Critics on Trial: An Introduction to the Catholic Modernist Crisis

by Marvin R. O'Connell

Here for the first time, the story of the Catholic Modernists is presented as a chronological narrative of events, with special emphasis placed upon the persons involved, their interrelations and opinions. Through a study of the participants, Marvin O'Connell traces the emergence of Modernism and the controversies related to it, offers a careful examination of the movement's multiple causes and ramifications, and places the events within the political, social, and intellectual context of the time. Rather than analyze the phenomenon called Catholic Modernism or argue one side or the other, the author tells the story of the Modernists themselves. These intellectuals-scripture scholars, philosophers, apologists, priests, and laypersons-were bound together by a mutual concern that the church could not survive the challenges of the modern world unless it brought its teaching and its constitution into line with contemporary thought. They offered unconventional solutions to the religious questions of the day, solutions they were convinced would reform and revivify their church. Their story involves a cast of fascinating characters: the deeply learned and deeply skeptical exegete, Alfred Loisy; the lyrical and melancholy Anglo-Irish Jesuit, George Tyrell; the eccentric polymath, Friedrich von Hegel; the apostle of Christian democracy, Romolo Murri; the combative philosopher, Lucien Laberthonniere, and his mentor, Maurice Blondel. Against them stood the pope who, in the name of doctrinal integrity, sought to root out and destroy their ideas. O'Connell follows the drama step by step until it reaches its climax in the condemnations of 1907, when Pius X denounced Catholic Modernism as the synthesis of all heresies. The author recounts the story largely in the words of the Modernists and their opponents, as well as those who, like the journalist and biographer Wilfrid Ward and the scripture scholar Marie-Joseph Lagrange, desperately sought a middle ground. Critics on Trial offers the nonspecialist a reliable, compelling account of the Modernist crisis; it offers the student of nineteenth- and twentieth-century religious and intellectual history a thorough introduction to the topic. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marvin R. O'Connell is the author of numerous books and articles, including John Ireland and the American Catholic Church, The Oxford Conspirators: A History of the Oxford Movement , 1833-1845 and The Counter Reformation , 1559-1610. He has been a member of the history faculty at the University of Notre Dame since 1972 and is currently the director-in-residence of the Notre Dame Undergraduate Program in London. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "A real triumph of the historical imagination. O'Connells mastery of the sources, his sympathetic insight into the personalities involved and their relationships with one another, his lucid and fair-minded analysis of the issues, and his superb gifts as a writer make this incomparably the best introduction available to the whole complicated episode of Roman Catholic Modernism."―Philip Gleason, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame "Marvin O'Connell is a consummate writer, able to evoke the moods of an era and the dreams and disappointments of its major characters. In applying his skill to the modernist controversy he gives us the big picture and some of the intimate details of a very complex and compelling moment in Catholic ecclesiastical history."―Mary Jo Weaver, Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University Bloomington

Genres: Theology

410 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Rory Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable but detailed summary of leading Catholic Modernists up to the 1907 condemnation.

Written in a firmly biographical style the text meanders between ideas, historical events and little touches of poetic style, such as its closing reflection on the ‘Holly and the Ivy as it notes that George Tyrrell and Maude Petre were buried together.

George Tyrrell and Alfred Loisy are the central figures of the drama of Modernism, but there were part of a much broader and richer cultural movement which is well explained in the book, including characters in Italy and the enigmatic Marie-Joseph Lagrange in Jerusalem, who was variously accused of Modernism but never actually condemned.

The author largely avoids defining Modernism, noting that Alfred Loisy himself described Modernism in the 1930s as an ‘equivocal term.’ It meant different things to different people. However, towards the end of the book, the author quotes (p.371) Wilfrid Ward’s article ‘The Encyclical Pascendi’ printed in the Dublin Review of Jan 1908 where he states that Modernism ‘is a body of thought… the root principle (of which)… is subjectivism in religion – the identification of religion with sentiment or emotion rather than belief in objective truth…’

That is a helpful contemporary summary of Modernism and it explains why it was a problem in the Catholic Church. If there is no objective truth, just subjective impressions of truth, then there can be dogma as nothing is ever certain. This leads inexorably to the conclusion that Jesus’s divinity and Resurrection are only truths in the sense that they are helpful ways of thinking. If people cease to find them helpful then they should be abandoned as ideas.

That way of thinking is completely destructive of Catholicism and it is incompatible with core tenets such as the idea that Ecumenical Councils issue irreformable teachings. It is not surprising then that the Modernists ended up losing or abandoning a conventional sense of faith. Tyrrell celebrated his last mass on Feb 14th 1906 and Loisy celebrated his last mass on Nov 1st 1906 (p312-3). Both of them were sliding inexorably out of the Church, at least a year before the 1907 condemnation of their views.

One of the things which the book does well is to locate the theological crisis of Modernism alongside the political crisis which was occurring in France at the same. As an Anti-Clerical French government turned upon Catholicism, the significance of others challenging theological ideas could only seem even more serious. The book poses a good question when it asks whether (or to what extent) the French political situation contributed to the 1907 condemnation of theological Modernism.

The narrative is clear but there is a wealth of detail which arguably makes the book longer than it needs to be. For example, we heard that Alfred Loisy was living in the countryside at one point, where he named his chickens after Assyrian Kings (p.305).

We also hear some examples of the completely counter-productive results of the Index Librorum and its attempts to ban books. When the Italian novelist Antonio Fogazzaro published Il Santo in 1905, it was quickly placed on the Index, banning Catholics from reading it. However, that ban made it an instant best-seller. It immediately started selling around 30,000 copies a month in Italy and it peaked at 1000 copies a day in UK and USA (p.324).

Details about chickens and book sales are charming and interesting quirky details, but is it really relevant to understanding Modernism and its key characters? A tighter editing could have shortened the book considerably.

A together editing might have also avoided some of the typos in the book. For example, we hear about the ‘affect of Modernism’ (p357-8) where the context makes it clear that ‘affect’ should be ‘effect.’

Overall, this is an interesting and very readable introduction to Modernism because it focuses upon the characters and their interactions, without getting bogged down in the complexities of the specific textual and historical issues which Modernists were arguing about.

(These comments are based upon a reading of the CUA 1994 version of the text).

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a presentation of the Modernist controversy that affected the Church between the years (approx.) 1890-1914. I don't know of any other book that treates this subject with so much detail and thoroughness. It was an extremely well-researched piece of writing fit for a post-doctoral publication. But that's part of the problem. There was just way too much information in it. In between this "fluff", for want of a better word, were exceptional analyses of the situation. The author really is an intelligent man. The winding details, however, made the book so lifeless in most parts that it partially ruined the experience for me.

Kudos to the author, however. He did a good job regardless of my criticisms.