The Nostalgia for a New Christendom

Mario Ramos-Reyes proposes to rescue the philosophy, history, and memory of a relevant fact: the healing process of political schizophrenia, the crack between liberalism and the Catholic tradition, in the political history of Latin America. That cure was the work of what he called maritainismo, the proposal inspired by the thought of Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), the most admired (and criticized) Catholic thinker of the XX century. With the conference of Christian social movements in...
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Mario Ramos-Reyes proposes to rescue the philosophy, history, and memory of a relevant fact: the healing process of political schizophrenia, the crack between liberalism and the Catholic tradition, in the political history of Latin America. That cure was the work of what he called maritainismo, the proposal inspired by the thought of Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), the most admired (and criticized) Catholic thinker of the XX century. With the conference of Christian social movements in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1947, the era of the new Christendom of maritanistas began a model that aspired to be democratic, liberal, and Christian. This project would last until 1968, when Catholic thought turned abruptly towards liberation theology. Today, recalling the maritainista Social-Christian model in the face of the secularist and postmodern populist avalanche would not seem like a futile exercise in nostalgia but rather an urgent need. Maritain's proposal could, once again, illuminate the construction of a republican, humanist, and organic democracy.