Original scientific paper
The Reception of Jacques Maritain in Croatia During the Twentieth Century
Ivan Čulo
; Institut Fontes Sapientiae
Abstract
This article examines the reception of the French philosopher Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) in Croatia during the twentieth century, including Croatian translations of Maritain’s books and essays, articles on Maritain and his work, as well as the influence of some of his ideas on Croatian philosophers and other thinkers.
The reception of Maritain’s thought in Croatia may be traced from the beginning of the 1920s. Matija Petlić introduced him in 1921 as a major and important philosopher, especially for the Catholic thought. Philosophical reception of Maritain gained in prominence in the 1930s, when, as a leading neo-Thomist and one of the distinguished figures of the personalistic movement, he was recognised as “Catholic leader in philosophical ideas,” “the most prominent exponent of Christian philosophy,” “foremost philosopher and convert,” “philosophical authority,” “famous French philosopher,” and the like, mainly by the Catholic journals Nova revija, Život, Vrhbosna, Luč and Duhovni život.
In the 1930s, two of Maritain’s books saw their Croatian translations: Religija i kultura [Religion and Culture] in 1935, and Anđeoski naučitelj [The Angelic Doctor: The Life and Thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas] in 1936. The latter incited vehement polemics on Thomism as the only true Catholic philosophical worldview between the Dominican Hijacint Bošković and Franciscan Karlo Balić. Their dispute overshadowed all other research of Maritain’s philosophy and some valuable contributions, especially in the works of Đuro Gračanin, Stjepan Zimmermann, Dušan Žanko, and Bogdan Radica.
The period after WWII was marked by repression against all those who refused to accept the generally proclaimed Marxist worldview, and from the standpoint of that ideology, Maritain was an ‘undesirable’ thinker. In their assessments of Neo-Thomism and personalism, Belgrade Marxist philosophers Dragan Jeremić and Radmila Šajković present Maritain’s philosophy in a negative light, failing to provide a more significant philosopical criticism. In the post-War period Maritain was rarely mentioned, with the exception of personalistic and neo-Thomist journals of Croatian emigration, especially Osoba i duh and Glas sv. Antuna. In their articles, particularly those of Hijacint Eterović, dominates the theme of Maritain’s political philosophy and philosophy of law.
By the 1960s, the rigid ideological framework characteristic of the post-War Yugoslavia gradually gave way to more democratic, though limited, changes in the field of culture and philosophy. In the mid-1960s, in the revived Catholic press, especially since the Second Vatican Council, Maritain appears more often, while the Marxist philosophers either ignored him or referred to him randomly. The first post-War systematic article dealing with Maritain’s thought was published by Andrija Bonifačić in 1966, and the philosophers and editors who in their works draw more attention to Maritain are Tomo Vereš, Ante Kusić, and Radovan Grgec.
In the period 1989–1995, the translations of four of his works were published: Cjeloviti humanizam [Integral Humanism] (1989), Filozofija povijesti [On the Philosophy of History] (1990), Čovjek i država [Man and the State] (1992), and Tri reformatora: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau [Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau] (1995).
The downfall of socialism and dismemberment of Yugoslavia brought no new quality to the reception of Maritain in Croatia. Given the circumstances, it may have been expected that in a state and society that was changing its sovereign frame and socio-political status issues such as Demochristian orientation, European integration and human rights should result in serious discussions, in which Maritain would
definitely have his place, that, however, was not the case. Maritain is still frequently mentioned, though in cursory remarks and in the footnotes of various texts, with a more than evident absence of comprehensive works on his thought. Merely a few books from his rich opus have been translated. Only a few fields of Maritain’s broad scope of activity have been partially highlighted. Despite an apparent tendency, which may rightly be described as a constant in Croatia, to attach more importance to Maritain where it is inappropriate and not mention him at all where appropriate, various thinkers continue to acknowledge his indisputable greatness.
Keywords
Jacques Maritain; Christian philosophy; neo-Thomism; personalism; philosophical reception in Croatia; Hijacint Eterović; Đuro Gračanin; Ante Kusić; Bogdan Radica; Tomo Vereš
Hrčak ID:
194347
URI
Publication date:
12.1.2018.
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