Review of "The Modernist as Philosopher: Selected Writings of Marcel Hebert"
Published version. Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 3 (2012): 595-596. Permalink. © 2012 Catholic University of America Press. Used with permission.
Abstract
World War I interrupted the offensive against modernism and allowed everyone to take a deep breath- e.g., Pope Benedict XV dismantled Monsignor Umberto Begnigni's secretive Sodalitium Planum (or La Sapinière), named after Pope Pius X- and to begin more soberly to appraise modern thought and the Catholic Church's posture toward it. Since the progressive opening of Vatican archives (now open through the pontificate of Pius XI), published works have been appearing based on these archival materials, works that afford an "insider's" view of events previously known largely only from the outside. Hébert, writes Talar in his superb introduction, "felt the insufficiency of Scholasticism to speak to minds formed by modernity, to formulate an adequate response to the philosophical legacy of Kant" (p. 3), whom church authorities regarded as the principal enemy of Catholic teaching.