No Catholic library is complete without these five landmark works by
Romano Guardini, one of the most important Catholic figures of the 20th
century.
This treasury brings back into print Regnery's classic translations by
Stella Lange with a new introduction by Robert Royal: The World and the
Person, The Church of the Lord: On the Nature and Mission of the
Church, The Word of God: On Faith, Hope, and Charity, The Virtues:
On Forms of Moral Life, and The Wisdom of the Psalms. From the
Introduction by Robert Royal:
The present collection is a highly valuable retrieval of texts that
supplement Guardini's greatest and best-known books, such as The End of
the Modern World, The Spirit of the Liturgy, and The Lord, which
have remained in print and have influenced generations. He makes a point
of calling the works in this collection "reflections," not systematic
treatments. But in truth they "reflect" the author's deep and internally
consistent theological, philosophical, and--unusual among religious
writers--literary culture. His books on Dante and Rilke, along with his
frequent references to Augustine, Pascal, Dostoyevsky, Heidegger, and
even Nietzsche, present an eclectic but deep and coherent vision of the
Church and the world. Varying approaches to fundamental questions, of
course, have their advantages and disadvantages. But as these texts make
abundantly clear, Guardini had the kind of mind--the living virtue, as
he puts it in his book on the virtues, included here--that can move
flexibly but faithfully through whatever questions it encounters. Which
is why these books are less like academic treatises and more like living
dialogues with a wise and experienced and learned friend.
