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This chapter concentrates on new departures in the realm of Catholic theology and philosophy in the age of fascism, communism and world war. In a concentrated effort to overcome the stifling effects of neo‐Thomist scholasticism, the latter a by‐product of the crisis of modernism within the Catholic Church, progressive Catholic thinkers promoted a return to the sources (ressourcement), which allowed them to revalidate the original dynamism characteristic of Thomism. At first careful to introduce new theologies in traditional garb, the cataclysm of fascism and world war liberated the energies of progressive thinkers and cast aside their inhibitions. A theology of the laity, for example, finally saw the light of day, no longer needing to hide behind murky definitions of the Church as the ‘mystical body of Christ.’ Brief summaries of Jacques Maritain's Christian humanism, Emmanuel Mounier's personalism and the theology of labor by Marie‐Dominique Chenu round off this chapter.

The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and Theo‐logic) provides a critical “system” in which to read texts and begins to illustrate Balthasar's unique contribution to current discussions about the intersection between theology, history, philosophy, and narrative art. The chapter demonstrates that not only is Balthasar one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, but also his work has practical contributions to make to discourses in critical theory. Like critical theory, Balthasar's work is theological, literary, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, political, and historical, which are critical theory's main components. In the spirit of the ressourcement theology that shaped him, Balthasar is primarily interested in renewing attention to older sources in order to critique the idealistic excesses of modernity. In this sense, Balthasar reveals a postmodern temperament: he too is concerned with issues of language and difference, with aporia, with plurality, with surplus, and with horizons of meaning, to name a few. The difference between Balthasar and the majority of critical theorists resides in ontological and theological orientation: it is therefore a difference of imagination and of grammar. The chapter elaborates on these and other dynamic relationships.

This introductory chapter characterizes the nouvelle théologie leading up to Vatican II as a movement of ressourcement of the Tradition, interested in recovering a sacramental ontology that maintained the co-inherence of sign and reality. In connection with a number of different theological topics, the nouvelle theologians were interested in reaffirming historical realities of the created order as divinely ordained sacramental means leading to eternal mysteries. Thus, the movement's protest against the scholasticism of neo-Thomism did not signal a desire to replay the Modernist Crisis, but rather a desire to return to mystery. With Catholics and Protestants being common heirs to problems arising from the separation between nature and the supernatural, nouvelle théologie offers great potential for ecumenism. The chapter provides a historical overview of the various controversies surrounding nouvelle théologie and concludes with an outline of the remainder of the book.

This chapter considers the nature and genesis of the ressourcement movement and argues that its leading exponents inspired a renaissance in twentieth‐century Catholic theology that culminated in the reforms of Vatican II. It attempts to shed light on the complex question of terminology, the interpretation of which still engenders controversy in analyses of ressourcement and nouvelle théologie. It offers insights into the role of ressourcement theologians in the struggle against Nazism and asserts that the movement possesses an enduring relevance for the Christian churches and for modern society.

Gilson belongs to an older generation than the ressourcement writers. He differs from the ressourcement thinkers in being more of a Thomist than an Augustinian, and he understood this distinction to mean that metaphysical truth is the ground of the ethical good (and not vice versa). But simultaneously, Gilson contributed to the ressourcement by the concrete and vital conception of truth which he claimed to find in St. Thomas. His promulgation of ‘Christian philosophy’ also enabled him to highlight the Augustinian, theologically biased, elements in Thomas's thought. Gilson's proximity to what is best in the ressourcement is indicated by what he has in common with Newman: a preference for the real and the concrete over notional and merely grammatical truth.

Despite having the reputation of a conservative and an opponent of nouvelle théologie, the Dominican, Gagnebet, worked efficiently for an authentic ressourcement of Thomism. In criticising the falsely Thomist conception of theological scholarship as deductions of ‘new conclusions’, through a rigorous application of the historical method, he brought the Aristotelian notion of science as applied by St Thomas to theology back into play, coming to an understanding of faith by attaching some secondary revealed truths to the main revealed truths which are their cause. So, while defending the academic standards of theology contested by several apostles of nouvelle théologie, he contributed to returning the Thomist position to its original purity after several centuries of obscure interpretation.

