ABSTRACT
It is not without paradox that Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) has been included in a book on contemporary theologians. He consistently called himself a philosopher and, with the exception of some writings at the very end of his life, was never willing to accept the label “theology” as a description of his intellectual output. It remains true however that among the philosophical writings of the last century there are few more intertwined with the discourse of faith than Maritain’s. Throughout a philosophical career that spanned over 60 years, Maritain kept to the conviction that far from being an impediment to reason the Christian faith (and the discipline that issues from it—theology) would strengthen philosophy, much as grace perfects nature. Hence, “ascending” to the knowledge of God from the naturally knowable truths of this world, he sought to show how the perennial questions of philosophy would receive a deeper and fuller response if examined in vital contact with the “descending” wisdom which God communicated to humankind in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. 1
The philosopher’s experience itself has been revitalized by Christianity. He is offered as a datum a world that is the handiwork of the Word, wherein everything bespeaks the Infinite Mind to finite minds who know themselves as minds. What a starting point! Here is, as it were, a fraternal attitude toward things and reality, – I mean insofar as they are knowable – for which the progress of the human mind is indebted to the Christian Middle Ages. 2
