Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895-1990)
Les études de philosophie médiévale
Paris: Hermann, 1939
340:01.b.1.126(1), title page

Image © Editions du Cerf. Reproduced with permission.

In 1920 a young Dominican priest, Marie-Dominique Chenu, returned from his training at Rome to his province as a theology teacher in the study-house (studium) of Le Saulchoir, which was then located near Tournai in Belgium. That same year, a second friar, Pierre Mandonnet, founded at Le Saulchoir an Institute for Thomist Studies. Chenu became one of its leading members. He interpreted medieval philosophy and theology within their historical and social context. Though he specialised in the developments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, these studies inspired him to renew contemporary Catholic theology.

In 1935, now the Regent of Studies at Le Saulchoir, Chenu published a sharp critique of contemporary Catholic theology in the French Dominican periodical, Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques. His ‘Position de la théologie’ claimed that theology had lost touch ordinary life, pastoral practice, and spirituality. He further developed his ideas two years later in a short book articulating what theology should be, and so what the French Dominicans hoped to achieve in their studium: Une école de théologie: Le Saulchoir.

The book was poorly received by conservatives at Rome, and in 1942 it was placed on the Index of condemned books. Chenu lost his post at Le Saulchoir. After the Second World War he taught medieval studies for several years at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris, and continued to publish his research. His Introduction à l’étude de saint Thomas d’Aquin appeared in 1950. However, Chenu’s support for the worker-priest movement led to a condemnation in 1953, and he was sent for six years to Rouen. His approach to theology and his central insights were finally vindicated at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), which he attended as a theological adviser to one of his former pupils.