THE PEASANT OF THE GARONNE

by Jacques Maritain ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 29, 1968

For most of his eighty-four years, Maritain has been the philosopher of Tridentine Catholicism, and it would be an exercise in wishful thinking to suppose that even so universal an intellect could effect a volte face at this stage, or even attain to an appreciation of the values of a younger generation that judges traditional Catholicism only in terms of its failures. Thus Maritain, after decrying the new directions in theology, warns solemnly that they are leading irrevocably toward an abandonment of traditional spirituality and even of doctrine. He apparently is unaware that these dire consequences are precisely what is being aimed at obliquely: an abolishment of the distinction between the natural and supernatural orders and a consequent true Christian humanism which views the Church and the world as one whole, moving together through history toward a common goal, rather than, as in M. Maritain's view, as two contiguous, and often opposed, entities struggling each for the control of humanity. In this defense of the old way, which he offers as his last book, M. Maritain casts himself as the defender of a bastion of Catholicism that exists now only in the chancelleries and the cathedrals. It is a swansong, a record of the rationalizations on which the old things were founded, written by a man who represented, for better or for worse, the very best of a lost age of intellectual absolutes.

Pub Date: Feb. 29, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION