JACQUES MARITAIN:

political theology for a pluralistic age

One of the most renowned philosophers of the twentieth century, Jacques Maritain became a leading thinker in France before fleeing to the United States to escape the Gestapo. He taught at Columbia and Princeton and served as an influence on and advocate for the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights. Maritain explored the foundations and possibilities of pluralist, liberal, democratic societies. He famously said that while all the signatories of the U.N. Declaration could agree on the rights it enumerated, they disagreed on the arguments underlying those rights. Our seminar will explore Maritain’s thought on the relationship between pluralist societies and the philosophical and spiritual values that shape them. How did Maritain use what he acknowledged as “anti-modern” values to advocate a liberal democracy? What should the relationship between church and state be in a pluralistic society? Russell Hittinger (Chicago & Berkeley) will lead the seminar in a series of six sessions over three weeks. We will read Maritain's Integral Humanism, as well as excerpts from The Primacy of the Spiritual and his final work, The Peasant of the Garonne.

This seminar will take place on Zoom and is open to undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates. It is co-hosted by the Princeton Initiative in Catholic Thought.

schedule

• Tuesday, June 1 at 3 PM ET, The Primacy of the Spiritual

• Thursday, June 3 at 3 PM ET, The Primacy of the Spiritual

• Tuesday, June 8 at 3 PM ET, Integral Humanism

• Thursday, June 10 at 3 PM ET, Integral Humanism

• Tuesday, June 15 at 3 PM ET, The Peasant of the Garonne

• Thursday, June 17 at 3 PM ET, The Peasant of the Garonne