Integral Humanism: Temporal and Spiritual Problems of a New Christendom
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Modernism
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Publication Year
1973
Publisher
University of Notre Dame Press, United States
Pages
308
Description
Until his recent death Jacques Maritain was an acknowledged leader of Catholic philosophical thought. He had played a major role in creating the conditions of thought that led to the Ecumenical Council, which consequently provided authority for the renewal in Roman Catholicism.
Integral Humanism, first published in French in 1936, is one of Maritain's major works. It has had a great influence on the Christian Democratic movement in Latin America, and was cited by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical, Populorum Progressio. Professor Evans' lucid translation of this classic, approved by Jacques Maritain himself, is again being made available.
Maritain begins by considering the meaning of humanism and its dialectic. Three stages in the development of humanism are distinguished: classical humanism, materialistic bourgeoisism, and atheistic communism. Since the Middle Ages many brands of humanism have failed due to their anthropocentrism. A profound critique of totalitarianism shows how communism misconstrues man, while fascism springs from a contempt for man.
The integral humanism Maritain envisions for the future is not a reversion to the medieval realization of Christendom. He proposes a 'new style' for the relationship between religion and culture, between the spiritual and the temporal - a 'new style' firmly grounded in reason and fully in accord with the principles of Christianity and of the Catholic faith. In doing so Maritain gives us a rich and manifold philosophy of the human person - of his grandeur and of his misery.
Jacques Maritain was born in Paris in 1882. Brought up as a liberal Protestant, he studied at the Sorbonne. It was there he met his wife, Raissa Oumansoff, the daughter of a Russian Jewish family. After their conversion to Roman Catholicism, Professor Maritain took as his mission the study of the 13th-century philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas, and brought Thomism to the 20th century.
Joseph W. Evans, the translator, is Director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame.
Originally published by by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968.
Integral Humanism, first published in French in 1936, is one of Maritain's major works. It has had a great influence on the Christian Democratic movement in Latin America, and was cited by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical, Populorum Progressio. Professor Evans' lucid translation of this classic, approved by Jacques Maritain himself, is again being made available.
Maritain begins by considering the meaning of humanism and its dialectic. Three stages in the development of humanism are distinguished: classical humanism, materialistic bourgeoisism, and atheistic communism. Since the Middle Ages many brands of humanism have failed due to their anthropocentrism. A profound critique of totalitarianism shows how communism misconstrues man, while fascism springs from a contempt for man.
The integral humanism Maritain envisions for the future is not a reversion to the medieval realization of Christendom. He proposes a 'new style' for the relationship between religion and culture, between the spiritual and the temporal - a 'new style' firmly grounded in reason and fully in accord with the principles of Christianity and of the Catholic faith. In doing so Maritain gives us a rich and manifold philosophy of the human person - of his grandeur and of his misery.
Jacques Maritain was born in Paris in 1882. Brought up as a liberal Protestant, he studied at the Sorbonne. It was there he met his wife, Raissa Oumansoff, the daughter of a Russian Jewish family. After their conversion to Roman Catholicism, Professor Maritain took as his mission the study of the 13th-century philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas, and brought Thomism to the 20th century.
Joseph W. Evans, the translator, is Director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame.
Originally published by by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968.
Number of Copies
1
