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Document Details :

Title: Gustave Thils
Subtitle: Promotor of a Catholic Historia salutis
Author(s): PASQUALE, Gianluigi
Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
Volume: 78    Issue: 1   Date: April 2002   
Pages: 161-178
DOI: 10.2143/ETL.78.1.591

Abstract :
Anyone wishing to study the development of the concept of historia salutis in 20th-century Catholic systematic theology cannot disregard the theological reflections of the French-speaking Belgian priest Gustave Thils. In 1949 he wrote La Théologie de l’histoire, a work that exhibits the author’s intuitive capacity to anticipate in time a number of new questions in theology which would only come to maturity in the period immediately following. Indeed, from today’s perspective his work has all the hallmarks of an original effort, because it prepared a method within the various theologies of history4 which, until 1950, were still heavily influenced by a few contemporary philosophical currents, especially Marxism, at least in attempting to provide a counter position. Moreover, Thils was not only a theologian of history but a reviewer of other theologians who reflected on the meaning of time and history during that period.

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