Joseph's Maréchal first Études sur la psychologie des mystiques have appeared a very short time after the publication of Henri Delacroix' Études d'histoire et de psychologie du mysticisme. This meeting in the field of mysticism has favourably inclined the jesuit towards the lay philosopher's writing. Their explanation however is bound to differ: where Delacroix speaks of an unconscious good for any and every thing, Maréchal speaks of a supernatural intrusion. Maréchal's thinking is nerverless hindered both by the Aquinas' reserves and by the interdict that Kant throws on any suprasensitive intuition. Baruzi, who radicalises the mystical experience in its negative aspect, does not allow any mediation, but the mellowed thomism of Gardeil O.P. tones down the too rigid position that Maréchal held in 1908.
