Gathering in one place a cohesive selection of articles that deepen our sense of the vitality and controversy within the Catholic renewal of the mid-twentieth century, God's Mirror offers historical analysis of French Catholic intellectuals. This volume highlights the work of writers, thinkers and creative artists who have not always drawn the attention given to such luminaries as Maritain, Mounier, and Marcel. Organized around the typologies of renewal and engagement, editors Katherine Davies and Toby Garfitt provide a revisionist and interdisciplinary reading of the narrative of twentieth-century French Catholicism. Renewal and engagement are both manifestations of how the Catholic intellectual reflects and takes position on the relationship between the Church, personal faith and the world, and on the increasingly problematic relationship between intellectuals and the Magisterium. A majority of the writings are based on extensive research into published texts, with some occasional archival references, and they give critical insights into the tensions that characterized the theological and political concerns of their subjects.
"God's Mirror is a substantial contribution to twentieth-century French intellectual history, and more broadly to the history of Catholicism. The editors build on previous scholarship on Catholic intellectual life and political activism by highlighting the work of journalists, scholars, and artists who participated in the Catholic renewal of the mid-twentieth century."
University of Notre Dame
"The essays in this volume reflect a broad range of subject matters-literature, music, philosophy, theology, inter-religious dialogue, social and political events-that will expand the horizons of readers in presenting the rich texture of French Catholicism during the period surveyed. The themes of renewal and engagement, the recurrent ideas, and overlapping networks among the figures discussed in
University of St. Thomas in Houston
"God's Mirror illuminates a critical moment in the encounter between Catholicism, modernity, intellectual integrity, artistic creativity, and political commitment. Specialists will appreciate the authors' many original insights into the struggles of path-breaking French Catholic intellectuals in the 1930's and 40's. All of us should welcome the renewed attention the book brings to these forerunner
