Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Theology

This dissertation is about the problem of history in modern theology. It describes early Christian conceptions of history and truth and sketches a genealogy of the impact of modern historical consciousness on Christianity. By focusing on Third Republic France, and then the work of the bible scholar Alfred Loisy, this dissertation seeks to situate the Modernist Crisis, where the conflict between history and theology erupted most violently. In so doing, the way in which conceptions of doctrine are embedded within histories, contexts, and politics is revealed. To flesh out this same point, in its later chapters, this dissertation shifts its attention to Catholic engagement with the right-wing and fascist movements of the twentieth- century. To this end, the career of Jacques Maritain (d. 1973) proves particularly important. His move from reactionary politics in his youth toward the articulation of a “New Christendom” reveals the extent to which theology and politics co-constitute each other. More than that, this dissertation looks at Maritain's role in the religious freedom debates of the Second Vatican Council. The final thesis of the dissertation is that the thinking Maritain utilizes in articulating his New Christendom - what he calls “prise de conscience” or “awareness” - offers a contribution to the ongoing conversations about continuity and discontinuity that mark Catholic reflection on the problems of history and doctrine.

Committee: William Portier (Advisor); Jana Bennett (Committee Member); Thomas Guarino (Committee Member); Vincent Miller (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Philosophy; Political Science; Religion; Religious History; Theology