Jacques Maritain on Remaining Human in the 21st Century

Jacques Maritain’s critical analysis of historical developments asks how our current quest for autonomy and self-fulfillment can be harmonized with our earlier quest for transcendence, while acknowledging the positive contributions of modernity and postmodernity.The 21st century witnesses the contest between liberal democracy and totalitarianism. This book contends that Maritain’s critical analysis of historical developments culminating in the 20th century offers profound insights into our departure from the lessons of classical antiquity and Christian civilization and into our current moment. Maritain is critical of atomistic individualism within liberal democracies and the rise of autocracy and totalitarian control on both the left and the right of the political spectrum. In addition to this negative appraisal of modernity, Maritain came to appreciate the constructive influence of the modern articulation of human rights and the attempt to establish democratic forms of polity, which he attributed to the presence of Christian leaven within the modern democratic experience. Having encountered the intellectual stability and social cohesion evident in his study of St. Thomas Aquinas and involvement with the Roman Catholic Church, and having discovered the basis for this unity in the transcendent orientation of the classical and Christian past, Maritain offers a path toward drawing positive lessons from both modernity and ancient traditions. Walter Schultz applies this analysis toward current threats of autocracy and Christian Nationalism.