Illustration depicting Modernism as the descent from Christianity to atheism. "The Descent of the Modernists", by E. J. Pace, Christian Cartoons, 1922; republished in Seven Questions in Dispute, by William Jennings Bryan, 1924.

Modernism describes a broad body of theological views regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church, including the belief that the Church and Catholic dogma are mere human institutions and as such their nature may radically change over time.^[1] The term was used by Pope Pius X, chiefly in reference to the teachings of Alfred Loisy and George Tyrell. "Modernists" generally did not use this label in describing themselves, nor did they necessarily see themselves as a unified group. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 612 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2000 × 1960 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 612 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2000 × 1960 pixel, file size: 2. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... “Atheist” redirects here. ... William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. ... For other senses of this word, see dogma (disambiguation). ... Pope St. ... Alfred Firmin Loisy (1857-1940) was a French Roman Catholic priest, professor and theologian who became the intellectual standard bearer for Biblical Modernism. ... Father George Tyrrell S.J. (February 6, 1861 – July 15, 1909), was an Anglican convert who joined the Jesuits and a Thomist scholar whose attempts to interpret Catholic teaching in the context of modern knowledge made him a figure in the Modernist controversy within the Roman Catholic Church in...

In his encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis of 1907, Pius X declared that Modernism was not only heretical, but even condemned it as "the synthesis of all heresies",^[2] because it undermined defined Catholic doctrine in a fundamental way, denying the idea of objective unchanging truth and authoritative teaching. In his decree Lamentabili Sane, Pius X presented 65 condemned and proscribed errors of Modernism. Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The Modernist crisis took place chiefly in French and British intellectual Catholic circles, to a lesser extent in Italy, and virtually nowhere else.^[3] The Modernist movement in Catholicism was influenced by certain Protestant theologians and clergy, starting with the Tübingen school in the mid-19th century. Some, however, such as George Tyrell, disagreed strongly with this analogy; Tyrell saw himself as loyal to the unity of the Church, and disliked liberal Protestantism (Hales 1958). According to Church critics and dissidents of both past and present, in some respects the Church appeared to be reacting to cultural themes that had arisen with Renaissance humanism and had informed the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Higher criticism is a branch of literary analysis that attempts to investigate the origins of a text, especially the text of the Bible. ... Father George Tyrrell S.J. (February 6, 1861 – July 15, 1909), was an Anglican convert who joined the Jesuits and a Thomist scholar whose attempts to interpret Catholic teaching in the context of modern knowledge made him a figure in the Modernist controversy within the Roman Catholic Church in... Renaissance humanism (often designated simply as humanism) was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century. ... 18th century philosophy redirects here. ...

Forms of Modernism in the Church

Modernism in the Catholic Church might be described under the following broad headings:

• Rationalist approach to the Bible. The rationalism that was an aspect of Modernism took a skeptical view of miracles and the historicity of biblical narratives. Furthermore, this approach attempted to evalute the meaning of the Bible by focusing on the text alone and ignoring what the Church fathers and others have historically taught about it. This way of looking at the Bible became quite popular in the Protestant churches and found its way into Catholic churches. It was an offshoot of the concept of sola scriptura, which asserts that an individual can learn all that is necessary regarding religion just by reading the Bible.

• Secularism and other Enlightenment ideals. The ideal of secularism can be briefly summarised as holding that the best course of action in politics and other civic fields is that which flows from disparate groups’ and religions’ common understanding of the “good”. By implication, Church and State should be separated, and the laws of the state should generally only cover the “common ground” of beliefs between the various religious groups that might be present — for example the prohibition of murder, etc. From the secularists’ point of view, it was possible to distinguish between political ideas and structures that were religious and those that were not. Catholic theologians in the mainstream argued that such a distinction was not possible, that all aspects of society had to be organized with the final goal of heaven in mind. This was a direct counter to the thread of Humanism that had been in the forefront of intellectual thought since the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. The roots of secularism they traced to those English philosophers who attempted to create a “universal religion” based on the “common denominator” of all other religions; it was largely spread through the secret societies of the Enlightenment, including the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and the Carbonari, and its greatest threat, in the writings of this school, was the spectre of Democracy.

