The Maritain Factor: Taking Religion into Interward Modernism(KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society)

By studying the reception and perception of the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, this book argues that European modernist artists and intellectuals sought a primordial finality in Catholicism. The French poet, writer, and surrealist filmmaker Jean Cocteau converted under the influence of Maritain. For the painters Gino Severini, a pioneer of Futurism, and Otto Van Rees, one of the first Dadaists —both converts— Maritain played the role of spiritual counselor. And when the promoter of abstract art Michel Seuphor embraced Catholic faith in the 1930s, he, too, had extensive contact with Maritain. For all of them, the dictum of the Irish poet Brian Coffey, once a doctoral student under Maritain, applied: modern art needs a Thomist conceptual framework. However, the contributions in The Maritain Factor also show that, besides admiration, Maritain provoked irritation with his theories. Walter Benjamin for example, could only look at Maritain as a charlatan who was out to place modern art under the glass bell jar of Catholicism. The authors demonstrate that Catholic thought was not just one aspect of the manifold varieties of modernist discourses and practices, but in fact offered a basis to organize and structure this multiplicity in the 1920s and 1930s. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content) With contributions by: Philippe Chenaux, Jan De Maeyer, Michael Einfalt, Jason Harding, Rajesh Heynickx, Zoë Marie Jones, Ewoud Kieft, Mathijs Sanders, Stephen Schloesser, Stéphane Symons, Cécile Vanderpelen-Diagre, James Matthew Wilson.

Table of Contents:
On the Road with Maritain European Modernist Art Circles and Neo-Thomism during the Interwar Rajesh Heynickx Profiling Maritain The Rise of a Mystic Modernism Maritain and the Sacrificed Generation of the Twenties Stephen Schloesser Circles and Institutions. The Neo-Thomistic Infrastructure Philippe Chenaux Grandes Amitiés Similarity and Incompatibility The Aesthetics of Michel Seuphor and Jacques Maritain Rajesh Heynickx Towards a Modern Religious Art. The Case of Albert Servaes Jan De Maeyer Maritain in the Netherlands Pieter van der Meer de Walcheren and the Cult of Youth Mathijs Sanders Codifying Literature? Maritain and the Catholic Writers of Francophone Belgium Cécile Vanderpelen-Diagre Gino Severini, a Classicist Futurist Zoë Marie Jones Confrontations Same City, Another Universe. On Jacques Maritain and Walter Benjamin Stéphane Symons Brian Coffey, Jacques Maritain and the Recovery of the 'Thing' James Matthew Wilson Debating Literary Autonomy. Jacques Maritain versus André Gide Michael Einfalt Mystic Modernism and Politics Jacques Maritain, Joseph Roth and Anton van Duinkerken Ewoud Kieft 'The Just Impartiality of a Christian Philosopher'. Jacques Maritain and T.S. Eliot Jason Harding Bibliography Index Contributors Colophon

About the Author :
Jan De Maeyer is Professor at KU Leuven and director of KADOC-KU Leuven, Documentation and Research Centre for Religion, Culture and Society. Rajesh Heynickx teaches Art History at Universiteit Antwerpen and Sint-Lucas Architectuur Gent-Brussel.

Review :
"This book is a treasure trove for scholars of the Maritains; it offers a rich supplement to the biographies of the Maritains as well to their own autobiographical writing... The book is essential reading for all students of Maritain and serves as an important resource for students of culture and Catholicism in Europe during the interwar period."-John P. Hittinger,The Catholic Historical Review (Summer 2015)