The humanistic and philosophical training of future priests : putting the Council's teaching into practice

Abstract

From the reports, insofar as philosophy was concerned, the two points of view expressed appeared to conflict as to whether there should be more or less Thomism in the course. But, as Father Congar remarked in his Council diary, the issue should not be seen in terms of more or less, but of a different use of St. Thomas: if what is understood by Thomism is an apparatus of abstract questions and prefabricated solutions, then there should not only be less, but nothing of it; if, on the other hand, one understands by it faithfulness to the type of philosopher St. Thomas was, then one should be a Thomist completely. The final text of the Council avoids raising the false issue which dogged the debate in the Hall, but it is to the question of 'how to be a Thomist' that section on the content (couched in rather shadowy terms) is an attempt at providing an answer. It is, therefore, worth trying to establish a little more clarity in the matter.