Martyr to the Truth: The Autobiography of Joseph Turmel

Synopsis: In his autobiography Joseph Turmel (1859-1943) has left an intensely personal account of his struggles to reconcile his Catholic faith with the results of historical-critical methods as those impacted biblical exegesis and the history of dogma. Having lost his faith in 1886 he chose to remain as a priest in the Church even while he worked to undermine its teachings. He did so initially in writings published under his own name and as his conclusions became increasingly radical under a veritable team of pseudonyms. He was excommunicated in 1930. His account of his life is less a discussion and defense of his ideas than it is a moral justification of his conduct. Turmel is associated with the left wing of Roman Catholic Modernism along with Albert Houtin Marcel Hébert and Félix Sartiaux Endorsements: Disillusioned as a young priest in his twenties by discovering the incongruity of Catholic dogma with serious critical scholarship on Scripture and church history Joseph Turmel dedicated the rest of his life to destroying church authority by remaining a priest while at the same time pseudonymously publishing scholarly books and articles undermining church dogma. Only as an old man was he discovered and excommunicated. --Lawrence Barman Saint Louis University Martyr to the Truth is an important book that for the first time gives English readers direct access to one of the more intriguing characters involved in the modernist crisis. Turmels account of his painful loss of faith and his effort to justify his decision to remain in the Catholic Church under false pretenses illustrate both the human dimension and the moral issues at stake in a controversy sometimes seen as purely intellectual. --Harvey Hill UST School of Theology Author Biography: C. J. T. Talar is Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Saint Thomas Houston. He has published extensively on Roman Catholic Modernism. Elizabeth Emery is Professor of French at Montclair State University. She has published works dedicated to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European and American literature art and history.