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The Church Speaks to the Modern World: The Social Teachings of Leo XIII

by Etienne Gilson, editor

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•   Description
•   Table of Contents
•   Endorsements

•  

   

   

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  The Leonine Corpus · Edited by Étienne Gilson

  The Church Speaks
  to the Modern World

  The Social Teachings of Leo XIII

  Edited, annotated, and introduced by Étienne Gilson · Foreword by Thomas Storck

   

  A definitive collection of the principal social encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII, arranged according to the order expressly indicated by Leo himself, and presented by one of the twentieth century’s great Catholic philosophers.

  Leo XIII Catholic social teaching Christian philosophy Church and State Rerum Novarum

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  Editor

  Étienne Gilson

  Philosopher & historian

  The editor

  Étienne Gilson and the Leonine revival

  Gilson presents Leo XIII’s encyclicals as a living doctrinal body: ordered, Thomistic, political, social, and missionary. His introductions and summaries help the reader see the deep unity of Leo’s teaching without distracting from the papal texts themselves.

  In the present pontificate of Leo XIV, this volume takes on fresh urgency: the name Leo naturally recalls the pope who gave the modern Church one of her clearest and most comprehensive responses to liberalism, socialism, naturalism, false liberty, and the social question.

  A book for the present hour

  The modern world is still wrestling with the very questions Leo XIII addressed: liberty, authority, marriage, labor, private property, socialism, naturalism, Freemasonry, the duties of citizens, and the Christian constitution of civil society.

   

  ✠ OVERVIEW ✠

  This is a new edition of Etienne Gilson's compendium of Pope Leo XIII's social encyclicals as arranged by the Pope himself. Originally published in 1954 this new edition features a foreword by Thomas Storck. It is newly typeset and is a larger trim size (6 x 9) for easier readability. All the endnotes have been made into footnotes.

  In The Church Speaks to the Modern World, Etienne Gilson presented for the first time the basic encyclicals of Leo XIII arranged in the order expressly indicated by the Pope himself. Gilson’s sparkling introduction provides the proper perspective for the encyclicals; his notes brilliantly clarify obscure points; his summaries provide an immediate grasp of each encyclical; and his study of the variant translations is invaluable.

  In short, here is the definitive collection of the most important and far-reaching papal pronouncements of the modern age.

   

  ❦ THE LEONINE CORPUS ❦

  Gilson’s edition gathers the central texts of the Leonine social corpus, together with introductions and summaries that make the doctrinal architecture visible.

  Foundations

  Aeterni Patris on Christian philosophy and Libertas on human liberty.

  Family and society

  Arcanum on Christian marriage and Rerum Novarum on capital and labor.

  Church and State

  Diuturnum, Immortale Dei, and Sapientiae Christianae on civil authority and Christian citizenship.

  Errors of modernity

  Humanum Genus on Freemasonry and Quod Apostolici Muneris on socialism.

  Appendix

  Inscrutabili, In Plurimis, and Graves de Communi Re.

  Scholarly aids

  Gilson’s introduction, summaries, annotations, bibliographical note, and indexes.

   

  ✦ WHY IT MATTERS NOW ✦

  Thomistic foundations

  Leo XIII begins social restoration with Christian philosophy and the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas.

  True liberty

  Against license and indifferentism, Leo teaches liberty as ordered to truth, law, and the good.

  The social question

  Leo speaks to capital, labor, property, the family, Christian citizenship, and the common good.

  No surrender to modernity

  The Church engages the modern world not by capitulation, but by bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ.

  “Catholics should not hope to restore any Christian political and social order on any other foundation” than the philosophy of St. Thomas.

  Étienne Gilson, in the Introduction

   

  ❦ KEY QUESTIONS ❦

  What does Pope Leo XIII teach about liberty when liberty is no longer ordered to truth?

  Why did Leo regard the restoration of Christian philosophy as essential for social order?

  How do the rights and duties of capital and labor depend upon a correct doctrine of man?

  What does it mean for the Church to speak to the modern world without becoming modernist?

   

  ✦ BOOK DETAILS ✦

  Title

  The Church Speaks to the Modern World

  Subtitle

  The Social Teachings of Leo XIII

  Editor

  Étienne Gilson

  Foreword

  Thomas Storck

  Paperback ISBN

  978-1-989905-85-2

  Hardcover ISBN

  978-1-989905-86-9

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  The antidote to forgetfulness

   

  Here the reader finds not fragments of Catholic social teaching, but the Leonine architecture itself: philosophy, liberty, authority, family, labor, citizenship, and the social reign of truth.

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  Contents of the Leonine Corpus

  Table of Contents

  The Church Speaks to the Modern World

  The Social Teachings of Leo XIII · Edited, annotated, and introduced by Étienne Gilson

   

  The principal social encyclicals of Leo XIII, arranged as a coherent doctrinal body, with Gilson’s introduction, summaries, notes, appendix, and indexes.

