Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II by Tracey Rowland

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II. By TRACEY ROWLAND. Radical Orthodoxy Series. London: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 226. $95.00 (cloth), $28.95 (paper). ISBN 0-415-30526-8 (cloth), 0-415-30527-6 (paper). It is not surprising that Thomas Aquinas did not worry about the role of culture in moral formation since he lived in a thoroughly Catholic milieu. Contemporary Thomists, however, have no such excuse. According to Rowland, the culture of modernity-with its mix of theistic, quasi-theistic, and atheistic elements-is deeply inimical to the gospel in ways that have not been generally appreciated in the Church in general and among Thomists in particular. A notable exception to this is Alasdair Macintyre, the Thomist hero of this book, whose writings articulate what Rowland classifies in her "Introduction" as "Postmodern Augustinian Thomism" (5). While on first glance it appears that these three terms do not belong together, Rowland argues that they can be synthetically reconciled in a kind of concordantia discordantium if defined in a certain way. She asserts that "post-modern" implies the following notes: a recognition that the primary intellectual problem is the need to transcend the culture of modernity, a nonmetaphysical starting point ofthe soul caught in the contradictory culture of modernity, and a critique of the Liberal tradition that incorporates elements from the Marxist and Genealogical traditions within a perspective that highlights the role ofnarrative and tradition in moral formation. The term "Augustinian" supplements "post-modern" with a theory of grace along the lines ofLa nouvelle theologie, a sense ofthe dialectical tension between the secular and sacral orders, and an appreciation of the role of memory in the formation of the soul. Strangely and tellingly, however, Rowland never defines what she means by the third term: "Thomism." Perhaps she thinks it is per se nota. Yet it is not at all clear how one could reconcile a basic adherence to the thought of Thomas Aquinas with a simultaneous adherence to what is required by Rowland's definitions of "post-modern" and "Augustinian." The worries mount as the text unfolds. "Culture as a Theological Problem" is the topic of the first part. Chapter 1 argues that the Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et spes was too optimistic and naive about the degree to which modernity, understood as a specific cultural formation whose beliefs are embodied in social practices, is compatible with the 143 144 BOOK REVIEWS gospel. According to Rowland, the council's efforts at aggiornamento have too often led to dangerous accommodations to modernity. For example, Whig Thomists (a term of art comprising such diverse figures as Jacques Maritain, George Weigel,John Finnis, and Germain Grisez) have uncritically assumed that the natural-law teaching ofThomas Aquinas can be reconciled with liberalism in such a way as to allow the Church's teaching on morality to enter into the political dialogue of the naked public square. Motivated perhaps by a desire to distance itself from integralism-the view that it is possible for the Church to provide answers to secular questions directly from faith-the council unwittingly recognized the autonomy of secular modern culture in such a way as to encourage an extrinsicism of nature and grace that is reflected in most Thomists (even Karl Rahner!). After criticizing the authors of Gaudium et spes for failing to provide a good definition and analysis of culture, Rowland proceeds to endorse the German Kulturgeschichte understanding of culture as comprising Geist, Bi/dung, and Kultur; the first term refers to the dominant moral values of a culture or civilization, the second to the laws guiding self-formation, and the third to the guiding principles that give a culture its specific form. According to Rowland, these three concepts are somehow related to the Greek terms ethos, nomos, and logos. She never explains how these modern (and therefore presumably tainted) Germanic notions cohere with the premodern Greek concepts in a coherent concept of culture that is presumably centered on the Trinity. It is a central weakness of this book that it never explains the meaning of the first word of its title. Chapter 2 explores the theme of culture in postconciliar magisterial thought. If the...