 One such series of events was the attack on (principally Catholic) religious organisations by secular and humanist forces within the French state in the early twentieth century, culminating in a number of laws affecting the taxation and ownership of church property and the place of religion in public affairs. Another, at about the same time, were those reflecting the tensions within Catholicism—particularly in France—in reaction to theological modernism. The writings of George Tyrell in England and Ernest Renan and Alfred Loisy in France were condemned for such ‘errors’ as claiming that conscience is the primary source of religious truth and that all knowledge—including dogma—has a historical and contingent character, and so challenging the authoritative character of magisterial pronouncements. Further, the major philosophical traditions in France were seen as incompatible with Catholic theology. The dominant schools were the spiritualism or intuitionism of Bergson (which held that the emphasis in metaphysics on ‘being’ should be replaced by one on durée or pure change), the idealism of Léon Brunschvicg, the spiritualism of André Lalande, and the materialism of Edmond Goblot; each challenged claims that were seen as essential to Catholicism. Given this turmoil, there was a call for a defence of the philosophies and the theological teachings of the Catholic Church.