Modernism in the Catholic Church

Since the 19th century, there have been attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture, specifically an understanding of the Bible and Sacred Tradition in light of the historical-critical method and new philosophical and political developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Quotes about I...firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day. And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:90), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated: Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time. Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time. Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely. Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord. Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas. I also reject the error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion. I also condemn and reject the opinion of those who say that a well-educated Christian assumes a dual personality-that of a believer and at the same time of a historian, as if it were permissible for a historian to hold things that contradict the faith of the believer, or to establish premises which, provided there be no direct denial of dogmas, would lead to the conclusion that dogmas are either false or doubtful. Likewise, I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm. Furthermore, I reject the opinion of those who hold that a professor lecturing or writing on a historico-theological subject should first put aside any preconceived opinion about the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition or about the divine promise of help to preserve all revealed truth forever; and that they should then interpret the writings of each of the Fathers solely by scientific principles, excluding all sacred authority, and with the same liberty of judgment that is common in the investigation of all ordinary historical documents. Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact-one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history-the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way. I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God... Pope Pius X, The Path Against Modernism (September 1, 1910). Niuno si stupirà ove Noi lo definiamo, affermando esser esso la sintesi di tutte le eresie. Body will be amazed where we define it, affirming that it is the synthesis of all heresies. Pope Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis. Innestandosi su una base filosofica che, sostenendo l'immanenza divina, faceva coincidere mediante l'azione religione e morale, il modernismo assunse due articolazioni fondamentali: una critico-dottrinale ad opera di Loisy, Le Roy, Tyrrell e Buonaiuti, i quali dal sostenere che i dogmi sono simboli della rivelazione espressi in modo da risentire del clima storico, furono portati a difendere il principio metodologico che la stessa Bibbia dovesse essere studiata secondo i metodi propri della critica storica con lo scopo di cogliere, attraverso la forma simbolica imperfetta, l'essenza della rilevazione divina; un'altra politico-sociale, ad opera specie di Murri, il quale si fece propagandista di un concetto di «democrazia cristiana», secondo cui nel popolo si manifesta la vita divina e missione del cristiano è di favorire il progresso morale, religioso e civile in lotta con i privilegi sociali, compresi quelli di una Chiesa che va liberata dalle incrostazioni di un passato storico condannato. Grafted onto a philosophical basis which, by supporting divine immanence, made religion and morality coincide through action, modernism assumed two fundamental articulations: a critical-doctrinal one by Loisy, Le Roy, Tyrrell and Buonaiuti, who from maintaining that dogmas are symbols of revelation expressed in such a way as to be influenced by the historical climate, they were led to defend the methodological principle that the Bible itself should be studied according to the methods typical of historical criticism with the aim of grasping, through the imperfect symbolic form, the essence of divine detection; another political-social one, especially by Murri, who became a propagandist of a concept of «Christian democracy», according to which the divine life manifests itself in the people and the mission of the Christian is to foster moral, religious and civil progress in struggle with social privileges, including those of a Church that must be freed from the encrustations of a condemned historical past. Massimo Luigi Salvadori, Storia dell'età contemporanea, vol. I, 1815-1914, Loescher editore, Torino, 1977, Ch. XXIII, pp. 426-427. Argomento non centrale nella riflessione dei modernisti, ma test indicativo per una comprensione dei rapporti tra modernismo e realtà sociale del tempo, è il legame fra fermenti modernisti e tendenze femministe. A topic not central to modernists' reflection, but an indicative "test" for understanding the relationship between modernism and the social reality of the time, is the link between modernist ferment and feminist tendencies. Agostino Giovagnoli, Cultura cattolica e crisi modernista, in AA.VV., Storia del cristianesimo 1878-2005, vol. 2, La Chiesa e la