Romano Guardini

Overview

"As we are taught by Guardini, the essence of Christianity is not an idea, not a system of thought, not a plan of action. The essence of Christianity is a Person: Jesus Christ himself."--Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI).

Romano Guardini (1885-1968), an Italian-born German priest and theologian, was an influential writer whose efforts to relate the Christian message to a modern audience helped prepare the way for Vatican II. According to Karl Rahner, Guardini was a Renaissance man who led Catholics ""out of an intellectual and cultural ghetto and into the contemporary age."" His Christian humanist vision--at once deeply traditional and finely attuned to the questions of men and women today--deserves the attention of a new generation.

Robert A. Krieg is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and author of Romano Guardini: A Precursor of Vatican II and editor of Romano Guardini: Proclaiming the Sacred in a Modern World.