Maritain + Progress

[Catholic Worker]

From: Spencer Hess <jpiicatholi...@gmail.com>

The Maurin Academy will offer a class starting February 4 of special interest to Catholic Workers who want to know more about the origin of CW founders' ideas. The course will be on the ideas of Jacques Maritain, of special influence to Peter Maurin. The title is "Antimodern Progress: Contradiction or Christian Alternative." More information can be found here: https://pmaurin.org/antimodern-progress-contradiction-or-christian-alternative/

CW's can join free using this Zoom link:

The Maurin Academy is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Anti-Modern Progress (Jacques Maritain)
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88431025047?pwd=AjYj3iotjl3dat8Pqcf9fJE4DZIQlj.1

Meeting ID: 884 3102 5047
Passcode: 285355

More info:

Where: Course meetings will take place on Zoom. Live sessions are available to Maurin Academy partons at the Worker-Scholar tier or above. Recordings will be made available to patrons at the Salt of the Earth tier or above. Check out our Patreon for more info!

Who: The course is taught by Caleb Owens, a graduate student in theology at Boston College. 

Course Schedule and Readings

• Week 1: Progress and Modernity – February 4, 2026
  • In this session, we will survey the key philosophical and theological underpinnings of modern progress. We will also analyze common contemporary attitudes toward progress. 
  • Reading: Brad Gregory, “The End of Macro Narratives of Progress?” 
• Week 2: Maritain’s Antimodernism – February 11, 2026
  • In this session, we will discuss the life and work of Jacques Maritain and the “antimodernism” of his early thought through a critical exposition of his 1922 work, Antimoderne. 
  • Reading: “Maritain’s True Humanism” in First Things
• Week 3: Antimodernism and Progress in the work of Maritain – February 18, 2026
  • In this session, we will trace Maritain’s antimodernism in his later work and evaluate this antimodernism alongside his claims about moral and political progress in history. 
  • Reading: Excerpts from Maritain, Jacques On the Philosophy of History
• Week 4: Antimodern Progress: Problems and Possibilities – February 25, 2026
  • In this session, we will critically evaluate Maritain’s antimodern theory of progress and explore the work of Bernard Lonergan as a potential corrective. We will also discuss possibilities for antimodern progress in our current world and time. 
  • Reading: Lonergan, Bernard “Dialectic of Authority”