Memory Matters: Ressourcement Theology’s Debt to Henri Bergson

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to illuminate certain lines and layers of readings and rereadings – specifically running from Jewish philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941) through Catholic poet Charles Péguy (1873–1914) to Hans Urs von Balthasar – to suggest that certain fundamental ressourcement concepts of tradition and history are conditioned constitutionally by Bergsonian metaphysics, epistemology and theories of time. Péguy’s final, recently translated texts ‘Note sur M. Bergson et la Philosophie Bergsonienne’ (1914) and ‘Note Conjointe sur M Descartes et la Philosophie Cartésienne’ (1924) will be prioritized. Finally, this study considers distinct methodological differences within the field of theology regarding the status of history and its capacity to speak – and how – to contemporary theological concerns.