"A Thomistic Tapestry: Essays in Memory of Étienne Gilson, edited by Peter A. Redpath
"Gilson and Maritain: Battle Over the Beautiful," by Francesca Murphy
p. 103-104
"Maritain, as a convert, who began by seeing the need for reason and worked his way from there to faith, and Gilson, as a cradle-catholic, who experienced faith as a given, were at tempermental antipodes from one another.
The differences between them were more than psychological. Gilson created a philosophy for theology. Maritain developed a philosophy grown into fruition in the shelter of his spiritual life, but not intended to be the direct and inseparable expression of his Christian belief. Gilson positions his starting point in faith, or theology, Maritain in philosophy. Gilson's philosophy is intended to illuminate his theology. Maritain's philosophy is intended to explain experiences universally accessible to all rational human beings, regardless of their religion.
...I have no doubt that we have an equal need of Maritain's philosophical and Gilson's theological apologetic. In the years to come, Gilson will serve as a reminder that, as Augustine knew, cultural conservativism is not enough: it is not even a beginning.
