Frederick D. Wilhelmsen’s Thomism and Leo Strauss’s political rationalism represents one of the deepest intellectual divides in 20th-century political philosophy. While both thinkers fiercely rejected modern liberalism and historicism, they did so from fundamentally incompatible foundational premises.

 

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The contrast between Frederick D. Wilhelmsen’s Thomism and Leo Strauss’s political rationalism represents one of the deepest intellectual divides in 20th-century political philosophy. While both thinkers fiercely rejected modern liberalism and historicism, they did so from fundamentally incompatible foundational premises.

The core differences between their worldviews can be understood across four major categories:

Philosophical Dimension	Frederick D. Wilhelmsen (Thomism)	Leo Strauss (Political Rationalism)
The Nature of Truth	Integral & Unified: Reason and revelation are distinct but perfectly harmonized in a single, objective reality.	The Radical Dilemma: Reason and revelation are completely irreconcilable; an intellectual must choose one or the other.
Role of Philosophy	Ancillary to Faith: Philosophy (ancilla theologiae) prepares the mind to receive, defend, and deeply explore divine truth.	Autonomous & Skeptical: Philosophy is a rigorous, open-ended way of life defined by the pursuit of knowledge over opinion.
Function of Religion	Sacramental & Transcendent: Religion is the ultimate reality and the direct source of human salvation.	Political & Civil: Religion is a vital social anchor ("Vergilian religion") necessary to preserve law and public morality.
The Good Society	Christendom: A society explicitly oriented toward man's supernatural end and rooted in natural law.	The Just Regime: A balanced political order that protects philosophy while maintaining moral constraints for the public.

1. The Unity of Truth vs. The Absolute Dilemma

At the heart of the debate is the "Athens and Jerusalem" question.

• Strauss famously argued that the tension between Western rationalism (Athens) and biblical revelation (Jerusalem) is the core vitality of Western civilization. Crucially, he believed they are mutually exclusive. To accept revelation is to abandon the pure skepticism required of a philosopher; to be a philosopher is to refuse to submit to a non-rational authority.
• Wilhelmsen, operating in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, rejected this split. He argued that because God is the author of both reason and revelation, truth cannot contradict truth. Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it. For Wilhelmsen, separating them forces a choice between a blind, irrational faith or a cold, spiritually sterile rationalism.

2. Existential Thomism vs. Socratic Skepticism

Their definitions of philosophy itself were radically different.

• Wilhelmsen practiced "existential Thomism" (influenced by Étienne Gilson). He argued that philosophy culminates in the study of esse (the act of being), which points directly to God as the ultimate Source of existence. Philosophy is not an end in itself; it is a tool to help the human intellect apprehend a reality created by God.
• Strauss viewed philosophy through a classic Socratic lens: as a way of life characterized by the awareness of fundamental problems and a continuous quest for the permanent alternatives. For Strauss, philosophy is essentially Zetetic (skeptical and searching) and cannot claim definitive, dogmatic answers about the ultimate nature of the universe without ceasing to be philosophy.

3. The Transcendent vs. The Instrumental View of Politics

Because they viewed the ultimate purpose of human existence differently, their political prescriptions clashed.

