Generative Thought

This is a continuation of the comments made in the below post, Overview of the Ressourcement Series by Fred. Balthasar & Giussani have taught me what "generates culture." In recent years I have lessened my focus on theology and moved more to literature, poetry, music, art, drama, etc. I have also came to appreciate more the work of Ressourcement artists like Peguy, Claudel, Bernanos, & Bloy. As Cardinal Spidlik says in the Foreword of In the Fire of the Burning Bush, "Artists know that they don't create new and strange things, but rather are called to reveal what is most real at the very heart of things: the fire that God ignites in them, the fire that does not consume them but enlightens them and gives them life."

Studying theology only gets you so far. Don't get me wrong, it's important and necessary to build a foundation, but in the end it doesn't move anything. Orthodoxy must be proceeded by Orthopraxis. The genius with Giussani is this - he re-discovered the method that God the Father used with the Apostles and early disciples, which is the event of an encounter of Christ recognized through personal experience and verified through the unity of friendship. As both Balthasar and Giussani understood in the very marrow of their bones & hearts, "beauty will save the world."