Abstract
An Archbishop and ?His Modernist? (E.I. Mignot and A.
Loisy a History of forbidden Friendship) This contribution shows on a concrete example that the modernistic crisis cannot be seen in a simplistic way as a conflict of the conservative representatives of Catholic hierarchy and the progressive, critical Catholic scholars on faculties of theology and philosophy. He acquaints us with the bishop of Fréjus, later archbishop of Albi in Southern France, Irenée Mignot, who was lively interested in the questions of scientific exegesis and his whole life long he strived to defend the historical-critical method?s place in the Catholic Church and exegesis.
Although he produced many an interesting reflection and text on the theme, he became more famous as a friend of one of the modernistic leaders of baron Friedrich von Hügel as well as a protector of a prominent modernist, the French exegete Alfred Loisy. The axis of this study is, on the one hand, the attempt to defend Loisy from the attacks of conservative exegetes and hierarchs, on the other, the effort to fight Loisy?s tendency towards subjectivism and rationalism.
He believed that further study and free discusion could eliminate the excesses and transform the new methods into an effective instrument in service of the Church.