Jacques Maritain and the Jewish Question: Theology, Identity and Politics

Robert A Ventresca

doi:10.6017/scjr.v2i2.1423

Abstract

This article calls for a reconsideration of Jacques Maritain’s philosophical and theological reflections on the ‘Jewish Question’, on anti-Semitism and, more broadly, on Jewish-Christian relations in modern history. The article follows two broad lines of enquiry. First, it sketches a general outline of Maritain’s arguments against Catholic-Christian anti-Semitism, and his proposals for workable solutions to what he identified as the ‘Jewish problem’ in European life. Second, the article considers the practical value of Maritain’s visions of a ‘new Christendom’, that is, of a new political regime based on Gospel-values and thus recognizing the complete civic equality, political and religious freedoms of European Jews. The article concludes that all of Maritain’s thought on the Jewish question must be read through the lens of his Christian eschatological view.

Highlights

In a curious interview with the American Catholic journal The Commonweal in December 1938, the noted French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain was asked pointedly: Are you a Jew? “no,” Maritain responded, “I am not a Jew
That Francoist officials were decrying him as a ‘Jew’ because he was a thorn in the side of the many Catholic supporters of Franco
After all, was a well known and highly regarded European Catholic thinker who refused to support Franco’s ‘holy war’ against republican elements, which in Maritain’s view, “was bringing Spain to ruin with the help of Mussolini’s fascism and Hitler’s racism.”[3]. Maritain’s opposition to what he decried as the Catholicism of Franco became intertwined with the Jewish Question

Summary

Introduction

In a curious interview with the American Catholic journal The Commonweal in December 1938, the noted French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain was asked pointedly: Are you a Jew? “no,” Maritain responded, “I am not a Jew. From the start of his career, Maritain devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to thinking about the religious, social and political relationship of Jews and Judaism to European society.[15] We can discern two distinct periods in Maritain’s thinking on the Jewish Question and on anti-Semitism. Maritain’s identification of a certain segment of the Jewish population, and of a mystical Jewish ‘spirit’ or character that explained the preponderant influence of Jews over revolutionary disorders in society, is a telling indication of the extent to which the young philosopher’s views on the Jewish Question bore the influence of the French neo-Thomists whom he regarded as his spiritual advisors and teachers It suggests something of the naiveté and superficiality with which Maritain often approached practical matters of political and social consequence. “The deeper fact,” McInerny concludes, “is that [Maritain] was far more interested in atemporal things, and his excursions into the practical put one in mind of Plato’s philosopher being dragged against his bent into the political realm, something that happened again and again over Maritain’s long career.”[28]

Thomism and the Promise of Democracy

Conclusion