ABSTRACT
This chapter shows something of the nature of Georges Bernanos' conception of self-renouncing faith. It argues that the Bernanosian view of suffering is not a form of 'independence from the world' and is incompatible with the Perspective-Element. The Unreflectiveness-Element implies that such a justification is self-affirming because it is uncritically assumed that it involves the self assessing what benefits the religious life provides. The chapter also argues that the way the Anti-Consolation Element fails to give adequate regard to the context in religious life where consolation has a place. The Absoluteness-Element is neither inherently self-renouncing nor intrinsic to self-renouncing faith. The Anti-Metaphysical Element is not intrinsic to self-renouncing faith in Bernanos. The view of suffering presupposed by the Perspective-Element with its idea of an independence of the world is not intrinsic to self-renouncing belief. The chapter describes the concept of consolation which the Anti-Consolation Element presupposes is over simplistic.