• Modern philosophical systems. Philosophers such as Kant and Henri Bergson inspired the mainstream of Modernist thought. One of the main currents was the attempt to synthesize the vocabularies/epistemologies/metaphysics and other features of certain modern systems of philosophy with Catholicism, in much the same way the Scholastics earlier attempted to synthesize Platonic and Aristotlean philosophy with Catholicism, although Thomas Aquinas himself counted Aristotle as one of his chief influences.

The combination of these three currents usually led to other conclusions which were common in various streams of progressive thinking that was characterized as Modernism: In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... A miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning something wonderful, is a striking interposition of divine intervention by God in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of Nature is overruled, suspended, or modified. ... Historicity refers to the historical authenticity of a person, event, or place. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      This article is about theological concept. ... This article is about secularism. ... 18th century philosophy redirects here. ... For other uses, see Heaven (disambiguation). ... See also the specific life stance known as Humanism For the Renaissance liberal arts movement, see Renaissance humanism Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities... The Renaissance (French for rebirth, or Rinascimento in Italian), was a cultural movement in Italy (and in Europe in general) that began in the late Middle Ages, and spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century. ... This article is about the period or event in history. ... American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... For other uses, see Illuminati (disambiguation). ... The Carbonari (charcoal burners[1]) were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... “Kant” redirects here. ... Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859–January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... It has been suggested that Meta-epistemology be merged into this article or section. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois (U of I) and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on. ... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P.(also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. ...

• That religion is primarily a matter of irrational emotions. As more dispassionate and detailed studies of history appeared, a sense of historicism suggested that ideas are generally so conditioned by the age in which they are expressed; thus modernists generally believed that most dogmas or teachings of the Church were novelties which arose because of specific historical circumstances throughout the history of the Church. Rationalism and textual criticism downplayed the possible role of the miraculous, and the philosophical systems in vogue at the time taught that the existence of God and other things could never be known (see Agnosticism). Theology, formerly the “queen of the sciences” was dethroned. (Wilkinson 2002) So it was argued that religion must be primarily caused and centered on the feelings of believers. This bolsters the claims of secularism in weakening any position that supported favoring one religion over the other in the state (since if there isn’t a very scientific and reasonable assumption that one’s religion is right, it would be a much safer route to organize society based on the assumption that no particular religion is right).

For historicism as a method of interpreting biblical apocalypse, see Historicism (Christian eschatology). ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Agnosticism (from the Greek a, meaning without, and Gnosticism or gnosis, meaning knowledge) is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims—particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of God, gods, deities, or even ultimate reality—is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ...

Evolution of dogmas

The final overall teaching of Modernism, is that dogmas (what is taught by the Church and what its members are required to believe) can evolve over time, rather than being the same for all time. This aspect of thought was what made Modernism unique in the history of heresies in the Church. Previously, a heretic (someone who believed and taught something different from what the rest of the church believed) would either claim that he was right and the rest of the church was wrong because he had received a new revelation from God, or that he had understood the true teaching of God which was previously understood but then lost. Both of those scenarios almost necessarily led to an organizational separation away from the Church (schism) or the offender being ejected from the Church (excommunication). With this new idea that doctrines evolve, it was possible for the modernist to believe that the old teachings of the Church and his new seemingly contradictory teachings were both correct — each had their time and place. This system allows almost any type of new belief that the modernist might want to introduce, and for this reason Modernism was labelled the “synthesis of all heresies” by Pope Pius X. Look up Heresy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word schism (IPA: or ), from the Greek σχίσμα, skhísma (from σχίζω, skhízō, to tear, to split), means a division or a split, usually in an organization or a movement. ... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ...

