Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics

by Sarah Shortall

Overview

Winner of a Catholic Media Association Book Award

A revelatory account of the nouvelle théologie, a clerical movement that revitalized the Catholic Church’s role in twentieth-century French political life.

Secularism has been a cornerstone of French political culture since 1905, when the republic formalized the separation of church and state. At times the barrier of secularism has seemed impenetrable, stifling religious actors wishing to take part in political life. Yet in other instances, secularism has actually nurtured movements of the faithful. Soldiers of God in a Secular World explores one such case, that of the nouvelle théologie, or new theology. Developed in the interwar years by Jesuits and Dominicans, the nouvelle théologie reimagined the Church’s relationship to public life, encouraging political activism, engaging with secular philosophy, and inspiring doctrinal changes adopted by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Nouveaux théologiens charted a path between the old alliance of throne and altar and secularism’s demand for the privatization of religion. Envisioning a Church in but not of the public sphere, Catholic thinkers drew on theological principles to intervene in political questions while claiming to remain at arm’s length from politics proper. Sarah Shortall argues that this “counter-politics” was central to the mission of the nouveaux théologiens: by recoding political statements in the ostensibly apolitical language of doctrine, priests were able to enter into debates over fascism and communism, democracy and human rights, colonialism and nuclear war. This approach found its highest expression during the Second World War, when the nouveaux théologiens led the spiritual resistance against Nazism. Claiming a powerful public voice, they collectively forged a new role for the Church amid the momentous political shifts of the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674980105
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	11/23/2021
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	476,651
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sarah Shortall is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and coeditor of the essay collection Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Separation (1880-1939)

1 Exile Catholicism 19

2 From Royalism to the Mystical Body of Christ 50

Part II Resistance (1940-1944)

3 Fighting Nazism with the "Weapons of the Spirit" 87

4 The Theoretical Foundations of the Spiritual Resistance 117

Part III Renewal (1945-1965)

5 The Postwar Catholic Engagement with the Left 149

6 The Drama of Atheist Humanism and the Politics of History 184

7 The Death and Resurrection of the Nouvelle Théologie 221

Epilogue 247

Abbreviations 261

Notes 263

Acknowledgments 325

Index 329

Editorial Reviews

A pathbreaking account of how the nouveaux théologiens reshaped both Catholic theology and secular philosophy in the twentieth century. Shortall thoughtfully retells modern European intellectual history, upending conventional definitions of politics and ultimately transcending the secular–religious divide.

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

Superbly expands our knowledge of the nouvelle théologie…The book describes a movement begun in exile and youthful rebellion, tested in clandestine anti-Nazi resistance, and shaken by political turmoil and ecclesiastical opprobrium before eventually remaking the face of the Catholic Church…[A] groundbreaking book.

Commonweal - Peter Steinfels

A profound and important book. Tracing the history of the nouvelle théologie, Shortall shows how religious thinking can scramble our political categories and open up new ways to imagine the future.

Edward Baring

What happens when theology and politics mix? Sarah Shortall’s compelling study proposes an answer that is incisive and illuminating from the first page to the last.

Philip G. Nord

Across a tumultuous century, as Sarah Shortall reveals, French Catholic thinkers were able to make momentous contributions to politics precisely because they insisted on the irreducibility of religion. Restoring theology to intellectual history, this book is a remarkable debut.

Samuel Moyn