The Modernist as Philosopher

Roman Catholic Modernism, in France, was prominently represented by scholars whose interests were, in significant measure, historical. Notable examples are Louis Duchesne, Alfred Loisy, and Albert Houtin. Where philosophy was concerned, Maurice Blondel, together with his collaborator Lucien Laberthonniere, grappled with the legacy of Kant and the problem of the subjectivity of human knowing. Marcel Hebert (1851–1916) stands at the confluence of these two tendencies.

Hebert’s appreciation of the exegesis of scripture and its subsequent development in church tradition was importantly shaped by both Loisy and Duchesne. And like Blondel and Laberthonniere, he felt the insufficiency of scholasticism to speak to minds formed by modernity, to formulate an adequate response to the philosophical legacy of Kant. He acknowledged his debt to Duchesne and Loisy in history, but regarded himself, though an autodidact, their superior in philosophy.

This volume, the first to be published in English about Hebert, is essential for a full understanding of Catholic Modernism. The articles show Hebert’s early attempt to find common ground between Aquinas and Kant, the impact of Kant on a symbolist reading of dogma intended to “save” dogma for Catholics coming to terms with modern exegesis and modern philosophy, the radical lengths to which he took that symbolist reading, and his eventual break with Catholicism when the Church failed to be receptive to this programme.

Included here are selected articles, the entire second of edition of Pragmatisme, William James’s review of the first edition and Hebert’s response to it, and a review by Eugene Menegoz.