Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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NEO-SCHOLASTICISM
The name given by certain Scholastic philosophers to the revival of medieval Scholasticism since the beginning of the twentieth century. These Catholic thinkers wished to revive among the public and for the people's use the teachings of the great Scholastics of the past, bringing their theories up to date and putting them in touch with modern scientific research. They do not aim to revive unchanged systems of medieval Scholasticism but rather to harmonize modern science with the fundamental doctrines and principles of this school of thought especially as related to the physical world. The movement was begun in Italy and Germany even before 1879, when Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Aeterni Patris gave the movement a major impetus by his approbation. Since then it has become developed, especially in Catholic circles.
