So many gems in Dooyeweerd's In the Twilight of Western Thought: Studies in the Pretended Autonomy of Philosphical Thought.  This summer I benefitted from reading Leonardo De Chirico's book Evangelical Theological Perspectives on Post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism. I found it to be a very helpful read, and I am still reflecting on De Chirico's insights.  At the heart of De Chirico's book is the argument that to truly understand Roman Catholicism, one must grasp its systemic nature, and in particular the existent of two key axioms at the heart of the system: (1) Rome's understanding of the relationship between nature and grace; and (2) Rome's understanding of the Christ-Church relationship, where the Church is seen as the continuing of the incarnation.  With this summer reading still in my mind, I found the following in Dooyeweerd's In the Twilight of Western Thought, which seems in fundamental agreement with De Chirico.  Dooyerweerd suspects that there is a slide toward "pretended autonomy" (or we might say, a "functional autonomy") in Thomas Aquinas' understanding of the relationship between nature and grace.  Dooyeweerd is concerned that in Thomas' understanding, the notion of a "natural sphere" which can be understood "by the natural light of human reason alone" eventually leads to a form of (pretended) philosophical autonomy.  Dooyeweerd writes:

"This scholastic motive of nature and grace, which entered Roman Catholic doctrine, deprived the central theme of the Word-revelation--namely that of creation, fall into sin and redemption by Jesus Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit--of its radical and integral character.  By accepting a natural sphere of life, which was supposed to be related to the human intellect alone and apart from any religious presupposition, it paved the way for a philosophy which did not acknowledge any other authority than human reason." (p. 47)

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