Skip to main content
Cover of “Martyr to the Truth”

“Martyr to the Truth”

The Autobiography of Joseph Turmel

  • History & Biography
  • Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
  • Published: 2012

FritzSearch.com earns a commission on purchases made through Bookshop.org links.

Publisher's Description

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 Hebert, and Felix Sartiaux


Endorsements (1)

“'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. Turmel's 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

See something wrong on this page? Report a problem