from the perspective of theocentric humanism, and this work can be seen as a meditation on these words from Genesis: “God made man in his own image and likeness.” The humanism in the book’s title refers not to the Renaissance literary movement that emphasized freedom and tolerance but to a modern movement that makes human nature the measure of all things. Atheist humanists excised the transcendental God from their thinking to free humans from religious shackles and thus to establish genuine human greatness. However, by excluding God from their analysis of the human being, these atheist humanists denied what de Lubac believes is a human being’s spiritual nature and immortal destiny.
Two German thinkers, Ludwig Feuerbach and Friedrich Nietzsche, are de Lubac’s primary examples of antitheist humanists (neither liked to be called an atheist). Feuerbach, who argued that God was nothing but a mental projection or idealized abstraction, wanted to create a new religion based not on God but on the human being. He once stated that all his works were based on the idea that humans must have faith in themselves. Karl Marx, the creator of the modern communist movement, was critical of Feuerbach’s new religion and wanted to replace it with a science of the historical development of actual human beings. Nietzsche, too, was critical of Feuerbach, believing that God’s death must be passionately claimed so that he and other heroic individuals could become fully human.
Nietzsche’s emphasis on existential humans as specific individuals in a material world was also a theme in Søren Kierkegaard’s writings, and de Lubac contrasts Nietzsche the iconoclast and Kierkegaard the Christian. They were both enemies of philosophical systems, but Kierkegaard was a “herald of transcendence,” and he tried to convince an increasingly faithless world of the great value of faith in Jesus Christ. De Lubac sees this conflict between faith and faithlessness as pivotal to the future of the modern world. He says that without God, secular humanism can easily be transformed into such inhuman totalitarian systems as communism, fascism, and Nazism. For example, Nietzsche’s “slave morality” developed in the twentieth century not in Christianity but in these atheistic political systems.
Like other atheist humanists, Auguste Comte strove to analyze the human being without any reference to God, and his famous “Law of the Three States” associates theistic thinking with the most primitive stages of human development. This theological or fictitious phase must be followed by a metaphysical or abstract stage, which is little more than a bridge to what Comte truly admired, the scientific or positive stage, the realm of “social physics,” which he would later call “sociology,” the highest science. In this new society, scientists would be the priests in what would essentially be a “religion of humanity.” Though he admired the “social genius” of Catholicism—its powerful ways of organizing human behavior—Comte wanted to replace Jesus Christ and the Christian saints with a “cult of great men,” people such as scientist Isaac Newton. Comte believed that this new faith in positivism would not be subject to abuse because positivistic truths must always be demonstrable. However, de Lubac thinks that, in practice, Comtean positivism would lead to the dictatorship of a party or sect. By denying that the human being is a creation of God, Comte, the worshiper of humanity, tragically misjudges genuine human nature, which is spiritual as well as material.
The principal protagonist in de Lubac’s drama of atheist humanism is Dostoevski, whom he sees as a prophet because this novelist not only understood the spiritual depths of human beings but also realized what evil would happen if humans had to live in a world without God. De Lubac realizes that both Nietzsche and Dostoevski understood the implications that the disappearance of God would have for humankind, but Dostoevski believed that Jesus Christ could rescue humans from the abyss of despair and meaninglessness. Some of Dostoevski’s characters despised Christian morality and admired those who rose above religious restrictions and gloried in their indomitable will to power, for example, the Nietzschean murderer Rodion Raskolnikov in Prestupleniye I nakazaniye (1866; Crime and Punishment, 1886). One of Dostoevski’s most famous atheists is Ivan Karamazov in Bratya Karamazovy (1879-1880; The Brothers Karamazov, 1912), who tells the story of the Grand Inquisitor, whose devastating critique has fascinated many readers and critics. In the confrontation between Jesus Christ and the Grand Inquisitor, Ivan proposes that rejecting God means the affirmation of human freedom. Dostoevski’s response is well known: If God does not exist, then all is permitted. Against the atheist humanist vision of a paradise on earth, Dostoevski offers hope of the kingdom of God, which would also help create a humane society on earth. De Lubac agrees with Dostoevski that the Christian God-man provides an answer to the physical and spiritual sufferings of the modern world, and he ends his book with a hymn of hope: Another life exists for a troubled humanity—the eternal life of love and happiness promised by Jesus Christ to his faithful followers.
Christian Themes
The atheist humanists attacked faith in God, and de Lubac felt that it was important for people to recognize the important issues at stake in this battle between godlessness and God. Although these atheist humanists reduced the human being to the natural level (and denied the supernatural), de Lubac is famous for his belief in the spiritual grandeur of human nature. He accepted the distinction between the natural and supernatural, but he also believed in the supernatural origin, support (through grace), and destiny of humanity. The spirituality of the human being is thus a principal theme of his book and the reason he believes the teachings of the atheist humanists are dangerously wrong. Christians must fight the false atheist humanist vision of humanity and intensify their faith in God and in their own spiritual nature. A human is a creature with a divine ancestry, for, as Saint Augustine wrote, humans were made in the image of God to grow into the image of Christ. This introduces another important theme in de Lubac’s book: No true humanism exists apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has to be rediscovered and relived age after age.
The themes that de Lubac developed in The Drama of Atheist Humanism had an influence on its many readers through several editions and many languages. As a participant in the Second Vatican Council, de Lubac helped make his analysis of atheism and humanism part of such important documents as Gaudium et spes, a pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, and after de Lubac’s death the themes of his book appeared in the publications of many philosophers and theologians. They also became part of the debate about the new constitution of the European Union, when many religious Europeans were shocked that no mention of the influence of Christian ideas and values appeared in the document. Although Christianity has certainly declined in many European countries, modern followers of de Lubac have stated that only in the mystery of the incarnate word is the mystery of the human being revealed in its true light.
Sources for Further Study
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. The Theology of Henri de Lubac: An Overview. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991. Balthasar, a former student of de Lubac who became a prominent theologian, analyzes his teacher’s principal works to show how they insightfully present the truths of Catholicism to contemporary readers.
Hollenbach, David. The Global Face of Public Faith: Politics, Human Rights, and Christian Ethics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003. An exploration of the relationship between humanism and Christian belief, a theme that concerned de Lubac, with an emphasis on the role that Christian ethics should play in the discussion about what constitutes a good global society.
Lubac, Henri de. At the Service of the Church: Henri de Lubac Reflects on the Circumstances That Occasioned His Writings. San Francisco: Communio Books, 1993. This memoir, originally published in French in 1989, contains de Lubac’s explanation of the provenance, meaning, and influence of his books along with compassionate responses to his critics.
Milbank, John. The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate Concerning the Supernatural. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005. A brief study of an important theme in de Lubac’s writings by one of his British disciples.