David Braine reassesses the debate between Henri de Lubac and his critics over humanity’s supernatural finality and the natural desire to see God. He argues that critics such as Lawrence Feingold and Cajetan can identify genuine problems in de Lubac’s terminology while missing the broader Augustinian and Thomistic framework. Original sin is presented as a real privation of sanctifying grace affecting humanity as a spiritual community descended from Adam, rather than as a legal fiction or corruption of human nature; this same solidarity makes Christ’s redemptive obedience effective for all.

The discussion distinguishes human nature from the person who exists within God’s actual order of providence. Human nature has an aptitude for grace but no power guaranteeing it, while the person is truly ordered to the beatific vision, the one ultimate beatitude in the present providential order. Braine distinguishes the primary theological sense of “natural”—what belongs to God’s actual plan—from the philosophical sense proportionate to a species’ powers, and argues that hypothetical worlds of “pure nature” should not govern interpretation of Aquinas. De Lubac’s critique of extrinsicism is therefore retained: grace is not an external supplement to a self-sufficient humanity. Yet grace remains a free gift, not a debt, and human freedom can resist it. The article also contrasts this position with Modernist immanentism, affirming that faith depends on public historical revelation as well as the interior action of grace.