Description
The four authors of this slim, accessible volume provide complementary insights on the nature of gratitude, inviting us to a deeper appreciation of the essential and transformative role of gratitude in our relationships to others and ultimately in our relationship to God.
Dietrich von Hildebrand possesses an unrivaled skill for bringing to light essential truths of our human experience that we often take for granted. In this essay, he illuminates the distinctive qualities of gratitude as value-response, both as it relates to gratitude among persons and gratitude to God.
Balduin V. Schwarz was a leading student of Hildebrand in Europe and a professor of philosophy at the University of Salzburg. This essay, only previously available in a long out-of-print Festschrift, begins with Schwarz clearing the ground by dismissing attitudes and ways of thought that “suppress” gratitude. He then carefully considers the distinctive character of gratitude and the paradoxical relationship among giving, thanking, and receiving, with a view to the ways that gratitude enriches human life, building ultimately to the intimation of gratitude as an argument for God’s existence.
The philosophical essays by Schwarz and Hildebrand are enriched by accompanying selections from Joseph Ratzinger and one of his most important teachers, Romano Guardini.
Ratzinger draws our attention to the unique role of joy–the expression par excellence of gratitude–in the Christian faith. Guardini establishes the uniquely personal conditions for gratitude, points us to examples of gratitude in the Gospels, and leads us to ask: “Did Christ thank?”
