How do sacraments differ from superstition? For Enlightenment philosophers such as Kant, both are merely natural actions claiming a supernatural effect, an accusation that has long been ignored in Catholic theology. In Maurice Blondel on the Supernatural in Human Action: Sacrament and Superstition, however, Cathal Doherty SJ reverses this accusation through a theological appropriation of Blondel's philosophy of action, arguing not only that sacraments have no truck with superstition but that the 'Enlightened' are themselves guilty of that which they most abhor, superstitious action. Doherty then uses Blondel's philosophical insights as a heuristic and corrective to putative sacramental theologies that would reduce the spiritual or supernatural efficacy of sacraments to the mere human effort of perception or symbolic interpretation.

This is a comprehensive examination of the French philosopher Maurice Blondel, whose philosophy and religion had a tremendous impact over the first half of the 20th century.

This work casts light on contemporary arguments over social Catholicism and the believer's role in society by illuminating a similar dispute among French Catholics during the Modernist Crisis (1909-1914)

This thesis explores the ecclesial Tradition as the locus wherein history and the supernatural coinhere. It does so by drawing on the works of French Catholic philosopher, Maurice Blondel, and French Catholic theologian, Yves Congar. Pritz-Bennett begins by critiquing historicist constructs that seal off the possibility of the supernatural from history, arguing that these logically culminate in a kind of nihilism and historical "terror," as is demonstrated through the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Pritz-Bennett then proceeds to use Maurice Blondel's philosophy of action as a means of opening human action back up to the supernatural without compromising its integrity as a dynamic reality. She draws on Yves Congar's ecclesiology as a means of linking human action to communal action, showing how the meaning of history is embodied in the community of the Church, which is both human and divine. Finally, the thesis concludes with an examination of Tradition as a model for understanding how history and the supernatural interact through time, providing the historicist narrative, par excellence, that elevates history as a teleological force inclined towards a supernatural end.

This is the first to book to explore Blondel's entire body of work and provides an introduction to his life and writings and their relevance to the debates surrounding the radical orthodoxy identity. Detailing Blondel's impressive research output during the first half of the twentieth century, this volume highlights his relevance to philosophy and religion today and his commitment that philosophy cannot be separated from a theological narrative. This highly original work will be of great interest to scholars of philosophy and religion, particularly the students of the radical orthodoxy movement.

With more than 800 topics from over 300 contributors, Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy is a comprehensive introduction to the Catholic vision of society, social relations, and the human being. It combines theoretical work on important topics and scholarly disciplines (e.g., economics, moral theology, natural law, philosophy, psychology); social science perspectives on a variety of topics (e.g., alcoholism and drug abuse, forgiveness and mercy, globalization); and treatment of practical policy implications that flow from applying the Catholic religious, moral, and intellectual tradition to contemporary issues (e.g., abortion, assisted suicide, immigration policy, school choice, torture). The book reflects a broad range of Catholic thought that is international in scope, but with an emphasis on the American situation. Its interdisciplinary approach offers insights from a variety of perspectives: theological, philosophical, historical, economical, sociological, political, psychological, and legal. The work will appeal to individuals who want a clear and accurate introduction to Catholic social thought and a Catholic-informed social science and social policy. One certainly need not be a devotee and advocate for Catholic social thinking to find this encyclopedia of good use as a handy reference tool.

Søren Kirkegaard and Maurice Blondel are positioned together in a dialogue regarding the vision of the supernatural. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai draws from this a sharper image of the preeminent place religious experience possesses in human life and thought. Kirkegaard's lament of Christian lack of fervor and Blondel's concern that religion and philosophy no longer interact are both examined and Agbaw-Ebai concludes that they both indicate the same outcome: a "dominant leveling of society" that robs religion of its particularity. This devastates the individual because he is no longer challenged to seek a relationship with God and expose himself to the supernatural. The boundlessness of man must be acknowledged or else his actions will never be understood, and religious experience and philosophy must coexist with mutual reference or self-knowledge will never amount to the discovery of supernatural destiny. And this, asserts Agbaw-Ebai, is the shared urgency of both Kirkegaard and Blondel. Like these philosophers who have preceded him, Agbaw-Ebai exhorts us to never allow the sense of our relation to the supernatural as a settled matter. The philosophy of religion we have inherited does not protect us from having to confront our own subjectivity with autonomy: to be God without God and against God, or to be God with and through God.

This book argues that the liturgical reforms initiated by the second Vatican Council may have seriously undermined contemporary Roman Catholic worship. Drawing on important work by Durkheim, Bauman, Foucault, Turner, Duffy, Flanagan and Pickstock, David Torevell focuses on the most crucial element of Catholic worship - the experience of the sacred - and examines how it has been eroded since pre-modern times, largely due to the marginalisation of ritual expression, and its consequences. A devastating critique of the loss of the sacred in worship, this striking interdisciplinary study is a call for revitalisation of Roman Catholic liturgy through a 'reform of the reform' and the reclamation of the importance of the body in ritual expression.