No Separation of Nature & Grace

"A theological aesthetic requires more than an inward vision: it must be able to present the world as manifesting God's presence. Hence the analogy from above must be complimented by some analogy from below. Only the latter can provide the symbols and images to make that theological vision concrete and extend it to the entire world.

In modern culture this has become exceedingly difficult. More and more, faith tends to depend exclusively on revelation and/or on the inner experience. God has to be known through his revelation and through his inner voice, so to speak, in isolation from the world. Theological form has increasingly come to be reduced to the 'formal' aspect of the expression rather than revealing itself in the very experience of the cosmic structure. Whatever divine light reaches the modern believer's mind illuminates mostly the inner realm of the soul. The separation between the realms of nature and of grace has caused a 'disincarnation' of theology in the modern age."

-Lois Dupre, Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection, 72

ht: Artur Rosman