Vorlage:1961 Rezensionen Freiheit, Gnade, Schicksal

• [1961-000] [Englisch] Frederick J. Crosson: Rezension zu: Guardini, Freedom, Grace and Destiny, in: Worship, 35, 1960/61, 9 (Oktober 1961), S. 592 f. [neu aufgenommen] – [Rezension] - https://books.google.de/books?id=6n4TAAAAIAAJ oder https://books.google.de/books?id=YVxp0-fbGBQC
  • S. 592 f.: „For one who is a longtime admirer of Guardini, this book cannot be listed among his best. He takes up the three themes of the title, themes which of course are frequently encountered in his other writings, but which are here explored and interrelated in extenso. But the great virtue of Guardini's analyses, the remarkable sensitivity to the harmony and distinction of natural and Christian values, involves a delicate balance of spirituality, psychology, philosophy and theology in its presentation. The genius of the man has been his ability to sustain that balance over an impressive body of works on the most diverse subjects. In this book, however, one has the feeling at times that the author is discussing without any discursive movement. He remarks of several sections of the work that they are "a series of unsystematized thoughts and suggestions." The general structure of the book is to begin the discussion of each theme with its natural forms and then to see how Christianity transmutes the inner meaning of each. The examination of freedom is the least satisfactory in this respect, largely because of the diffuse character of the analysis of the natural forms of freedom. The second part, on grace, is better, and in particular the discussion of the "gracious" as an element of immediate existence displays extremely suggestive insights. The "gracious" acts of a sovereign, the "grace" of creative inspiration, the "grace" of intimate personal encounters, these all in Guardini's hands open up areas of fruitful reflection, and enrich, prospectively, the theological meaning of grace. The last section, on destiny, is the best of the three. The author points to fundamental human experiences, e.g., the feeling the " things are going with me," uncovers and explores the sense of destiny which is at first the core of such experiences, and shows how it implies both grace and freedom, both solicitation and response. Then in a typical movement, he presents the Christian sense of providence as at once perfecting and transforming the nature of destiny by raising it into the personal context of revelation. A long final section meditates on the meaning of destiny in the life of Jesus, and His sense of what, in natural terms, is simultaneously fate and free acceptance. It is apparent that in spite of its too often eddying instead of flowing the book has stimulating vistas. Indeed, even without this review, one could suppose that nothing that Guardini does is without value to the total pattern of Christian experience.“