Prelude to the Modernist Crisis: The Firmin Articles of Alfred Loisy

Alfred Firmin Loisy (1857-1940) was a French theologian, biblical scholar, and Roman Catholic priest. Between 1898 and 1900, he published six articles under the pseudonym "A. Firmin" in the Revue du clerge francais that represent an attempt to develop a critical, historical apologetic for Catholicism. Loisy's advocacy of a more liberal approach to the interpretation of Christian history and doctrine created heated conflict with the Catholic Church, resulting in his removal from his position as professor at the Catholic Institute in Paris, the denouncement of his writings by the Vatican, and his eventual excommunication from the Church.

This volume comprises new translations of the five theoretical articles from the Revue du clerge francais. They form an introduction to Loisy's thought and to the more historical concerns of his later writings. The articles are accompanied by an introduction by the editor and by a response by Loisy's contemporary and frequent critic Charles Maignen, translated by Christine E. Thirlway. The writings included in this book are essential not only for the study of Catholic theology but also for critical understanding of the liberal reforms of the turn of the twentieth century.

C.J.T. Talar is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Graduate School of Theology at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, Texas. He served as co-convener of the Roman Catholic Modernism Seminar of the American Academy of Religion (1995-1999) and has published extensively on modernism and on nineteenth-century Catholicism.