Introduction: Jacques Maritain and Contemporary Challenges to Democracy

Providing an introduction to the collection of articles regarding Jacques Maritain and his relevance for challenges to democracy today, this article describes some of his main themes and the complexity of his intellectual journey. Maritain played a major role in the development of Catholic social teaching on democracy, and can provide moral and spiritual grounding for a renewal of democracy now. He articulates the moral value of democracy as the form of politics that best allows Christians to live out our love of neighbor and love of enemy in concrete ways, while still making appropriate distinction between the spiritual and temporal spheres. Articles in this volume examine the implications of the friendship between Maritain and Saul Alinsky, William Cavanaugh’s interpretation of Maritain’s influence (with a response from Cavanaugh himself), and reflections upon how we can critically appropriate the thought of Maritain in the contemporary context, 50 years after his death. The introduction concludes with words that Maritain addressed to US Catholics in 1939.