The Nouvelle théologie (
French for New Theology) is an
intellectual movement in
Catholic theology that arose in the mid-20th century. It is best known for
Pope John XXIII's endorsement of its closely-associated ressourcement (French for return to the sources) idea, which shaped the events of the Second Vatican Council.[1][2] It existed most notably among certain circles of French and German theologians.
The nouveaux théologiens (new theologians) sought "a spiritual and intellectual communion with
Christianity in its most vital moments as transmitted to us in its classic texts, a communion which would nourish, invigorate, and rejuvenate
twentieth-century Catholicism."[3] Many of the theologians associated with the movement advocated for a far broader "return to the sources" of the Christian faith: namely,
Scripture and the writings of the
Church Fathers. They also developed a renewed interest in particulars of
biblical exegesis,
typology, art, literature, and
mysticism.
Origins
The roots of a questioning of the dominance of
neo-scholasticism may be traced to theologians working from the 1920s onwards. While some French
Jesuit studies conducted in exile at
Ore Place,
Hastings,
England, in the years 1906–1926 have been seen by some as forerunners of the nouvelle théologie,[4] the nouvelle théologie movement itself is generally associated with the period between 1935 and 1960.[5] In its early stages (i.e. the 1930s and early 1940s) the movement is also particularly associated with the French language, in part contrast with the Latin used in seminary teaching at the time.[6]
Ideas
Although lumped together as a set by their opponents, the theologians associated with the nouvelle théologie had a great range of interests, views, and methodologies, and were not themselves a co-ordinated group. In later writing,
Yves Congar,
Henri de Lubac and
Henri Bouillard all denied that the nouvelle théologie was anything but a construct of its opponents.[7] However, subsequent studies of the movement have suggested that there did exist a set of shared characteristics among writers of the nouvelle théologie. These include:[8]
A tendency to ascribe a worthy place to history within the theological endeavour.
The developing movement received criticisms in the late 1940s and 1950s. A first attack was made by the influential
Dominican[9] theologian
Reginald Garrigou-LagrangeOP in a polemical 1946 article in the journal Angelicum.[10] While the theologians of the movement generally preferred to call their movement a ressourcement, based on their return to original patristic thought, Garrigou-Lagrange claimed that they did not "return to the sources" but deviated from the long-standing theological tradition of the Catholic Church, thus creating a "new theology" all their own which, he claimed, was essentially
Modernism in disguise. Although another writer,
Pietro Parente, had used the term "teologia nuova" in 1942, it was from Garrigou-Lagrange's article that the label entered into widespread use.[a]
See also
Ad fontes, a Latin phrase meaning "to the sources" used by Renaissance humanists
Notes
^The label had first been used in 1942 by
Pietro Parente in an article in L'Osservatore Romano, but it acquired widest recognition as a result of a 1946 attack on the movement by the Dominican theologian
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange.[11] See
Boersma 2009, p. 8. Over time, as nouvelle théologie has gained widespread usage, the debate over the movement's proper name has largely become a marginal note.
^Peddicord, Richard, 1958- (2005). The sacred monster of Thomism : an introduction to the life and legacy of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. South Bend, Ind.: St. Augustine's Press. pp. 1–3.
ISBN1587317524.
OCLC55588728.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
Mettepenningen, Jürgen (2010). Nouvelle Théologie – New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II. London: T&T Clark.
ISBN978-0-567-29991-8.
Heers, Peter (2015). The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II: An Orthodox Examination of Rome's Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church. Simpsonville, South Carolina: Uncut Mountain Press.
ISBN978-618-81583-1-3.
Kirwan, Jon; Minerd, Matthew (2023). The Thomistic Response to the Nouvelle Théologie: Concerning the Truth of Dogma and the Nature of Theology. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.
ISBN9780813236643.