This chapter expounds the ecclesiology of Charles Cardinal Journet in relation to that of the theologians of ressourcement. Journet was a Thomist and strongly critical of ressourcement methodology. However, he had occasional friendly contacts with Henri de Lubac and others in the ressourcement movement, and shared with them an interest in the ‘personality’ of the Church.

This essay describes some of the characteristics of the so‐called nouvelle théologie movement (c. 1930s‐1960s) and provides a survey of its development in four consecutive phases. The first phase (c. 1935‐42) concerns a Thomistic ressourcement, in which Dominicans (Y. Congar, L. Charlier, M.‐D. Chenu) played an important role. The second phase (c. 1942‐1950) concerns a theological ressourcement in which Jesuits (J. Daniélou, H. Bouillard, H. de Lubac) took the lead. The third phase (c. 1950‐1962) concerns the internationalization of the movement, particularly in the Dutch‐speaking, German‐speaking and English‐speaking worlds. The fourth phase concerns the Second Vatican Council (1962‐65) which assimilated the central features of the nouvelle théologie. The essay concludes with some considerations intended to nuance the schematic presentation of this historical movement.

This chapter examines the contribution of Marie‐Dominique Chenu, OP (1895‐1990), as the precursor of the ressourcement theology which led to the reforms of Vatican II. Chenu was crucial in the historical retrieval of theological sources which led to the nouvelle théologie. He promoted the ‘return to the sources’ studies of Thomas Aquinas in his intellectual and social context, rejecting the narrower post‐Tridentine tradition enshrined in ‘modern‐scholastic’ theology and provoking the radical renewal of Catholic theology. He was the teacher and colleague of Yves Congar, OP and of the Flemish Dominican Edward Schillebeeckx at Le Saulchoir. In Chenu's theological method the recent opposition posed between ressourcement and reform is overcome through his valuing of the traditional sources while advocating the historical locus of all theology.

This chapter assesses Congar's contribution to ressourcement in the context of that movement's complex relationship with the nouvelle théologie. By reflecting on his ecumenism and pneumatology, it shows that his contribution in these fields, effectively spanning his entire career, would not have been possible without a return to the sources. The essay traces the origins of the programme of reform and renewal that was at the heart of the ressourcement to certain elements in Roman Catholic Modernism. It locates Congar's transformative and original contribution to ecumenism and pneumatology in the return to the sources. In conclusion, this essay points to the continued relevance of ressourcement for academic theology and, perhaps more fundamentally, in the apostolic, pastoral life of the Christian churches.

This chapter argues that, for all his debt to the ressourcement theology that he learned at the Jesuit theologate in Lyon, Hans Urs von Balthasar is in fact quite nuanced in his appropriation of the theology of that school, especially of Henri de Lubac's theology of the supernatural. Indeed, he is not just nuanced but also often critical of de Lubac. Even more, for all of his important work in patristics, Balthasar can be quite critical of the project of the church fathers to bring Platonism and the worldview of the Bible into harmony. In both these areas, Balthasar finds himself much more in agreement with the insights of contemporary neo‐Thomism than is usually recognized by contemporary scholarship.

This chapter presents the unified theological vision of Louis Bouyer and his unique contribution to French ressourcement. A diligent student of scripture and the Fathers, this Catholic convert from Lutheranism in fact succeeded in bringing together the treasures of denominational Christianity into an ecumenical project of exceptional depth and universality. Connecting the rich biblical motif of ‘Word’ with its Christological fulfilment in the mystery of Christ, Bouyer showed that it is in the liturgy of the church that this ‘mystery’ is accomplished and actualized to present‐day believers who in their turn actualize the mystery through Christian spirituality. The continuum ‘Word‐mystery‐liturgy‐spirituality‐theology’ in Bouyer provides a unified framework which is both traditional and original. The unity of theology, founded in the Word of God, reflects the unity of the Christian life and the destiny of human beings which is unity with God.

