Truth and Relevance: Catholic Theology in French Quebec since the Quiet Revolution by Gregory Baum (review)

Catholic theology has through the ages drawn on tradition, scripture, and contemporary thought. Baum, an eminent Canadian scholar and former Augustinian religious, was, like Ratzinger, a consultant at Vatican II but came to interpret the Council in a very radical way, putting most emphasis on contemporary thought. This book provides a bridge between the contrasting theologies of francophone and anglophone Canada with an overview of thought in Quebec since 1962. Before then Quebec relied on a vulgarised Thomism which regarded even Jacque Maritain with suspicion, and was rationalist and other-worldly, and stressed objective truth. This was replaced by relativism, and a view of God immanent rather than transcendent, verging on pantheism with Jesus as Man rather than God. The Council’s definite rejection of extra ecclesia nulla salus (‘error has no rights’) and anti-Semitism was enthusiastically adopted. This climate of opinion, combined with the implementation of a welfare state and the secularisation of education, led from 1962 onwards to the transformation of Quebec. Indeed, rather than being differentiated from the rest of Canada by religion and language, Baum sees it as a society with more nationalism, trades unions, more pronounced feminism, and social democracy than elsewhere in Canada. It is in this new order that he sees the role of the much diminished Church which had formerly dominated the Province as proclaiming a gospel of truth and ‘social justice’. However, as he, like George Grant, laments consumerism, a free market, individualism, and competitiveness are increasingly important and the situation is not static. One wonders indeed if Quebec can survive as a distinct society with only language as a mark of differentiation. It has lost the battle of the cradle. Perhaps as this order becomes dominant the Church will have to alter its stance once again? Relevance is a dangerous business for a church.

Although I prefer Ratzinger to Baum, I enjoyed this book as an eloquent statement of Baum’s religious stance and socialist convictions. It should prove of interest to sociologists, theologians, and those interested in the history of Quebec and Canada.