ABSTRACT
By the turn of the century, Biblical criticism had centered on the Christological problem and the question of Christ's relationship to the Church. In the front ranks of Catholic exegesis was Loisy, whose forthcoming works were to meet with censure by the ecclesiastical authorities. A whole new situation would then develop for the English liberal Catholics. With a leading Catholic scholar advancing his scholarly criticisms of the origins and nature of the Church and its beliefs, and suggesting basic changes, the general problem of the relationship of Catholic intellectual work and ecclesiastical authority was raised in a pointed form. The English liberals were pleased with Loisy's work as a historical vindication of Catholicism and an effective criticism of liberal Protestantism. To the English liberals, Loisy seemed to use the historical methods to defend Catholicism and to show how the Church was a legitimate development from the Gospels.
