The Paris Debate: Ricoeur’s Public Intervention and Private Reflections on the Status and Meaning of Christian Philosophy in the 1930s

This article explores Paul Ricœur’s early writings in the 1930s on Christian philosophy. It seeks to contextualize both his published and unpublished works from that period within the robust historical, philosophical and theological debates in Paris between the leading intellectuals of the time: Bréhier, Gilson, Blondel, Brunschvicg, Marcel, Maury, de Lubac, and Barth. The article proceeds to examine Ricœur’s own position within these debates.