Abstract
This paper, originally a lecture given at Mundelein in October 2013, examines Jacques Maritain's "Man and the State' and its impact on Vatican II's Dignitatis Humanae. Maritain helped contribute to a post-concilar 'official theology' endorsing Church-state separation. This official theology is not magisterially taught in Dignitatis Humanae, and is (a) internally incoherent, and (b) in clear conflict with Leo XIII's endorsement as an ideal of a soul-body union of Church and state. The official theology drastically underestimates the gulf that lies between secular political theory and the view of religion and the state taken by Dignitatis Humanae. Far from initiating a more harmonious concord with the secular world, Dignitatis Humanae marks the initiation of profound conflict between the secular state and the Church.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-42 |
| Number of pages | 42 |
| Journal | THOMIST |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |