Nouvelle théologie

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. 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." 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

Following the promulgation of the encyclical Aeterni Patris by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, Catholic theology became dominated by neo-scholasticism. During the reign of Pope Pius X, neo-scholasticism became increasingly defined in opposition to Modernism: in 1914 Pius X ordered the publication of a list of 24 philosophical propositions, propositions summarising the central tenets of neo-scholasticism to be taught in all colleges as fundamental elements of philosophy.

The roots of a questioning such neo-scholastic dominance 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, the nouvelle théologie movement itself is generally associated with the period between 1935 and 1960. 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.

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. 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:

• A tendency to ascribe a worthy place to history within the theological endeavour.
• The appeal of a positive theology.
• A critical attitude towards neo-scholasticism.

Relationship with Church authorities

Criticism and persecution

The developing movement received criticisms in the late 1940s and 1950s. A first attack was made by the influential Dominican theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP in a polemical 1946 article in the journal Angelicum. 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.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Humani generis, in which he condemned "certain new intellectual currents" in the Church, accusing them of relativism and attacking them for reformulating dogmas in a way that was not consistent with Church tradition and for following biblical hermeneutics that deviated from the teachings of the encyclicals Providentissimus Deus (1893) and Divino afflante Spiritu (1943); Pius XII also admonished that such currents were trying to revive the modernist heresy, which had been strongly condemned by Pius X in his 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis.

The encyclical did not mention any particular theologian but was widely interpreted as a condemnation of the Nouvelle théologie and was followed by an extensive purge in Le Saulchoir and Fourvière. The broader impact of Humani Generis was a freezing of systematic theology into a Thomist orthodoxy represented by the “twenty-four theses” of Pius X. Some parts of the encyclicals Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) and Mediator Dei (1947) have also been considered to be a condemnation of the Nouvelle théologie.

Rehabilitation

Following the election of Pope John XXIII and the calling of the Second Vatican Council, anti-modernist polemics declined and many theologians associated with the Nouvelle théologie were gradually rehabilitated and many of them took part in the Council with the qualification of peritus.

Following the Council, the more conservative supporters of Nouvelle théologie had important careers in the Church: Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jean Daniélou SJ, Yves Congar OP and Henri de Lubac SJ were made cardinals by Pope John Paul II, while Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The same could not be said for the more liberal members, who were gradually marginalised due to their extreme views: Hans Küng was stripped from his theological license by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1979 for questioning papal infallibility, while Edward Schillebeeckx OP was repeatedly condemned by the Congregation and even by Pope Paul VI himself (encyclical Mysterium fidei) due to his heterodox views about Christology and the eucharist.

The 1993 encyclical Veritatis splendor of Pope John Paul II softened the stance of Aeterni Patris and Humani generis, stating that, although the though the thought of St. Thomas took precedence, other avenues could be explored for the good of the Church.

See also

• Ad fontes, a Latin phrase meaning "to the sources" used by Renaissance humanists

References

Sources

• Boersma, Hans (2009). Nouvelle Theologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Garrigou-Lagrange, Reginald (1998). "Where Is the New Theology Leading Us?". Catholic Family News Reprint Series. No. 309. Niagara Falls, New York. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
• Grumett, David (2011). "Nouvelle Théologie". In McFarland, Ian A.; Fergusson, David A. S.; Kilby, Karen; Torrance, Iain R. (eds.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 348–349. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511781285.015. ISBN 978-0-511-78128-5.
• Mettepenningen, Jürgen (2010). Nouvelle Théologie – New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II. London: T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-29991-8.

Further reading

• Flynn, Gabriel; Murray, Paul D., eds. (2011). Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199552870.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-955287-0.
• Greenstock, David L. (1950). "Thomism and the New Theology" (PDF). The Thomist. 13 (4): 567–596. doi:10.1353/tho.1950.0002. ISSN 0040-6325. S2CID 171538467. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
• 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. ISBN 978-618-81583-1-3.
• Kerr, Fergus (2010). "Review of Nouvelle Théologie – New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II by Jürgen Mettepenningen" (Flash). The Tablet. Vol. 264, no. 8864. London. p. 24. ISSN 0039-8837. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
• Kirwan, Jon (2018). An Avant-Garde Theological Generation: The Nouvelle Théologie and the French Crisis of Modernity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198819226.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-881922-6.
• 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. ISBN 9780813236643.