Abstract

THIS ARTICLE IS OCCASIONED BY THE RECENT APPEARANCE of three books focused on the life and thought of Jacques Maritain : Jude P. Dougherty, Jacques Maritain, An Intellectual Profile; John P. Hittinger, Liberty, Wisdom, and Grace, Thomism and Democratic Political Theory; and Ralph McInerny, The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain. It is at the same time an attempt to reassess the work of arguably the most influential and important Catholic philosopher of the twentieth century. The Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame is producing a 21-volume edition of his works in English. There are now a growing number both of national and international associations for the study of his thought. The unavoidable subtext is a reassessment of Catholic thought in general and some consideration of its future prospects.