Nineteenth Century Scholasticism: The Search for a Unitary Method

Nineteenth-Century Scholasticism provides a careful historical account of the scholastic polemic against the "new" Catholic philosophies and theologies that arose in Europe throughout the 19th century. This read begins with an examination of Ontologism, Traditionalism, and the theologies of Hermes, Gunther, and the Tubingen School - the adversaries against whom the scholastics directed their fire - and then transitions to review the philosophies and theologies of Liberatore and Kleutgen, the scholastic theoreticians who orchestrated the polemic. From the account of its polemic with rival theologians, a vivid picture of nineteenth-century scholasticism's vision of itself as the one philosophy capable of structuring a Catholic theology, its adversary relationship to other theologies, and its confidence in its own ability to integrate Catholic culture and solve contemporary social problems emerges.