  9 principal encyclicals 3 appendix texts Gilson introduction Thomas Storck foreword Leo XIII

  Opening matter

  Foreword xi

  Introduction xvii

  Main section

  The Leonine Corpus 1

  Back matter

  Conclusion 327

  Bibliographical Note 331

   

  ✠ THE LEONINE CORPUS ✠

  I · p. 3

  On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Schools

  Aeterni Patris

  On Christian Philosophy: August 4, 1879 p. 6

  II · p. 31

  Human Liberty

  Libertas Praestantissimum

  On Human Liberty: June 20, 1888 p. 34

  III · p. 63

  On Christian Marriage

  Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae

  On Christian Marriage: February 10, 1880 p. 66

  IV · p. 93

  Freemasonry and Naturalism

  Humanum Genus

  On Freemasonry: April 20, 1884 p. 97

  V · p. 121

  On Civil Government

  Diuturnum

  On the Origin of Civil Power: June 29, 1881 p. 123

  VI · p. 139

  The Christian Constitution of States

  Immortale Dei

  On the Christian Constitution of States: November 1, 1885 p. 144

  VII · p. 173

  On Socialism

  Quod Apostolici Muneris

  On Socialism: December 28, 1878 p. 175

  VIII · p. 187

  Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor

  Rerum Novarum

  On Capital and Labor: May 15, 1891 p. 193

  IX · p. 235

  On Christian Citizenship

  Sapientiae Christianae

  On Christians as Citizens: January 10, 1890 p. 239

   

  ❦ APPENDIX & BACK MATTER ❦

  Appendix I · p. 269

  On the Evils Affecting Modern Society

  Inscrutabili Dei Consilio

  On the Evils of Society: April 21, 1878 p. 271

  Appendix II · p. 283

  On Slavery

  In Plurimis

  On the Abolition of Slavery: May 5, 1888 p. 286

  Appendix III · p. 307

  Christian Democracy

  Graves De Communi Re

  On Christian Democracy: January 18, 1901 p. 310

   

  Conclusion

  p. 327

  Bibliographical Note

  p. 331

  Index

  p. 335

  Index of Proper Names

  p. 341

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  A coherent doctrinal body

   

  From Christian philosophy to liberty, marriage, civil government, labor, citizenship, and the errors of modern society, the contents reveal the architecture of Leo XIII’s social teaching.

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  Praise for the Leonine Corpus

  Endorsements for The Church Speaks to the Modern World

  The Social Teachings of Leo XIII

  Edited, annotated, and introduced by Étienne Gilson · Foreword by Thomas Storck

   

  Scholars of theology, philosophy, history, and Catholic social teaching commend this volume as a necessary recovery of Leo XIII’s full social doctrine for the present age.

  Leo XIII Catholic social teaching Modernity Political order Gilson

  These endorsements emphasize the same point from different angles: Leo XIII’s social encyclicals are not merely historically significant, but indispensable for Catholics who wish to understand the Church’s perennial mission in the modern world.

  clarity · sobriety · social doctrine · political wisdom · Christ and modernity

   

  ✠ ENDORSEMENTS ✠

  I

  “

  The Church Speaks to the Modern World This is the best collection of Pope Leo XIII’s social teachings. Etienne Gilson’s short introductions to each document help the reader to grasp the sapiential order and cohesion of Pope Leo’s teaching, without getting in the way of the documents themselves.

   

  — Pater Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist.
  lecturer in moral theology, Heiligenkreuz, Austria

  II

  “

  “The greatest pope since the Reformation” is a towering figure, basking in the light of all that came before him and casting his protective shadow over everyone who recognizes his greatness. Here, bound in a single volume, are the principal acts of his pontificate introduced and explained by one of the greatest figures of the revival Leo accomplished. Every citizen, every statesman, every parent, every student should read and ponder this book a hundred times.

   

  — Alan Fimister, Ph.D
  Assistant Professor of Theology at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver CO, Director of the Dialogos Institute, Co-author of Integralism: A Manual of Political Theology

  III

  “

  Gilson’s edition, coming just before the Second Vatican Council, presents this teaching in its entirety, something that has been less usual in the post-conciliar period. This republication will contribute greatly to the recovery of the fullness of Catholic teaching on political, social and economic questions.

   

  — Dr. Thomas Pink
  Professor of Philosophy, King’s College London

  IV

  “

  Now more than ever we need the sobriety and crystal clarity concerning political, cultural, and economic matters that characterize Pope Leo XIII’s social encyclicals, many of which are unjustly neglected today.  This welcome reissue will help to remedy that, and thereby contribute to the good of the Church and of society.

   

  — Dr. Edward Feser
  Professor of Philosophy, Pasadena City College

  V

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  Founded on the unchanging principles of the social nature of man and its restoration in Christ, the encyclicals in this volume (with its helpful introduction, notes, and reading guides) speak to every age. For, to paraphrase one very old author, in human affairs, there is finally nothing really new under the sun.

   

  — Christopher Zehnder
  General Editor, Catholic Textbook Project

  VI

  “

  The writings of Pope Leo XIII mark a decisive turning point in the history of the Church’s effort to engage modernity.  The encyclicals collected in this volume are essential reading for those Catholics who wish to continue this engagement in our own time.  These writings make clear that Leo refused to settle for a simple modus vivendi with secular modernity; rather, he saw engagement as but a modern instance of the Church’s perennial mission to bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.

   

  — Christopher Shannon
  Associate Professor of History, Christendom College

   

  ❦ WHAT THE PRAISE EMPHASIZES ❦

  The fullness of Leo

  The endorsers stress the value of recovering Leo XIII’s teaching in its breadth and cohesion.

  Gilson’s clarity

  His introductions, notes, and reading guides help reveal the order of the papal teaching.

  Modern engagement

  Leo’s engagement with modernity is presented as a continuation of the Church’s perennial mission.

  Every age

  The volume is praised for speaking to permanent questions of society, economics, culture, and politics.

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  A necessary recovery

   

  The praise is united by one conviction: Leo XIII’s social encyclicals remain indispensable for Catholics who seek clarity about political, cultural, and economic life under Christ.

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