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Document Details : Title: The Resurgence of Integrism Subtitle: The Action of the Holy Office against René Draguet Author(s): DE PRIL, Ward Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 91 Issue: 2 Date: 2015 Pages: 295-309 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.91.2.3085095 Abstract : In July 1942 the Holy Office decreed that René Draguet (1896-1981), a Louvain professor in fundamental theology, had to be removed from his teaching activities. This decision of the Holy Office was preceded by the condemnation of M.-D. Chenu’s Une École de théologie: Le Saulchoir and L. Charlier’s Essai sur le problème théologique (both February 1942) and of V. Buffon’s doctoral dissertation on Paolo Sarpi (June 1942). In the first paragraph of this article we focus on the historical and theological context of the conflict. In the 1930s the darkest hours of antimodernist zealotry seemed to have passed, giving confidence to theologians that the time was ripe for elaborating theological alternatives to strict observance Thomism. Centers of renewal were both Le Saulchoir (Chenu) and Leuven (Draguet, Charlier, Buffon). In analysing their respective projects of theological renewal we are confronted with both similarities (e.g. historicisation of theology) and fundamental differences (e.g. regarding the role of reason in theology). In the main paragraph we sketch the history of the condemnations of Chenu and the Louvain theologians together with their complex interrelations. The main argument is that the sanctions of the Holy Office were the outcome of a series of deliberate actions that were going on since 1938 and were aimed at silencing two schools of theological renewal (Le Saulchoir, Leuven) who challenged the Roman standards of theology. In the concluding paragraph we briefly reflect upon the significance of the 1942 condemnations as a resurgence of integrism that characterised the history of theology in the two decades preceding the Second Vatican Council. |
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