Dominican Thomists in France (first half of the twentieth century)

In 1960, the Sorbonne philosopher Etienne Gilson wrote about 'the great family of Thomists'. In such a family, two branches of the Dominican Order in France played an outstanding role: the Saulchoir school, led by Father Marie-Dominique Chenu in an historical way and the Saint-Maximin school, led in a metaphysical way by the lay philosopher Jacques Maritain. Both played an important role in the work of Vatican II council. This essay is an attempt to provide a brief history of these two models of understanding Thomism.