Ressourcement Theology: A Sourcebook
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Ressourcement Theology: A Sourcebook offers a collection of texts previously unavailable in English from leading Dominicans and Jesuits, who initiated a movement for renewal that contributed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
In the last decade, theologians have undertaken a serious reappraisal of the contribution of Ressourcement theology to 20th century theology in the Catholic tradition and beyond. This ‘return to Ressourcement’ has resulted in many of the principal texts being translated into English and (re-)issued, ensuring their accessibility to scholars across the globe.
Despite this, many of the earliest documents relating to the history of Ressourcement theology are unavailable to most English-speaking scholars, as they are largely journal articles and book chapters published in French.
Patricia Kelly has selected the most significant texts that so far have been unavailable in English, including the controversial piece by Jean-Marie LeBlond (The Analogy of Truth) that was condemned in the 1950s by the Vatican, as well as the response to Labourdette’s attack on LeBlond, penned anonymously by a group of Jesuits.
All of these documents will help students and scholars to engage deeply with the history of the Ressourcement movement and its relevance for the developments of the Catholic tradition.
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
- Explores ressourcement theology as the work of a number of French theologians active from the interwar period until and including the Second Vatican Council
- Points to ressourcement theology as the most significant development in Catholic theology of the twentieth-century
- Presents challenges to the neo-scholastic understanding and method of theology in a number of its chapters, and contains a number of attacks on ‘new theology’ while also offering some wider perspectives
Part 1: The Sources of Theology
- M.-Dominique Chenu, ‘Theology’
- H. Bouillard, ‘Conversion and Grace in Aquinas’
- J.-M. Le Blond, ‘The Analogy of Truth’
- H. de Lubac, ‘Supernatural and Super-added’
- J Daniélou, ‘Current Trends in Religious Thought’
- Anon. ‘Response to “Theology and its Sources”’
Part 2: Attacks on ‘The New Theology’
- P. Parente, ‘New Tendencies in Theology’
- R. Garrigou-Lagrange, ‘Where is ’New Theology’ Going?’
- M.-Michel Labourdette, ‘Theology and its Sources’
- M.-Michel Labourdette & M.-Joseph Nicolas, ‘The Analogy of Truth’
Part 3: Further Thoughts on Ressourcement
- J LeBreton, ‘The “Sources Chrétiennes”’
- H. de Lubac, ‘Souvenirs’
- Y. Congar, ‘Collective Responsibility’
By offering us, in English and in one place, the key papers that inaugurated ‘the new theology’ Patricia Kelly has rendered a great service to English-speaking Christians. Here we find a guide to unlock much of the thinking of Vatican II, and here also we find keys to understand why so many have tried to subvert its trajectory. This sourcebook resources not only ressourcement, but all contemporary Catholic theology.
Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor, University of Nottingham, UK
Patricia Kelly’s Ressourcement Theology: A Handbook is a notable addition to the literature and deserves a wide readership. This work is a great feat of theology and translation. It constitutes a singular service to twentieth-century Catholic Theology and breathes new life into some neglected texts as well as other highly controversial ones.
Gabriel Flynn, Dublin City University, Ireland
‘Grace perfects nature, doesn’t destroy it’, as Thomas Aquinas famously stated early in the SUMMA THEOLOGIAE, but the ramifications of what he meant will always put Christian theologians to the test, as indeed happened quite dramatically in the most serious controversy in recent Catholic theology. Introduced objectively by Dr Kelly, this set of texts by the principal authors on either side is well timed: the controversy is not over.
Fergus Kerr, O.P., UK
Reviews
1 rating
Harlan P. Hock Jr
4/10/2023
I hope Logos or Verbum will pick up the Thomistic response to this titled, The Thomistic Response to the Nouvelle Theologie by Matthew Minerd and Jon Kirwan 2023 CUA Press.Br Damien-Joseph OSB
2/12/2021
"Reader Edition"? Does this mean that this book, which is clearly loaded with citations and cross-references to other works in Logos, will not link to them? This is very obviously not a book you read cover-to-cover like a novel and is really primarily useful for theological research.