modernità, supplement to Famiglia cristiana, Periodici San Paolo, Milan, 2005, Ch. 6, pp. 225-249. È certamente impossibile individuare «contenuti» specifici e costanti del modernismo, come pretendeva di fare l'enciclica Pascendi. È però possibile riscontrare una serie di temi e di orientamenti che ricorrono in vari esponenti di questo peculiare movimento. Frequente è ad esempio la riproposizione angosciosa del problema dei rapporti fra ragione e fede in connessione con una tematica scientifica legata in primo luogo alle esigenze della critica storica e letteraria. Sollecitazioni come quelle espresse dalla filosofia dell'azione e da una certa tendenza immanentistica sono anch'esse diffuse. Acuta e ricorrente è la tensione fra autorità e libertà riscontrabile tra le fila del clero sensibile alle suggestioni moderniste, in relazione alle esigenze della ricerca culturale ma anche a quella delle scelte di vita. It is certainly impossible to identify «specific and constant contents» of modernism, as the encyclical "Pascendi". However, it is possible to find a series of themes and orientations that recur in various exponents of this peculiar movement. For example, there is a frequent anguished re-proposal of the problem of the relationship between reason and faith in connection with a scientific theme linked primarily to the needs of historical and literary criticism. Urges such as those expressed by the philosophy of action and a certain immanentist tendency are also widespread. The tension between authority and freedom found among the ranks of the clergy sensitive to modernist suggestions, in relation to the needs of cultural research but also to that of life choices, is acute and recurring. Agostino Giovagnoli, Cultura cattolica e crisi modernista, in AA.VV., Storia del cristianesimo 1878-2005, vol. 2, La Chiesa e la modernità, supplement to Famiglia cristiana, Periodici San Paolo, Milan, 2005, Ch. 6, pp. 225-249. La varietà di tendenze e di interessi, a volte contraddittori o addirittura inconciliabili, presenti nel modernismo, sembra comunque suggerire l'utilità di risalire dalle forme compiute, ma spesso disomogenee e tra loro incoerenti, del modernismo, al suo variegato retroterra. Dotata di di una qualche fecondità appare perciò ancora la prospettiva di accostarsi al modernismo come spia rivelatrice di una crisi, di un disagio, di una sofferenza e anche di un'esigenza di rinnovamento del cattolicesimo, soprattutto italiano. In questo senso la vicenda modernista appare come la punta emergente di un iceberg dalle molteplici e profonde dimensioni che occupa larga parte di quella stagione della storia della Chiesa contemporanea. The variety of tendencies and interests, sometimes contradictory or even irreconcilable, present in modernism, however, seems to suggest the usefulness of tracing the completed, but often heterogeneous and mutually inconsistent, forms of modernism back to its varied background. Gifted with some fruitfulness, therefore, the prospect of approaching modernism as a telltale indicator of a crisis, an unease, a suffering and also of a need for renewal in Catholicism, especially in Italy, still appears. In this sense, the modernist story appears as the emerging tip of an "iceberg" of multiple and profound dimensions that occupies a large part of that period in the history of the contemporary Church. Agostino Giovagnoli, Cultura cattolica e crisi modernista, in AA.VV., Storia del cristianesimo 1878-2005, vol. 2, La Chiesa e la modernità, supplement to Famiglia cristiana, Periodici San Paolo, Milan, 2005, Ch. 6, pp. 225-249. Rimasto a lungo nel mondo cattolico un argomento tabù, il modernismo solo in epoca piuttosto recente è diventato oggetto di un'attenta analisi storica. Dopo Houtin, che tuttavia fu protagonista di quelle vicende e scrisse a ridosso delle medesime, e J. Rivière, che le interpretò però in una luce più teologica che storica, bisogna attendere gli anni '60 per poter cominciare a disporre di una serie di contributi, scientificamente attendibili, sempre più numerosi negli anni seguenti, fino a trasformare il modernismo in un campo forse tra i più densamente arati della storia religiosa contemporanea. Having long remained a taboo subject in the Catholic world, modernism has only recently become the subject of careful historical analysis. After Houtin, who however was the protagonist of those events and wrote about them [A. Houtin, "Histoire du modernisme catholique", Paris 1913], and J. Rivière, who however interpreted them in a more theological than historical light [J. Rivière, "Le modernisme dans l'Eglise. Etude d'histoire religieuse contemporaine", Paris 1929. Ed.], we have to wait until the 1960s to be able to begin to have a series of scientifically reliable contributions, increasingly numerous in the following years, until modernism was transformed into a field perhaps among the most densely ploughed in contemporary religious history." Agostino Giovagnoli, Cultura cattolica e crisi modernista, in AA.VV., Storia del cristianesimo 1878-2005, vol. 2, La Chiesa e la modernità, supplement to Famiglia cristiana, Periodici San Paolo, Milan, 2005, Ch. 6, pp. 225-249. External links Category: Christian theology