Content area
Full text
Katholischer Diskurs im Zeitalter der Moderne: Englische Schriftsteller des "Catholic Literary Revival" von 1890-1940. By Anna Tomczyk. [Beitrage zur anglo-amerikanischen Literatur, Band 6.] (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. 2007. Pp. 399- $86.95 paperback. ISBN 978-3-631-56432-5.)
Anna Tomczyk contextualizes the "discourse of English Catholic intellectuals between 1890 and 1940" (p. 18) within the accelerating modernization processes that led to profound changes in the sciences, moral values, and social and political life. According to Tomczyk, following Jacques Maritain's terminology, the contributions of Catholic intellectuals to these developments range from antimodernist to ultramodernist positions.
In part 1 Tomczyk presents the different phases of the Catholic revival after 1800 in Europe in general and England in particular, emphasizing Cardinal John Henry Newman's importance for English Catholics.
Part 2 addresses the responses of English Catholic authors to contemporary developments with the common denominators of the role of transcendence in a secularized world, the insistence on Christian values in the face of rising skepticism and the...