{{Short description|Catholic school of thought}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=December 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}} {{Italic title}} {{Catholic philosophy|expanded=Schools}} The '''{{lang|fr|Nouvelle théologie}}''' (English: ''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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-07-26 |title="Ressourcement," "Aggiornamento," and Vatican II in Ecumenical Perspective |url=https://www.hprweb.com/2014/07/ressourcement-aggiornamento-and-vatican-ii-in-ecumenical-perspective/ |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=Homiletic & Pastoral Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/951214440 |title=Ressourcement: a movement for renewal in twentieth-century Catholic theology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-870208-5 |editor-last=Flynn |editor-first=Gabriel |location=Oxford |pages=1–12 |language=en |oclc=951214440 |editor-last2=Murray |editor-first2=Paul}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite web |last=D'Ambrosio |first=Dr Marcellino |date=2019-10-01 |title=Ressourcement Theology, Aggiornamento, and the Hermeneutics of Tradition |url=https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/ressourcement-theology-aggiornamentoand-the-hermeneutics-of-tradition/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=Crossroads Initiative |language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Leo XIII |author-link=Pope Leo XIII |date=1879 |title=Aeterni Patris |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html |journal=Acta Sanctae Sedis |volume=12 |pages=97-115}}</ref> 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.<ref>Jürgen Mettepenningen, ''Nouvelle Théologie - New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II'', (London: T&T Clark, 2010), p25.</ref>
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 {{lang|fr|nouvelle théologie}},{{sfn|Grumett|2011|p=348}} the {{lang|fr|nouvelle théologie}} movement itself is generally associated with the period between 1935 and 1960.{{sfn|Mettepenningen|2010|p=4}} 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.{{sfn|Mettepenningen|2010|p=10}}
==Ideas== Although lumped together as a set by their opponents, the theologians associated with the {{lang|fr|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 {{lang|fr|nouvelle théologie}} was anything but a construct of its opponents.{{sfn|Mettepenningen|2010|p=8}} However, subsequent studies of the movement have suggested that there did exist a set of shared characteristics among writers of the {{lang|fr|nouvelle théologie}}. These include:{{sfn|Mettepenningen|2010|pp=10–11}} *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<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peddicord, Richard, 1958- |title=The sacred monster of Thomism : an introduction to the life and legacy of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange |date=2005 |publisher=St. Augustine's Press |isbn=1587317524 |location=South Bend, Ind. |pages=1–3 |oclc=55588728}}</ref> theologian Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange {{post-nominals|post-noms=OP}} in a polemical 1946 article in the journal ''Angelicum''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Garrigou-Lagrange |first=Reginald |date=1946 |title=La nouvelle théologie où va-t-elle ? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44622585?searchText=La%20nouvelle%20th%C3%A9ologie%20o%C3%B9%20va-t-elle&searchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=La+nouvelle+th%25C3%25A9ologie+o%25C3%25B9+va-t-elle%253F&so=rel&ab_segments=0/basic_search_gsv2/control&refreqid=fastly-default:5614b9ad526605cf9f2444a2be89bfdf |journal=Angelicum |volume=23 |issue=3/4 |pages=126–145 |issn=1123-5772}}</ref> 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 a 1942 article on ''L'Osservatore Romano'', it was from Garrigou-Lagrange's article that the label entered into widespread use.{{efn|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.{{sfn|Boersma|2009|p=8}} See {{harvnb|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.}}
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'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Leo XIII |author-link=Pope Leo XIII |date=18 November 1893 |title=Providentissimus Deus |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus_en.html |journal=Acta Sactae Sedis |volume=26 |pages=269-292}}</ref> ''Spiritus Paraclitus''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Benedict XV |author-link=Pope Benedict XV |date=1920 |title=Spiritus Paraclitus |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xv/it/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_15091920_spiritus-paraclitus.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=385-423}}</ref> and ''Divino afflante Spiritu'';<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Pius XII |author-link=Pope Pius XII |date=1943 |title=Divino afflante Spiritu |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=35 |issue=10 |pages=297-325}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Pius X |author-link=Pope Pius X |date=1907 |title=Pascendi Dominici gregis |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis.html |journal=Acta Sanctae Sedis |volume=40 |pages=593-650}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Viotto |first=Piero |date=2016 |title=Filosofia E Teologia Nella Corrispondenza Henri De Lubac - Jacques Maritain |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26504860 |journal=Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=1013–1026 |jstor=26504860 |issn=0035-6247}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Pius XII |author-link=Pope Pius XII |date=1950 |title=Humani generis |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=561-578}}</ref>