This chapter develops an analogy of human and divine freedom that is mindful of contemporary issues on the one hand and the ressourcement's critique of Thomism on the other. Relying on Louis Dupré's analysis, it contends that modernity requires accounting for human creativity, even while grounding an analogy between it and the transcendence from which it springs. Max Seckler, in his study of the instinct of faith, shows how Aquinas's understanding of the relation between nature and grace can squarely address these concerns. Dupré reminds us, moreover, that modernity also requires linking the analogy between human creativity and transcendence to the events of history. Thomas's consideration of the instinct needs amplifying in order to establish this link. A reading of Augustine's Confessions offers us a means to this end, even as it shows how a patristic source can complement high scholasticism.

The scriptural and patristic understanding that ‘the Eucharist makes the Church’ was recovered in the ressourcement that preceded the Second Vatican Council and reflected in the teaching of the council itself. This chapter provides a brief historical and theological account of the relationship between the Eucharist and the church, highlighting the medieval shift that resulted in the church being understood more juridically than sacramentally, and focusing on major figures, both Catholic (e.g. Henri de Lubac) and Orthodox (e.g. Nicholas Afanassieff), who contributed to the modern renewal of eucharistic ecclesiology. Understanding the Eucharist as ‘the principal manifestation of the Church’, the council spoke of local communities as churches, of bishops as high priests, and developed the crucial doctrine of episcopal collegiality to complement the First Vatican Council's teaching on the papacy.

This essay contends that Ratzinger is not only influenced by ressourcement theology, but is himself a second‐generation ressourcement theologian. His work offers a valuable insight into what ressourcement theology might be beyond its original context. Multiple ressourcement themes are present in Ratzinger's work: he is critical of neo‐scholasticism; theology must take place in a context of prayer and charity, and be closely linked to the liturgy. His work on Augustine leads him to focus on links between Christianity and the surrounding culture; while his study of Bonaventure opens up the theology of history. He called for Vatican II's document on Church unity to be addressed to all Churches; and his work on Dei Verbum, influenced by ressourcement theology, emphasized the importance of scripture to all Christians. Vatican II's radicality thus becomes its retrieval of the patristic and medieval continuity between scripture and tradition, leading to ecclesial reform which asserts its foundation in the mystery of Christ and the witness of scripture.

This chapter explores the central role of the ressourcement theologians in mediating crucial currents of Catholic thought to post‐war critical theorists including the literary theorist Roland Barthes (1915‐80), the medievalist, sociologist, and surrealist George Bataille (1889‐1962), and the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901‐81). Particular attention is given to Jacques Lacan and his return to Freud. By highlighting the tangible and theoretical links to the nouvelle théologie, it offers not only a new perspective on Lacanian psychoanalysis and its relation to theology, but also what the practical working out of that relation might mean for theology today.

The introduction highlights significant lacunae in the reception history of Gregory’s thought and provides a number of terminological caveats to eschew potential anachronism when discussing his theorization of ascetical practice. It lays out the rationale for studying Gregory’s works in chronological order and provides a cursory overview of the findings of each phase in Gregory’s literary career. The introduction also offers a brief genealogy of Western twentieth-century scholarship on Gregory to understand why his thought was brought into counterpoint with contemporary discussions on gender and sexuality.

The introduction describes the book as ‘a long and winding journey through the labyrinths of desire’, in the quest for an incarnational theology of grace after the death of God, woven together out of the maternal, incarnate Trinity implicit within the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and rendered accessible by the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. It relates this to the influence on Lacan of the ressourcement theology of 1950s French Catholicism, and to recent scholarship which has explored the significance of medievalism for Lacan’s work. It explains why this book offers a different theological approach from liberal, feminist, and contextual theologies, even although it shares common ground with them.