Un réseau d'intellectuels européens en Amérique du Nord : diffusion, réception et américanisation de la pensée catholique : années 1920-années 1960

• Auteur / Autrice : Florian Michel
• Direction : Claude Langlois
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Sciences religieuses
• Date : Soutenance en 2006
• Etablissement(s) : Paris, EPHE
• Partenaire(s) de recherche : Autre partenaire : École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences religieuses (Paris)

Mots clés

Mots clés contrôlés

Gilson, Étienne (1884-1978)

Et l'Amérique

Maritain, Jacques (1882-1973)

Thomisme

Échanges culturels français

Intellectuels français

20e siècle

Amérique du Nord

Intellectuels catholiques

Résumé

The aim of this research is to study the presence and the influence of some European Christian philosophers in North America, tracing the development of a Thomistic network between the late 190s and the Second Vatican Council, inquiring into the reasons for the expatriation of these Catholic scholars, evaluating the fecundity of their influence on Catholic thought and religious life in North America, and finally considering the notion of a possible Americanization of Thomism. Basically, the plan of this research is to study six places corresponding to six different institutions where Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, Yves Simon, Father Marie-Dominique Chenu, O. P. Jacques de Monléon and Charles De Koninck taught. As a matter of fact, this Thomist presence was supported by a number of institutions, such as The Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, founded by Etienne Gilson in 1929 with the help of the Basilian order ; the Institut d’Etudes Médievales in Ottawa, founded by Father Chenu in association with Gilson in 1930 ; the philosophy department of Laval University in Québec, directed by Charles De Koninck ; the University of Notre Dame, which was one of the great centers of Thomists ; as well as Princeton University, which welcomed Maritain from 1948 until 1960, and the University of Chicago, which offered chair to Thomist scholars passing through Chicago, thanks to Robert Hutchins, Mortimer Adler, and John Nef. The historical significance of the work I propose is situated in the intersection of several intellectual currents. On the one hand there is the “Thomist Revival” so eagerly sought after by Leo XIII, a revival that first took place in Europe and whose European aspects are well known, but whose passage to the New World remains largely unexamined, despite the numerous fruits that it produced. There is also the study of the American period of some European intellectuals, a biographical element that is likewise often unknown or ignored, resulting in a lacuna that flaws even the best of their biographies. Finally there is also the classic theme of cultural transfer (“translation studii”) between America and Europe, applied to Christian philosophy, which will permit the explication of a significant aspect of American Catholic though and will shed light on an “Atlantist” intellectual milieu.