Maurice Blondel was a French philosopher, whose most influential works, notably L'Action, aimed at establishing the correct relationship between autonomous philosophical reasoning and Christian belief.
11 Facts About Maurice Blondel
2.
Maurice Blondel came from a family who were traditionally connected to the legal profession, but chose early in life to follow a career in philosophy.
3.
Maurice Blondel was at this time refused a teaching post because his philosophical conclusions were deemed to be too Christian and, therefore, "compromising" of philosophical reason.
4.
Maurice Blondel would remain in Aix-en-Provence for the rest of his career.
5.
In L'Action, Blondel developed a "philosophy of action" in which he applies the method of phenomenology.
6.
Maurice Blondel insists that this is as far as a philosopher can go, that the supernatural is the real end of man, and that the content of the supernatural is left to the realm of theology.
7.
Pope Pius X's 1907 encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis targeted the Modernist threat to Catholic thought, and Maurice Blondel's thought remained associated with the Modernists.
8.
Maurice Blondel was never the target of Pascendi and he received letters, through the Archbishop of Aix, from numerous Popes affirming he was not under suspicion.
9.
Maurice Blondel did have great influence on later Catholic thought, especially through ressourcement theologians such as Henri de Lubac.
10.
Maurice Blondel's wife died in 1919 and in 1927 he retired for health reasons.
11.
Maurice Blondel was the younger brother of historian Georges Blondel and a first cousin of physicist Andre Blondel.