Social/Anthropological causes of Modernism

Catholic historians and theologians have social explanations as to why Modernism developed as it did and became so popular:

• Working with the modern philosophical systems was popular. It allowed theologians to work with non-Catholic philosopher contemporaries, and not to be looked down upon as “ancient” for their frequently exclusively Scholastic philosophy.

• In the Americas, especially in the United States, priests, bishops and theologians were surrounded by a culture and laity committed to the concept of secularism. Anti-Catholic uprisings during the colonial period and later caused a desire for priests and bishops to “fit in” and to “prove their loyalty to the American way”. Documents such as the Syllabus of Errors (which condemned freedom of religion and separation of church and state) were largely ignored by these priests and bishops. The modernistic trend of injecting secular values into Catholicism itself would allow for a much smoother relationship in these areas. Also, some argue, the downplaying of the doctrines taught by the Church contrary to American culture led them to be virtually unknown by succeeding generations of Catholics, causing newly ordained priests and bishops to almost automatically have secularist beliefs.

• The evolution of dogmas theory, much like certain interpretations of being saved sola fide (“by faith alone”), allows for a constant updating (critics would say “loosening”) of standards of morality. As moral standards shifted heavily during the 20th century, previously a Catholic would have had to deny his faith to engage in some of the actions of his contemporaries. Now, citing that dogmas can change, it was possible to “update” Catholic morality while not being concerned with possible contradictions.

Scholastic is the official student publication of the University of Notre Dame. ... The Syllabus of Errors (Latin: Syllabus Errorum) was a document issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8,1864, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, as an appendix to his encyclical Quanta Cura. ... Morality (from the Latin manner, character, proper behaviour) has three principal meanings. ...

Official Church response

In 1893, Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Providentissimus Deus affirmed in principle the legitimacy of Biblical criticism only insofar as it was pursued in a spirit of faith. In 1903 Leo established a Pontifical Biblical Commission to oversee those studies and ensure that they were conducted with respect for the Catholic doctrines on the inspiration and interpretation of scripture. Pope Leo XIII (March 2, 1810—July 20, 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate... Providentissimus Deus, On the Study of Holy Scripture, was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 18 November 1893. ...

Pope St. Pius X, who succeeded Leo, was the first to identify Modernism as a movement. He frequently condemned both its aims and ideas, and was deeply concerned by the ability of Modernism to allow its adherents to believe themselves strict Catholics while having a markedly different belief as to what that meant (a consequence of the notion of evolution of dogma). In July 1907 he published the encyclical Lamentabili Sane, a sweeping condemnation which distinguished sixty-five propositions as a Modernist Heresy. In September of the same year, he promulgated an encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis which enjoined a compulsory Anti-Modernist oath on all Catholic bishops, priests and teachers to force them to come to clear terms with what they believed. The oath was abolished by Pope Paul VI in 1967. His Holiness St. ...

John Cornwell, a historian who has been antagonistic to the Catholic Church, controversially maintains that Pope Pius X introduced a secret society called the Sodalitium Pianum to spy on seminaries to see if Modernism was being taught in them, though other historians such as Ronald J. Rychlak observe that the pope was dealing with modernist seminary professors who withheld or actually falsified information about what was being taught in the seminaries -- i.e., investigations, not spying, is what Pope St. Pius X conducted.^{[citation needed]} For the Ecuadorian artist, see Manuel Rendón Seminario. ...

It is claimed that measures taken under Pope Pius X led in several cases to injustices being perpetrated against orthodox Catholics, and the structures of ecclesial espionage which characterised his period in office have long since disappeared.^{[citation needed]} Separate articles treat Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ...

Since Pope Paul VI, most church authorities have largely dropped the term "modernism", perhaps because it is inherently ambiguous, instead preferring to identify more precise errors, such as secularism, liberalism or relativism. The term has however enjoyed a revival amongst Traditionalists and Conservative critics within the Catholic Church. This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... This article is about secularism. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... For the physics theory with a similar name, see Theory of Relativity. ...

