Reading Group beginning Jan. 18
Aesthetics Vol. I
Reading Group beginning Nov. 4
Memoirs of a Happy Failure Audiobook
Alice von Hildebrand would have turned 99 today, March 11, 2022.
To celebrate her life and mark the day, we have worked with our friends at TAN Books to produce an audiobook of Lily’s autobiography Memoirs of a Happy Failure.
Alice von Hildebrand is a household name to many who know her from her countless EWTN appearances, her books, and her extensive articles and essays. What is little known is the story of her life, notably the thirty-seven years she spent at Hunter College in New York City.
There, despite systematic opposition she left a mark on a generation of students through her defense of truth with reason, wit, and love. By showing her students how truth fulfills the deepest longings of the heart she liberated countless students from the oppressive relativism of the day, enabling many of them to find their way to God.
Now, for the first time, discover the details of Alice von Hildebrand’s life as a “Happy Failure,” including:
- her thrilling escape from Europe that was nearly halted by a Nazi sub
- her early days in America and her dedication to education and cultivating wisdom
- her marriage to the great philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand
- her victories and defeats at Hunter where she combated a culture of relativism
- and much more…
Memoirs of a Happy Failure is a fascinating and essential glimpse into the life of one of contemporary Catholicism’s most compelling minds. It is the story of courage, faith, and the grace of God acting in the world.
Download the new audiobook or the ebook at TAN Books.
Beauty in the Light of the Redemption
Beauty in the Light of the Redemption
What importance is to be attributed to beauty in the life of a Christian?
What role should it play in the life of those who have been redeemed?
What is the relationship between redemption and beauty?
Did beauty lose its significance after the redemption?
These are some of the questions Dietrich von Hildebrand answers in this collection of essays, which introduces his philosophy of art, truth, and beauty.
Wherever anything makes Christ known, there nothing can be beautiful enough.
Dietrich von Hildebrand
Reviews & Commentary
From scholars, students, and readers
In this little work, Hildebrand makes the case that “the right stance toward the world of beauty and art does not lie between the philistine and the aesthete; rather, it is essentially different from both.”
How so? And why does art matter? In its quality, Hildebrand explains, true beauty makes God known, announces God, and evens contains within it the summons to lift up our hearts by awakening within us awe and longing for God Himself.
Amanda Achtman
Amazon ReviewAn excellent introduction to the aesthetic reflections of a formidable philosopher and theologian in the Christian tradition. He explores distinctions within beauty, the approaches (right and wrong) to it, misconceptions about its place now that Christ has come, and more. Though it be small, it is mighty still. Take and read.
Kyle McManamy
Goodreads ReviewThis little book is an excellent way to dip one’s toes into the world of Hildebrandian Phenomenology and, through his refreshingly clear prose, manages to tease out major themes that he will greatly expand on in major works such as Ethics and his two-volume works on Aesthetics (of which the introduction to the first volume is included). Overall, this is a highly recommended work!
Timothy B. Jaeger
Goodreads ReviewUpcoming Reading Groups
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Graven Images: Substitutes for True Morality
Graven Images: Substitutes for True Morality
Dietrich von Hildebrand provides a uniquely in-depth and astute analysis of the many ways we substitute false idols (the “graven images”) for true Christian morality. This is not a simple book on the differences between good and evil; most people do not replace true morality with pure evil, but with some other “extramoral” good, like “respectability” or “honor.” Hildebrand guides us through these false alternatives, helping to show both what is good in them, but also where they fall short of the uniqueness of true Christian morality.
In our everyday experience, we are confronted with facts that pretend to be but are not true moral forms. Much of what we call morals are in reality substitutes for true morality. Precisely this fact makes it so difficult to perceive what true morality is in itself.
Rocco Buttiglione | From the Foreword
Reviews & Commentary
From scholars, students, and readers
The reader of this work will be pleased to find himself seeing with a new light into a phenomenon that without question dominates our age.
Hildebrand offers a really helpful discussion of true morality and ‘extramoral’ goods. His account is both theoretically robust and practically rich.
Samantha
Amazon ReviewHildebrand highlights how the ethical imperative, written on the human conscience, is an inherently spiritual one, a manifestation of the ‘task that can never be concluded on earth’. Therefore, the moral sphere is anything but enclosed, prescriptive for its own sake, insular or dictatorial.
You simply can’t read enough Hildebrand. If you think you have, read another volume again. There is simply so much truth to absorb, and he is so necessary for today.
Dan Sheffler
Amazon ReviewThis promising volume investigates concepts which may provide guidelines along which people can function in society, but which may fall short of genuine morality, such as honor. Many novels show the holes in accepted bourgeois conventions – this work does so from a philosophical angle, with many vivid examples taken from Russian literature, especially Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. It will surely be thought-provoking, even as it may incite debate!
Stephanie
Amazon ReviewIlluminating on today’s contemporary world.
Taylor B.
Amazon ReviewUpcoming Online Reading Groups
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