Ratzinger and Guardini: A decisive encounter

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of one my favorite modern theologians, Romano Guardini (1885-1968), who wrote many excellent works on liturgy, spirituality, philosophy, Christology, and modernity, and who had a tremendous influence on the young Joseph Ratzinger. Sandro Magister of Chiesa writes:

Guardini's books nourished the most lively segment of Catholic thought during the 1900's. And one of his students was special – he's the current pope. When he was a student not much over the age of twenty, Joseph Ratzinger had the chance not only to read, but also to listen in person to the man he chose as his great "master."

As theologian, as cardinal, and also as pope, Ratzinger has repeatedly acknowledged in his books that he intends to proceed along the pathways opened by Guardini. In "Jesus of Nazareth," he declares from the very first lines that he has in mind one of the classics by his master: "The Lord." And in his "Introduction to the Spirit of the Liturgy," he shows right from the title that he takes his inspiration from one of the masterpieces of Guardini himself, "The Spirit of the Liturgy."

Magister has also posted an essay, "Ratzinger and Guardini, a decisive encounter," written by Silvano Zucal, a professor of philosophy at the University of Trent and the editor of the complete critical edition of Guardini's works, published in Italy by Morcelliana:

In this essay, we would like to call attention to the relationship between Romano Guardini and Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. The pope has called Guardini "a great figure, a Christian interpreter of the world and of his own time," and he often turns to Guardini, in almost all of his writings.

In reality, Ratzinger considers Guardini's voice still relevant, one that, if anything, should be made audible again. The Italian-German thinker, in fact, did not only write many books that have been translated into a variety of languages, but in his time he succeeded in shaping an entire generation, a generation of which the pontiff himself considers himself a member.

<snip>

There are, in fact, many elements common to these two thinkers, who would later become decisive figures for the twentieth-century Church. If the one would become a cardinal, and then pope, Guardini would also be offered to be made a cardinal, although he would refuse. Both were preoccupied with rediscovering the essential in Christianity by seeking to respond to Feuerbach's provocation. Guardini would write a splendid book about this in 1938, entitled "The Essence of Christianity," while Ratzinger would dedicate to this topic his "Introduction to Christianity," written in 1968, undoubtedly his most famous work and, in all likelihood, his most important.

Read the entire essay here.

A lengthy bio and a large number of excerpts from Guardini's books can be accessed here. More links, including links to the full text of Guardini's The Spirit of the Liturgy, are available on this blog.

Related Links from Ignatius Insight and Ignatius Press:

• "Introduction to Christianity": Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | Preface to the Second Edition (2004) of Introduction To Christianity
• The "Spirit of the Liturgy" website
• Biography of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• NEW books by or about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• All books by or about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Excerpts from books by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Articles about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI

Comments

[Ed Peters]

How totally cool. That explains why Guardini, one of my top favorites, arranged for me to walk into an Ann Arbor thrift shop yesterday, one which i rarely visit, and find on a book shelf otherwise full of junk, a clean, solid, hardback copy of THE LORD, for just $ 1.50, which I immediately scarfed up. How completely cool is that?

[Mark Brumley]

Absolutely cool. -459 degrees F cool

[Carl E. Olson]

Hardback, eh? That's pretty cool. My best find ever was a free, hardcover edition (the only edition, from what I can tell) of Hugh Kenner's Paradox in Chesterton (Sheed and Ward, 1948), which is nearly impossible to find for under $100. It doesn't hurt that it's a great book, although The Lord is better.

[Dan]

It didn't impress my wife, and hasn't impressed others I've told, but I thought it was pretty neat when a couple of years ago I found in the gift shop of a California mission a still new first edition (Doubleday) of the Gospel of Life.

I think that "The End of the Modern World" was ahead of its time when it was published in the 1950s, and still is.

[Ed Peters]

Right guys, zero Kelvin cool.

ps: you'll like this: my home-school Latin club, which is translating Evangelium secundum Marcum, is celebrating the Feast of St. Jerome with brownies tonight, only one day late (we only meet on Wednesdays, sooo...)

Coolness all round it seems.

[Nick Milne]

You surely seem to have a friend in Guardini, Dr. Peters. I myself do not; when I went to the thrift shop myself yesterday a copy of THE LORD fell on me from a high shelf, injuring me, and then when I went to pick it up it burst into flames and was gone.

More seriously, however, throughout the English department's floor in the Arts building at my university can be found shelves and shelves of books that have been left, donated or abandoned for whomever has the will or need to take them. Sometimes you can find some excellent stuff. Today I found a first edition of Chesterton's George Bernard Shaw, though it is unfortunately marred somewhat by a library stamp. There's also a copy of the first volume of Wilfrid Ward's biography of Cardinal Wiseman that I intend to snag later, but I didn't have the room to take it home today.

I was also blessed Monday to find a sturdy paperback edition of Hilaire Belloc's Complete Verse on a shelf in a bookstore that I frequent quite often. I would never have looked at the shelf at all, though, if I hadn't been forced to tread delicately around a stack of milk cartons and so look in an unusual direction; the book itself was lying flat on the very top, and would have been essentially invisible from a more conventional angle. The rest of the shelf was devoted to New Age materials and Eastern mysticism, anyhow, and I had been in the habit of ignoring it completely. Seeing as I had suggested that Ignatius publish such a collection only a day or two earlier, the finding of the thing seemed grossly providential. It was at this same store that I found a copy of the Catechism of the Council of Trent for $1.87, the price having been reduced enormously due to a tear in the back cover.

I can't say that I've ever had an experience equal to finding that Kenner book, though, Carl. The nearest I could boast of was finding well-preserved first editions of Belloc's The Crisis of Our Civilization and C.S. Lewis' Miracles, still with their original dust jackets, for a nickel each at a book sale. I nearly perished lugging home the imprudently large number of books I bought that day (nearly forty, in all), but I dare say it was worth it in the end.

[Mark Brumley]

It sounds ever so cool in Petersland. I wish the whole world could have brownies.

[Ed Peters]

LOL Nick.

[Ed Peters]

I enjoyed these stories guys. It reminded me of the times, eg, I found the works of Orestes Brownson in the junk bin outside a Catholic university library, or got a complete set of Reiffenstuel (1878) for $ 3 because someone mistook the name of the publisher for the name of author, and no one since had bothered to check the Latin frontispiece.

The next generation of book hounds will likely only tell internet book stories (and I admit, I do 95% of my used book buying there now). But they will, I fear, miss out on the great book find stories that we can share. Pity, that.