This dissertation is a response to the U. S. Catholic bishops call to "develop a theology of peace" in the process of "a completely fresh appraisal of war" that was Vatican II's challenge. My interest is in highlighting and furthering the conversation of "nonviolence" in the Catholic context as a response to modern war and domination.
First, I investigated the Catholic tradition with a focus on Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on war and peace. This investigation raised the question of the meaning of "peace as the tranquility of order" and their response contributed to an understanding of the created order of the universe as intrinsically intelligible. Human cooperation with that order is transformative and not dominative since sin is violence against the created order. The created order of human life is intrinsically oriented to the peace of God.
Secondly, I concentrated on Bernard Lonergan's thought in order to show his contributions to an understanding of peace as order that is intrinsically nonviolent. His early writings demonstrate his concern for peace, his abhorrence of violence and domination, and his desire to foster intelligent human cooperation with the grace of God. His dialectical critique of modernity and the modern state are emphasized. Lonergan's later writings continue those concerns with a more clearly worked out understanding of "order" in the framework of emergent probability. The order of history (progress), the disorder of history (decline) and divine reordering of history (redemption) grounded in human subjectivity are stressed as the foundations for a theology of peace.
Overall, my position is that Lonergan's thought is extremely valuable in articulating the terms and relations that are foundational to an understanding of authentic and nonviolent subjects in cooperation with "higher viewpoint" of divine redemption. A concern for a fuller realization of peace with justice in our world challenges us to participate in the "divine solution to the problem of evil" that empowers humanity to live lives of self-sacrificial love.
