Abstract

In these words from the Introduction, Thomas O’Meara, currently associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, makes clear that his basic interest in this book is in early nineteenth-century Roman Catholic thought and not in Schelling as such. All the individuals treated in the book, to be sure, were related to Schelling either as colleagues, disciples or critics. But it is the entire movement of thought within German Catholicism of that period that is O’Meara’s principal concern, not the particular contribution made by any single individual, even by Schelling himself as its chief inspiration. Accordingly, even though one might in various places yearn for a fuller development of this or that topic, more coverage for this or that individual, one has to bear in mind that this is an account of a movement of thought which embraced three generations of philosophers and theologians. Hence a detailed treatment of any single individual, even of Schelling himself in the various stages of his intellectual career, has to be sacrificed in order to keep one’s focus on the broader picture.