Some Catholic Modernists

Major figures

Early modernists

• Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), whose L'Évangile et L’Église (1902) sparked the crisis
• George Tyrell (1861-1909)
• Maurice Blondel (1861-1949), philosopher and apologist (not strictly a “modernist” yet one of the chief suspects given his role in the debate and misunderstandings of his work)

Alfred Firmin Loisy (1857-1940) was a French Roman Catholic priest, professor and theologian who became the intellectual standard bearer for Biblical Modernism. ... Father George Tyrrell S.J. (February 6, 1861 – July 15, 1909), was an Anglican convert who joined the Jesuits and a Thomist scholar whose attempts to interpret Catholic teaching in the context of modern knowledge made him a figure in the Modernist controversy within the Roman Catholic Church in... Maurice Blondel (2 November 1861, Dijon - 4 June 1949, Aix-en-Provence) was a French philosopher. ...

Other, less public modernists

• Louis Duchesne, historian of the Church
• Henri Bremond
• Friedrich von Hügel

Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (September 13, 1843 - April 21, 1922) was a French priest, philologist, and historian. ... Henri Bremond (31 July 1865-17 August 1933) was a French literary scholar, sometime Jesuit, and Catholic philosopher, one of the theological modernists. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Friedrich von Hugel. ...

Suspected of Modernism

• Marie-Joseph Lagrange (1855-1938), founder of the École Biblique in Jerusalem
• Lucien Laberthonierre
• Pierre Batiffol (1861-1929), historian of dogma

Marie-Joseph Lagrange (7 March 1855 - 10 March 1938; earlier Albert Marie-Henri Lagrange) was a Catholic priest in the Dominican Order and founder of the École biblique in Jerusalem. ...

Notes

J H Newman age 23 when he preached his first sermon. ... Development of doctrine is a term used by John Henry Newman and other theologians influenced by him to describe the way Catholic teaching has become more detailed and explicit over the centuries, while later statements of doctrine remain consistent with earlier statements. ... This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ...

External links

• Providentissimus Deus, Leo XIII, 18 November 1893
• Lamentabili sane, Pius X, 3 July 1907
• Pascendi Dominici gregis, Pius X, 8 September 1907
• International Catholic University: James Hitchcock, Introduction to Modernism: Essays with bibliography arranged by subjects, headed “Note: Most of the works dealing with Modernism are sympathetic to the Modernists, and students should maintain a critical stance towards the assigned readings.”
• Fr. Michael Morton, “Catholic Modernism (1896-1914)”
• A. Vermeersch, “Modernism” in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)

is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

References

• Acton, Lord, The History of Freedom and Other Essays An outsider’s criticism.
• Poulat, É. 1979. Histoire, dogme et critique dans la crise moderniste. Tournai. Casterman.
• Altholz, Josef L. 1962. The Liberal Catholic Movement in England
• Hales, E.E.Y., 1954. Pio Nono: A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (Doubleday)
• Gauthier, P. 1988. Newman et Blondel. Tradition et développement du dogme. Paris. Le Cerf.
• Hales, 1958. The Catholic Church in the Modern World (Doubleday)
• Izquierdo, C. 1990. Blondel y la crisis modernista. Análisis de « Historia y dogma ». Pamplona. Ed. Univ. De Navarra.
• Jodock, Darrell, editor, 2002. Catholicism Contending with Modernity (Cambridge University Press)
• Loome, Thomas Michael Liberal Catholicism, Reform Catholicism, Modernism: A Contribution to a New Orientation in Modernist Research^[1].
• O’Connell, Marvin, Critics on Trial : An Introduction to the Catholic Modernist Crisis, Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC, 1994.
• Virgoulay, R. 1980. Blondel et le modernisme. La philosophie de l’action et les sciences religieuses (1896-1913). Paris. Le Cerf.
• Reviewed by Fr. John Parsons