Transformation in Christ_ On the Christian Attitude - Dietrich Von Hildebrand [3]
Granted: Transformation in Christ was written by “an intellectual”—and even by one who had studied under some of the very great thinkers of this century (including Husserl, Scheler and Reinach). Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that Dietrich von Hildebrand put his intellectual talents in God’s service and that in writing this book, he wanted to address himself not to a few pundits, but to every Christian who is, like Daniel, “a man of longing.”
Therefore, Transformation in Christ does not require the reader to have a painstaking philosophical training or to know a special technical vocabulary. It will richly fecundate anyone who has purity of heart, and who longs for the truth. Effort will be required, but it will be rewarded abundantly by the fruits to be harvested.
Transformation in Christ is not meant to be hastily read. No, it should be read slowly, meditatively, and should always be concretely related to your own personal life. Half a page, sometimes a few lines can nourish your soul, illumine your mind, and inflame your heart.
Transformation in Christ is not the fruit of scholarship, but of the author’s experiences
Just as Transformation in Christ was not written as a scholarly tome, so it is not the fruit of a mind such as we find in some scholars, who unfortunately spend innumerable hours in a library, perusing dusty manuals on spirituality and then couch the ideas harvested there in an abstract, impersonal language.
On the contrary, Transformation in Christ was conceived and born of personal experiences. The author had an extraordinarily rich life: he knew royalty; he knew commoners; he knew saintly people; he knew great sinners; he knew great minds; and he knew those whose endowments were mediocre. He was privileged to meet some who had ascended high on the holy mountain of the Lord and whose lives were marked by a deep humility; he knew some who lived in complete illusions about themselves, and yet believed themselves to be close to sanctity; he knew some who were still groping in the darkness of sin and error.
Through faith, Dietrich von Hildebrand saw in all of them the image of God and longed to share with them what he himself had received. For much as he loved books, he loved people more; and it is from the wealth of his Christian experiences, enriched and fecundated by his own readings and meditations, that he learned the wisdom found in this book.
It is the wealth of these experiences that he shares with us in this work; it is real people that we meet in Transformation in Christ—and in many of them we shall recognize ourselves, our own frailties, our own dangers, our own illusions. (At times, we are even tempted to believe that the author knew us personally when he wrote the book, and that he was sketching our own character and our own faults.)
This serene spiritual classic was written at the peak of the author’s dangerous battle against Nazism
Transformation in Christ emanates such a serene spiritual atmosphere that the reader is likely to assume that it was written at a particularly contemplative and peaceful period of the author’s life. In truth, however, the book was written in the midst of his heroic and dramatic fight against Nazism. This work—which sings the beauty of supernatural life—was composed at a time when the author knew great hardships and was threatened by constant dangers because of his opposition to Nazism.
Transformation in Christ testifies to the victory of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s spiritual life over the powers of evil unleashed by National Socialism. It also implicitly proclaims the final victory of good over evil, of God over Satan. Having left Germany voluntarily when Hitler came to power—because von Hildebrand refused to live in a country headed by a criminal—he first sought refuge in his sister’s house in Florence, but upon seeing that Chancellor Engelbert