• Strauss held that the highest human potential—philosophical contemplation—is only achievable by a rare, elite few. For the vast majority of mankind, political life requires moral laws grounded in a shared religious or traditional consensus. Therefore, Strauss treats politics as a delicate art of protecting the philosophic life from the masses while using civil religion to keep the masses moral and orderly.
• Wilhelmsen viewed this as a cynical reduction of the divine. He argued that the highest human potential is not philosophical brilliance, but sanctity and communion with God, which is accessible to everyone regardless of intellect. Wilhelmsen's political philosophy sought to build a culture (a "Christendom") where the entire political, legal, and social fabric was overtly structured to support the spiritual salvation of its citizens.
• The critique of Leo Strauss by traditionalist Catholic philosopher Frederick D. Wilhelmsen regarding religion—frequently contextualized around Strauss's instrumentalization of civil or "Vergilian" religion—centers on the fundamental tension between reason and revelation. Wilhelmsen’s arguments are primarily developed in his landmark work, Christianity and Political Philosophy (1978). [1, 2]
  1. The Accusation of "Latin Averroism"
  Wilhelmsen famously characterizes Strauss as a "Latin Averroist". In medieval philosophy, Latin Averroism was associated with the "double-truth" theory—the idea that something could be true in philosophy while its opposite could be true in theology. Wilhelmsen argues that Strauss views reason (philosophy) and revelation (religion) as absolutely irreconcilable and incapable of synthesis. Because Strauss believes a genuine philosopher can never truly submit to a revealed faith, he treats religion and philosophy as two distinct worlds perpetually at war. [1, 2, 3]
  2. Religion as a Political Tool (Civil/Vergilian Religion)
  Because Strauss denies that reason and revelation can be harmonized, Wilhelmsen argues that the Straussian framework reduces religion to a functional civic myth. In this view, religion is treated similarly to the ancient Roman or "Vergilian" model of piety: [1]
  • The Noble Lie: Religion is not valued because it is ontologically or metaphysically true, but because it is politically necessary to ground law, establish public morality, and restrain the masses. [1]
  • The Philosophic Elite vs. The Masses: Wilhelmsen critiques Strauss for creating a sharp dichotomy where an esoteric, skeptical elite recognizes religion as a useful political fiction, while the exoteric public is left to believe in it literally for the sake of social stability. [1]
  3. The Suppression of Christian Metaphysics
  As a devout Thomist, Wilhelmsen strongly objects to Strauss's tendency to bracket or dismiss the historical and intellectual reality of Christian revelation. [1]
• Wilhelmsen argues that Christianity did not merely offer "myths" to keep society orderly; rather, it radically expanded Western metaphysics by introducing entirely new philosophical concepts (such as the distinction between essence and existence, and a deeper understanding of human personhood). [1]
• By filtering religion strictly through a political lens, Strauss and his disciples (like Harry Jaffa) miss the transcendent truth of the incarnational and sacramental reality of faith, reducing a living relationship with God into an engine for political order. [1]
• Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis’s Amoris Laetitia and for the restoration of the Church.
  
  
  Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.

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  I ask all The Catholic Monitor readers to also pray for the end of this war. Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTube: ...Read more Please Pray for Trump to end the Iran War: Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTubeFranklin & Graham calls on Christians to pray for 'end to the bloodshed' ahead of Trump-Putin summit...7mo

  
  

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  Conclave Notes:

  Has the Trad Media fallen into a COVID-like mass formation with Leo XVI? While it's humorous to see the former anti-Francis Trad pundits suddenly acting like teen age girls infatuated with Leo, it could lead to a Trojan Horse effect

  It appears that a group of Bishops or Cardinals needs to give Leo XIV Dubia questions on if he still supports "Invalid and Sacrilegious" Confession

  "Prevost’s reported support...allowing divorced & civilly 'remarried'...to receive Holy Communion": “Whoever…helps...promulgation of heresy…is suspected of heresy.” - The Catholic Monitor

  
  -- Open letter urges Pope Leo XIV to correct ‘scandalous incoherence’ in Amoris Laetitia...[Wow! Even notorious Popesplainer Fr.] Harrison warns that Pope Francis taught a ‘dangerous self-contradiction’ on Communion for the divorced and ‘remarried,’ petitioning Pope Leo to correct the record. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/08/open-letter-urges-pope-leo-xiv-to.html]
  
  
  --  Dr. Seifert, regarded as one of the greatest living Catholic philosophers, founding Rector of the International Academy of Philosopher & friend of John Paul II, to Cardinals: INVESTIGATE FRANCIS' HERESIES, VALIDITY BEFORE THE CONCLAVE.."If Francis is found guilty of heresy or apostasy, then: - His cardinal appointments would be invalid" [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/dr-seifert-philosopher-personal-friend.html] 
  
  

  -- Are the Cardinals who will participate in the upcoming conclave authentically appointed & morally justified in voting, or will the shadow of Francis's possible illegitimacy cast itself over the next papacy?  [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/are-cardinals-who-will-participate-in.html]

  -- 5 Dubia Questions for 1P5's Steve Skojec & All faithful Catholics especially Francis is definitely Pope Cardinals, Bishops & pundits [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/06/5-dubia-questions-for-steve-skojec.html]

  Francis Notes:

  l– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:

  
  “[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
  (The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)

  Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said “the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church.”
  [https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]

  – “If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html

  – “Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html

  – If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.html 

   –  LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
  
  The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
  
  –  On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
  
  “The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
  
  – On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
  
  “Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
  
  Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.

  Election Notes: 

  – Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: “212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted…Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden” [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]

  – Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times “Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003”: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html

  – Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1

  – A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
  http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1

  What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the [J6] DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
  http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1] 

  Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.

  Pray an Our Father now for America.

  Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.