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The Catholic Historical Review 88.1 (2002) 145-147



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Book Review

Der Rheinische Reformkreis.
Dokumente zu Modernismus und Reformkatholizismus 1942-1955


Der Rheinische Reformkreis. Dokumente zu Modernismus und Reformkatholizismus 1942-1955. Edited by Hubert Wolf and Claus Arnold. 2 vols. (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. 2001. Pp. vi, 667; vi, 753. DM 336.)

Reform Catholicism was a diffuse movement in Germany among Catholic scholars, pastors, and lay leaders from the late 1800's until the mid-1900's. It sprang from the conviction that the Catholic Church needed to update itself in relation to contemporary thought and culture. Reform Catholicism's proponents distanced themselves from "Modernism" by insisting that they were not questioning the Church's essential teachings and structure but calling for its renewal. In a word, they were committed to the Church's "inculturation," though they did not use this term. In particular, they judged that the Church's updating should bring about the reformulation of doctrines, the return of ecclesiastical authority to the local churches and their bishops, a greater degree of academic freedom for theologians, the elimination of the requirement of clerical celibacy, and the Church's recognition of the value of literature, music, and art outside of the Catholic tradition. Reform Catholicism's first generation included F. X. Kraus, J. Müller, and H. Schell; its second generation, A. Ehrhard and S. Merkle; its third generation, K. Adam; and its fourth and last generation, the members of the "Rhine Reform Circle." Documents pertaining to this Circle are contained in Der Rheinische Reformkreis.

The Rhine Reform Circle came about through the initiative of Oskar Schroeder (1889-1974), who convoked the group's first meeting on January 2, 1942. Along with Schroeder, the charter members were Josef Thomé, Wilhelm Lenzen, Johannes Hessen, and Wilhelm Wilbrand. By 1944 the Circle was composed of a core of approximately twenty members and an outer group of nearly eighty members; most members belonged to the dioceses of Aachen, Cologne, and Münster. After 1947 membership steadily declined. Schroeder formally ended the Rhine Reform Circle in 1955. Over thirteen years, the group's leaders wrote position papers for their meetings, kept minutes of their discussions, and also saved their correspondence.

Der Rheinische Reformkreis consists of four units. The first unit is an introduction containing three essays. Hubert Wolf, professor of church history formerly at Frankfurt am Main and now at Münster, explains that this collection of documents is significant, for it discloses the religious thought of one group of Catholic pastors, lay leaders, and religion teachers in Germany at mid-century. In particular, it shows that some members of this "grassroots" association were inspired by the writings of George Tyrrell, Alfred Loisy, and Baron Friedrich von [End Page 145] Hügel, and hence were advocating to some extent a "neomodernism." In fact, Schroeder and Thomé clearly held a modernist view of doctrine. The introduction's other two essays were written by Wolf's academic assistants. Claus Arnold highlights specific themes and issues that emerge in the assembled documents. For example, the Circle was intent upon forming a "mediating theology" that would reconcile the piety of German romanticism, historical consciousness, and a respect for church doctrine. Barbara Wieland provides a critical commentary on two books that were anonymously published likely by members of the Rhine Reform Circle. These two works--Der Katholizismus. Sein Stirb und Werde (1937) and Der Katholizismus der Zukunft (1940)--make proposals for changes in the Church that are similar to the proposals found in the materials of the Rhine Reform Circle. Both books were placed by the Holy Office on the Index of Forbidden Books.

The book's second unit consists of the Circle's position papers, minutes, and correspondence about the group's discussions. The proposals, topics, and questions that run through these documents are evident in the first of the documents, namely in Schroeder's draft of fifteen points concerning the "directions for the friends of a renewal of the Church in Germany." A few points deserve mention. The first is that the...

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