The Break with the World

A few years ago I wrote a piece that remains unpublished on Ivan Illich's ideas of the "break with the world" and the "institutionalization of grace." In it I draw heavily on the late Aidan Kavanagh's important little volume On Liturgical Theology which had impressed itself deeply on me at the time. I have often thought of re-writing this essay for publication (it overlaps with some of my published work, and there are things in it I would do differently) but find now that I am unlikely to do so. It may be that there is something useful in here for others to ponder, and the piece marks a stepping stone for me in my work on Henry Corbin, so I offer it here (as a google document) for others to read.