Jacques Maritain - On the Church of Christ.pdf

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On the Church of Christ : prefact
On the Church of Christ : prefact
Jacques Maritain
ON THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
The Person of the Church and Her Personnel
Translated by Joseph W. Evans
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME - LONDON
Copyright © 1973 by
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Contents
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On the Church of Christ : prefact
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On the Church of Christ : prefact
Preface
By what right has a layman lacking in authority to treat of such matters (he is not a theologian) ventured
to write these pages on the Church of Christ, which is a mystery of faith? I reply that the sole authority
one may avail oneself of in speaking to others is that of truth; and that in a profoundly troubled historical
moment it is doubtless permissible to an old Christian philosopher who has thought about the mystery of
the Church for sixty years to bear on it the testimony of his faith and of his meditation.
There is however a better reply and one of greater bearing: it is that philosophy, which even as ancilla of
theology is never in a servile condition (it is rather an "auxiliary" -- on the side of mere natural reason --
than a "servant" of theology), has not only to furnish to the latter a metaphysics (I mean a metaphysics
founded in truth); it has also for function, -- at least if in the head of the philosopher it is itself
strengthened by faith, -- to enter, yes, onto the proper terrain of the sacra doctrina in order to make there
itself an effort of reason and to propose there eventually to the competent doctors new views, I say by
title of research worker , and of research worker freer than the theologian himself: for it suffices then for
the philosopher to be suitably acquainted with theological questions and theological controversies,
without however being charged himself, as is the theologian, with the concern for the elucidations which
the historical exegesis of the texts of Scripture can furnish, and with the weight of a whole long patristic
and conciliar tradition to be known in detail, to be scrutinized and discussed, so as to order organically
and to cause to progress the treasure of truth which it transmits to us (I do not speak of the appreciable
number of pseudotheologians who employ themselves today to destroy it).
The philosopher leaves to the proper knowledge of the theologian the great interpretative and
constructive work in question. He profits by the fruits of this knowledge. But in his own manner of
thinking, the mind with its exigencies and being with its secrets alone face each other; the reason of the
Christian philosopher is alone, in order to reflect on them, in the presence of the lofty realities which are
presented to him by the theologian. That is why I have said that in the labor of research he is more free
than the latter, to whom he proposes views which it belongs to theology to judge in the final analysis.
Let us add, with respect to the present work, that a philosophical approach demands that one regard the
mystery of the Church as an object placed before the mind and which one tries to describe. In order to
undertake to make thus the portrait of a mystery, it was necessary to be an old philosopher resisting
badly the attraction of risks (of the beautiful risks). At least he is without too many illusions about
himself. To tell the truth, this book has been written by an ignorant one for ignorant ones like himself,
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On the Church of Christ : prefact
but who like him have a great desire to understand as much as possible, to understand a little.
The book in question has nothing to do with apologetics. It presupposes the Catholic faith and addresses
itself above all to Catholics, to our nonseparated brothers who recite the Credo each Sunday and who
say: I believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church . It addresses itself to others, -- to our
separated brothers, to our friends of non-Christian religious affiliation, to our agnostic or atheistic
friends, -- only to the extent that they dialogue with Catholics and desire to know what Catholics
believe, even if the latter seem sometimes to have forgotten it.
This book has nothing to do either with a treatise of ecclesiology. It is a kind of meditation which
develops freely of itself as the questions arise in the mind, so that in order to have an exact idea of that
which the author thinks it is necessary to have followed to the end of the curve which it describes.
After this, is it necessary to state (good authors do not advise that one insist on that which is obvious)
that in the subtitle of the work and in the distinction between the person of the Church and her
personnel, the word "personnel" has, neither in itself, nor in my thought, absolutely nothing pejorative? I
have said "personnel of the Church" as one says "teaching personnel" or "diplomatic personnel." If it
pleased someone to take this word in the supposedly humiliating sense of "service people" (a term which
on any occasion whatsoever I would be ashamed to employ with disdain), well I would point out to him
that there is nothing in the world more honorable than to be engaged by God in his service and the
service of his Church, -- equerry of the king of kings or arms valet of his bride, -- and that to belong to
the "personnel" of the Church taken in this sense (which moreover restricts unduly my own) is a thing so
incomparably great that, very far from being humiliating, it requires to go hand in hand with an
incomparable humility.
I note finally that (and for this I apologize in what concerns the presentation of the volume) there are
there some very short chapters and others very long. This is no way due to the importance of the subject
treated each time, but solely to the more or less great complexity of the discussion required.
11 June 1970
J.M.
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On the Church of Christ 1
I
The Revealed Data Concerning the Church
It is fitting first of all, clearly, to recall some of the texts which deliver to the Christian, concerning the
Church, that which has been revealed in human words by the Word of God.
Matt. 28, 19-20: "Jesus [risen] came forward and addressed them [the eleven] in these words:
'Full authority has been given to me
both in heaven and on earth;
go, therefore, and make disciples of
all the nations.
Baptize them in the name
of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Teach them to carry out everything I
have commanded you.
And know that I am with you always,
until the end of the world! '"
The apostles are sent
into the entire world, and
Christ will be with the Church
at each instant
until the end of time.
Matt. 16, 15-18: "'And you,' he said to them, 'who do you say that I am?' 'You are the Messiah,' Simon
Peter answered, the Son of the living God!' Jesus replied, 'Blest are you, Simon son of John! No mere
man has revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. I for my part declare to you, you are
'Rock' (Kepha) and on this rock (kepha) I will build my church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail
against it. '"
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