A Different World: Neoscholasticism and its Discontents

Abstract:  The anti-Modernist Oath (1910) sets the background for this historical account of the tension in twentieth-century Roman Catholic theology between those suspected of ‘Modernism’ and the exponents of Aristotelian Thomism. The article discusses the modernist crisis by tracing the thought of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange (a strict observer of Thomism) and his student Marie-Dominique Chenu (a dissenter of the neoscholastic view). Chenu established the historical-contextualist reading of Thomas Aquinas which was regarded as a threat to the standard neoscholastic exposition of Thomism, which he felt was heavily influenced by Wolffian rationalism. As a result, Vatican II finally rejects the neoscholastic conception of reason. The article concludes by recognizing the need for a historical-contextualist reading of Thomas but fears that the new philosophical system is not sufficiently scrutinized.