A Thomistic Turn? Maurice Blondel's Reading of St Thomas

Abstract

Blondel began his intensive reading of St Thomas early in the first decade of the twentieth century. In the medieval theologian he discovered not only material that allowed him to penetrate more deeply into the matter of faith, but also an essential corrective to developments in contemporary philosophy whose roots in Descartes had led to an undesirable fragmentation of disciplines. His fascinating study of St Thomas was not, however, uncritical and would lead to his suggestion that what was now needed was a new synthesis of the Thomist and Cartesian spirit. This, in turn, was programmatic for Blondel's later works and explains the many references to St. Thomas therein.