Romano Guardini: Reform from the Source

An overview of the work of Romano Guardini (1885-1968), published by Kösel in Munich in 1970 (119 pages) and reissued by Johannes Verlag in 1995; Ignatius Press published the English translation in 2010. In the preface Balthasar says the book grew out of a memorial lecture at the Catholic Academy in Munich on the first anniversary of Guardini's death, and that it offers only guidelines, a road map across the difficult landscape of his work, picking out leitmotifs and their place in intellectual history. It deliberately leaves out personal and biographical matter and asks about the ultimate intention and ordering principle of the work. Balthasar writes that Guardini built shelters for whole generations, and that those who have understood his spirit will owe him gratitude even as they go further.