Towards a Liberal Catholicism: Psychology and Four Women

Publication Type

Book

Year of Publication

2000

Author

Morea, Peter

Publisher

SCM Press

Place Published

London

Language

English

section

184

Keywords

affliction (malheur)
Catholic church
Christianity
collective

Annotation

There is not a separate chapter on Weil in this volume; reflections on her thought are woven throughout in relation to a defense of liberal Catholicism. Weil’s thought is first presented in relation to social psychology with Morea arguing Weil’s notions of gravity and her views on the power of the collective are resonant with much modern psychology. He draws on Weil in his critique of the ‘social pressure of the institutionalized church’ and the abuse and violence to which this pressure has at times given rise. He goes on to contrast an ‘ethics of justice’ to an ‘ethics of care’, aligning Weil with the latter. He discusses her treatment of ‘existentialist despair’, especially her writing on affliction, in the chapter “Existential selfs and God”, going on to extend this discussion to the larger Catholic church in the final chapter.