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.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lubac |first=Henri de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccMlAQAAIAAJ |title=Mémoire sur l'occasion de mes écrits |date=1998 |publisher=Éditions du Cerf |isbn=978-2-204-07916-7 |language=fr}}</ref>'' 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Van Hove |first=Brian |date=2013-12-24 |title=Looking Back at "Humani Generis" |url=https://www.hprweb.com/2013/12/looking-back-at-humani-generis/ |access-date= |website=Homiletic & Pastoral Review |language=en-US}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Pius XII |author-link=Pope Pius XII |date=1943 |title=Mystici Corporis Christi |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=193-248}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Pius XII |date=1947 |title=Mediator Dei |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=522-595}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
=== 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 {{Post-nominals|list=SJ}}, Yves Congar {{Post-nominals|list=OP}} and Henri de Lubac {{Post-nominals|list=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 {{Post-nominals|list=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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope Paul VI |author-link=Pope Paul VI |date=1965 |title=Mysterium Fidei |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_03091965_mysterium.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=57 |pages=753-774}}</ref>
The 1993 encyclical ''Veritatis splendor'' of Pope John Paul II softened the stance of ''Aeterni Patris'' and ''Humani generis'', stating that, although the thought of St. Thomas took precedence, other avenues could be explored for the good of the Church.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope John Paul II |author-link=Pope John Paul II |date=1993 |title=Veritatis splendor |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor.html |journal=Acta Apostolicae Sedis |volume=85 |pages=1133-1225}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
== See also == * ''Ad fontes'', a Latin phrase meaning "to the sources" used by Renaissance humanists
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist|22em}}
===Sources=== {{Refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |last=Boersma |first=Hans |author-link=Hans Boersma |year=2009 |title=Nouvelle Theologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }} * {{cite news |last=Garrigou-Lagrange |first=Reginald |author-link=Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange |year=1998 |title=Where Is the New Theology Leading Us? |url=https://archive.org/stream/Garrigou-LagrangeEnglish/_Where%20is%20the%20New%20Theology%20Leading%20Us__%20-%20Garrigou-Lagrange%2C%20Reginald%2C%20O.P_ |work=Catholic Family News Reprint Series |issue=309 |location=Niagara Falls, New York |access-date=30 December 2018 }}<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223423/http://www.cfnews.org/gg-newtheo.htm --><!-- English translation of the French article, "La nouvelle théologie où va-t-elle?", ''Angelicum'' 23 (1946): 126-145. --> * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Grumett |first=David |year=2011 |title=''Nouvelle Théologie'' |editor1-last=McFarland |editor1-first=Ian A. |editor1-link=Ian A. McFarland |editor2-last=Fergusson |editor2-first=David A. S. |editor2-link=David Fergusson (theologian) |editor3-last=Kilby |editor3-first=Karen |editor3-link=Karen Kilby |editor4-last=Torrance |editor4-first=Iain R. |editor4-link=Iain Torrance |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=348–349 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511781285.015 |isbn=978-0-511-78128-5 }} * {{cite book |last=Mettepenningen |first=Jürgen |year=2010 |title=Nouvelle Théologie – New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II |location=London |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-29991-8 }} {{Refend}}
==Further reading== {{Refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |year=2011 |editor1-last=Flynn |editor1-first=Gabriel |editor2-last=Murray |editor2-first=Paul D. |title=Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199552870.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-955287-0}} * * {{cite journal |last=Greenstock |first=David L. |year=1950 |title=Thomism and the New Theology |url=http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/modernism/Thomism%20and%20the%20New%20Theology%20(Greenstock).pdf |journal=The Thomist |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=567–596 |doi=10.1353/tho.1950.0002 |s2cid=171538467 |issn=0040-6325 |access-date=30 December 2018 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202170723/http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/modernism/Thomism%20and%20the%20New%20Theology%20%28Greenstock%29.pdf |url-status=dead }} * {{cite book |last=Heers |first=Peter |year=2015 |title=The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II: An Orthodox Examination of Rome's Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church |location=Simpsonville, South Carolina |publisher=Uncut Mountain Press |isbn=978-618-81583-1-3}} * {{cite magazine |last=Kerr |first=Fergus |author-link=Fergus Kerr |year=2010 |title=Review of ''Nouvelle Théologie – New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II'' by Jürgen Mettepenningen |url=http://content.yudu.com/A1pb81/TheTablet/resources/24.htm |format=Flash |magazine=The Tablet |volume=264 |issue=8864 |location=London |page=24 |issn=0039-8837 |access-date=30 December 2018 }} * {{cite book |last=Kirwan |first=Jon |year=2018 |title=An Avant-Garde Theological Generation: The Nouvelle Théologie and the French Crisis of Modernity |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198819226.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-881922-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Kirwan |first1=Jon |last2=Minerd | first2=Matthew |year=2023 |title=The Thomistic Response to the Nouvelle Théologie: Concerning the Truth of Dogma and the Nature of Theology |location=Washington, DC |publisher=The Catholic University of America Press |isbn=9780813236643}} {{Refend}}
{{Second Vatican Council}} {{History of Catholic theology}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nouvelle theologie}} Category:Christian theological movements Category:Catholic theology and doctrine