Gift and the Unity of Being (Veritas)

4.5/5 ( ratings)

Starting from both our originary experience of being given to ourselves and Jesus Christ's archetypal self-donation, Gift and the Unity of Being elucidates the sense in which gift is the form of being's unity, while unity itself constitutes the permanence of the gift of being. In dialogue with ancient and modern philosophers and theologians, López offers a synthetic, rather than systematic, account of the unity proper to being, the human person, God, and the relations among them. The book shows how contemplation of the triune God of Love through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit allows us to discover the eternal communion that being is and to which finite being is called. It also illustrates the sense in which God's gratuitousness unexpectedly offers the human person the possibility to recognize and embrace his origin and destiny, and thus he is given to see and taste in God's light the ever-fruitful, dramatic, and mysterious positivity of being.

"I believed I was simply opening a brilliant, but also a routine comment on Giussani's thought. But what I discovered here was a masterpiece! This book is no more than one of the most complete expressions of the . . . paradigm of 'gift' in present Catholic thought, embracing the neglected polarity of gift and to-be-given."
--Emmanuel Tourpe, Institut d'Etudes Théologiques

"Gift and the Unity of Being ranks among one of the most impressive reflections on the nature of gift, ranging from deep reflection on the nature of birth to the Trinitarian God as the agapeic giver of all that is. It importantly stresses the reciprocity of giving and receiving, with due deference for the disproportion and asymmetry of the divine superiority. This book accomplishes this in both philosophical and theological registers, drawing especially on the work of Luigi Giussani."
--William Desmond, Villanova University

"In this wonderful book Antonio López offers a profound metaphysical interpretation of the gift of existence that is at once rigorous, systematic, and systemically dialogical. López engages all the contending views of the gift out there, and especially those of Derrida, Marion, Milbank, and Guissani, [and] he offers his own alternative, which is embedded in the tradition of Aquinas and his theological and philosophical precursors and heirs. . . . A true tour de force!"
--Cyril O'Regan, University of Notre Dame

Rev. Antonio López, FSCB, is Provost/Dean and Associate Professor of Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC. He is author of the book Spirit's Gift: The Metaphysical Insight of Claude Bruaire.