BOOK: Bart RAYMAEKERS, Peter HEYRMAN & Wim DECOCK, Neo-Thomism in Action. Law and Society Reshaped by Neo-Scholastic Philosophy, 1880-1960 (Leuven: University Press, 2021). ISBN: 9789462703063, pp. 336, € 49.50

(Source: LUP)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Multifaceted and in-depth analysis of the neo-scholastic movement

In his encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879), Pope Leo XIII expressed the conviction that the renewed study of the philosophical legacy of Saint Thomas Aquinas would help Catholics to engage in a dialogue with secular modernity while maintaining respect for Church doctrine and tradition. As a result, the neo-scholastic framework dominated Catholic intellectual production for nearly a century thereafter.

This volume assesses the societal impact of the Thomist revival movement, with particular attention to the juridical dimension of this epistemic community. Contributions from different disciplinary backgrounds offer a multifaceted and in-depth analysis of many different networks and protagonists of the neo-scholastic movement, its institutions and periodicals, and its conceptual frameworks. Although special attention is paid to the Leuven Institute of Philosophy and Faculty of Law, the volume also discloses the neo-Thomist revival in other national and transnational contexts. By highlighting diverse aspects of its societal and legal impact, Neo-Thomism in Action argues that neo-scholasticism was neither a sterile intellectual exercise nor a monolithic movement. The book expands our understanding of how Catholic intellectual discourse communities were constructed and how they pervaded law and society during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Contributors: Philippe Chenaux (Pontifical Lateran University), Jo Deferme, Jean-Pierre Delville, Joeri De Smet (KU Leuven), Kwinten Dewaele (KU Leuven), Vincent Genin (KU Leuven), Emiel Lamberts (KU Leuven), Faustino Martinez Martínez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Erik Sengers (Tilburg School of Catholic Theology), Jakub Štofaník (Masaryk Institute Prague), Cinzia Sulas (Sapienza Rome), Kasper Swerts (ADVN/Antwerp University)

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Bart Raymaekers is professor in moral philosophy and philosophy of law at the Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven. Bart Raymaekers is hoogleraar aan het Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte aan KU Leuven. - Hoger Instituut van Wijsbegeerte, KU Leuven

Peter Heyrman is a historian and head of Research at KADOC-KU Leuven, Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society.

Wim Decock is professor of legal history at KU Leuven and Université de Liège.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Neo-Thomism, Law and Society 

Prolegomenon to Further Study

Wim Decock

The Landscape of Neo-Thomism 

Religious, Political and Social Settings of the Revival of Thomism, 1870-1960

Emiel Lamberts

The 1920s Francophone Thomistic Revival

Philippe Chenaux

Neo-Thomism at Leuven’s Faculty of Law

Joeri De Smet

National Contexts and International Networks

Vetera novis augere or Leuven Quebec augere: Lionel Groulx, Neo-Thomism and French-Canadian Nationalism

Kasper Swerts

Reception and Adaptation of Neo-Thomism in East-Central Europe, between the Intellectual and Social Involvement of the Catholic Church

Jakub Štofaník

The Influence of Neo-Thomism on Catholic Social Policy-Making in Belgium, 1880-1914

Jo Deferme

Between Gospel and Constitution. Neo-Scholastic Traces in the Legal World of Nineteenth-Century Spain

Faustino Martínez Martínez

The Notion of War in the Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica, 1914-1918 

Cinzia Sulas

Protagonists 

A Conservative Reading of Rerum Novarum through a Neo-Scholastic Lens

The Jesuit Auguste Castelein (1840-1922) and the Belgian Patrons Catholiques

Peter Heyrman

Arthur Vermeersch on Colonial and Conjugal Morality

A Presentist Approach to Saint Thomas

Vincent Genin

Joannes Aengenent (1873-1935)

A Thomistic Sociologist’s Call for a More Humane Economy

Erik Sengers

Antoine Pottier and the Neo-Thomistic Roots of Social Justice

Jean-Pierre Delville

Neo-Thomism and the Debates on the Just Wage in Belgium (1879-1914)

Kwinten Dewaele

Authors

Index

Colophon

More information is available with the publisher.