KLEUTGEN, JOSEPH. - Jesuit theologian and philosopher, b. April 9, 1811 in Dortmund (Westphalia), d. Jan. 13, 1883 at St. Anton in Kaltern (South Tyrol). After teaching ethics and rhetoric for three years, he was called to Rome in 1843 to the general curia of the Order, of which he was also for 3 years secretary. When the Vatican Council, at which he had collaborated as private theologian of the bishop of Paderborn, taking part in the final drafting of the constitution De fide catholica, was suspended, he withdrew to the Tyrol. He was recalled from there in 1878 by Leo XIII, who entrusted him with the prefecture of studies and the chair of dogmatics at the Gregorian University; it seems that the first draft of the encyclical Aeterni Patris is owed to him. But shortly afterward, an apoplectic attack forced him to return to the Tyrol. He nevertheless continued to work on a great theological work, conceived in 8 vols., of which only the first appeared: Institutiones theologicae: De ipso Deo (Ratisbon 1881).
K., because of the works he wrote and the influence he exerted, holds an eminent place among the Scholastics of the 19th century, and may be called the most effective restorer of Scholastic philosophy in Germany. Kantian speculation had in fact produced a disorientation among Catholic theologians there and an undervaluation on their part of the Scholastic tradition. K. sought to prove to Hermes, Günther and Hirscher that all the errors of their new theology condemned by Rome derived precisely from the rejection of the traditional philosophical-theological principles. To this aim his two fundamental works are directed: Die Theologie der Vorzeit vertheidigt (3 vols., Münster 1853-60; 2nd ed., 5 vols., ibid. 1867-74) and Die Philosophie der Vorzeit vertheidigt (2 vols., ibid. 1860-63; 2nd ed. Innsbruck 1878), together with the three supplementary opuscules: Die Verurteilung des Ontologismus (Münster 1867); Vom Intellectus agens u. d. angeborenen Ideen (ibid. 1875); Zur Lehre vom Glauben (ibid. 1875). Acuteness of arguments, wide erudition, moderation, precision and clarity particularly characterize Die Philosophie der Vorzeit. Although it was called a "defense," the philosophy (fundamentally Thomistic in orientation, but with contributions from other Scholastics, particularly Suarezian) was there even more "expounded" (and this was highlighted in the title of the Italian version, edited by Cardinal Reisach and Father Curci: 5 vols., Rome-Turin 1866-68). A particular merit of K. should be remembered: the in-depth presentation of the problem of knowledge and the discussion of the positions on the relations between science and faith.
Other works of K.: biographies, letters from Rome, sermons, etc., in Kleinere Werke (5 vols., Münster 1869-74; Regensburg 1880-85); in vol. III the dissertation Über die alte und neue Schule (1st ed. 1846; Latin trans., 1889), in defense of the old school; the Ars dicendi... is considered classic (1st ed., Rome 1874; 21st ed. Turin 1928).
Bibliography5 works
Carlo Giacon