Gerald A. McCool - Böcker

Through an in-depth study of four key figures – Pierre Rousselot, Joseph Marechal, Jacques Maritain, and Etienne Gilson – From Unity to Pluralism traces the evolution of Thomism in the first half of the twentieth century. Through their work, Thomisism encountered contemporary thought and rediscovered its authentic roots, and the ideal of a univocal, unitary doctrine of Scholastic truth embodied in the unambiguous teachings of Thomas Aquinas, which had inspired the Thomist revival at the end of the nineteenth century, gradually gave way. The result is the emergence of pluralism within the system itself and the independent development of the theologies of Karl Rahner and Bernard Lonergan.

Through an in-depth study of four key figures – Pierre Rousselot, Joseph Marechal, Jacques Maritain, and Etienne Gilson – From Unity to Pluralism traces the evolution of Thomism in the first half of the twentieth century. Through their work, Thomisism encountered contemporary thought and rediscovered its authentic roots, and the ideal of a univocal, unitary doctrine of Scholastic truth embodied in the unambiguous teachings of Thomas Aquinas, which had inspired the Thomist revival at the end of the nineteenth century, gradually gave way. The result is the emergence of pluralism within the system itself and the independent development of the theologies of Karl Rahner and Bernard Lonergan.

Nineteenth-Century Scholasticism provides a careful historical account of the scholastic polemic against the "new" Catholic philosophies and theologies that arose in Europe throughout the 19th century. This read begins with an examination of Ontologism, Traditionalism, and the theologies of Hermes, Gunther, and the Tubingen School - the adversaries against whom the scholastics directed their fire - and then transitions to review the philosophies and theologies of Liberatore and Kleutgen, the scholastic theoreticians who orchestrated the polemic. From the account of its polemic with rival theologians, a vivid picture of nineteenth-century scholasticism's vision of itself as the one philosophy capable of structuring a Catholic theology, its adversary relationship to other theologies, and its confidence in its own ability to integrate Catholic culture and solve contemporary social problems emerges.