Pedro Descoqs SJ (French: [dɛkɔk]; 2 January 1877 – 8 November 1946) was a French Jesuit and Neo-Scholastic philosopher of the Suarezian school[1] who taught at the Jesuit scholasticate Maison Saint-Louis in Jersey.[2] Descoqs was a supporter of Action Française and opponent of the emergent nouvelle théologie, which brought him into conflict with prominent liberal Catholic intellectuals such as Maurice Blondel[3] and fellow Jesuits, including his students Henri de Lubac, Yves de Montcheuil, and Gaston Fessard[4] as well as Joseph Maréchal.[5]
Pedro Descoqs | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 2, 1877 |
| Died | November 8, 1946 (aged 69) |
| Notable work | À travers l’œuvre de Charles Maurras, Essai critique sur l'hylémorphisme |
| School | Neo-Scholasticism |
| Institutions | Maison Saint-Louis, Jersey |
| Notable students | Henri de Lubac, Gaston Fessard, Yves de Montcheuil |
Main interests | Metaphysics, political philosophy |
Metaphysics
editDescoqs defended the Neo-Scholastic position on nature and grace, defending a "direct natural vision of God"[6] against the supernaturalism of Blondel and nouvelle théologie and opposed the use of Thomas Aquinas as a source for the nature-grace debate.[7]
Political philosophy
editHe is noted as the author of a synthesis of Le Dilemme de Marc Sangnier, a work of Charles Maurras. This work had immense repercussions in French Catholicism.[8] For Descoqs, "friends and adversaries cannot avoid being struck by the power of his dialectic, the sharpness of his ideas, the accent of profound conviction, seeing the perfection of language which marks without any possible contest this new work of M. Maurras."[9] À traverse l’œuvre de M. Maurras examines the principal strains of the thought of Charles Maurras and analyses their convergences and divergences with Descoqs's interpretation of Catholic doctrine.[10]
Reception
editHenri de Lubac criticizes Descoqs at length in The Mystery of the Supernatural, arguing that he misrepresents the relationship between nature and grace and contributes to the misinterpretation of Thomas Aquinas in Neo-Scholasticism.[11]
Personal life
editDescoqs was born in Plomb, Normandy and died of typhoid fever[12] in Villefranche, Rhône.[13]
Notes
edit- ^ McCool 1989, p. 220
- ^ Shortall 2021, p. 35
- ^ Kirwan 2018, p. 63
- ^ Shortall 2021, p. 50
- ^ Kirwan 2018, p. 119
- ^ De Lubac 1998, p. 40
- ^ De Lubac 1998, p. 6
- ^ Giocanti 2006, p. 231.
- ^ Descoqs 1911, p. 3
- ^ Giaconti 2006, p. 232
- ^ De Lubac 1998, p. 40
- ^ McWilliams, James A. (January 1947). "Pere Pedro Descoqs, S.J., R. I. P." The Modern Schoolman. 24 (2). Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via Philosophy Documentation Center.
- ^ "Descoqs, Petrus". Jesuit Online Necrology. Boston College. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
References
edit- De Lubac, Henri. (1998) The Mystery of the Supernatural. The Crossroad Publishing Company
- Giaconti, Stéphane. (2006) Maurras – Le chaos et l'ordre. Flammarion
- McCool, Gerald. (1989) Nineteenth Century Scholasticism: The Search for a Unitary Method. Fordham University Press
- Kirwan, Jon. (2018) An Avant-garde Theological Generation: The Nouvelle Théologie and the French Crisis of Modernity. Oxford University Press
- Shortall, Sarah. (2021) Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics. Harvard University Press