The End of the Modern World [Paperback]

Romano Guardini (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1882926587 | ISBN-13: 978-1882926589 | Publication Date: April 2001

In an extended inquiry into the nature of the modern age, as well as a historical, philosophical, and theological analysis of modernity's prospects in the next millennium, Guardini argues that human beings are responsible moral agents, possessed of free will and answerable to God and their fellow man.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Guardini here contemplates the human condition in the wake of two world wars and numerous other horrors and offers his thoughts in two of his best essays: "The End of The Modern World: A Search for Orientation" and "Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for The New Age." Pretty heavy stuff, this is more for academic libraries.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"...[F]ifty years on, [Guardini's analysis] still has resonance because many of the problems he poses about modernity have not been overcome." -- The Times Literary Supplement,TLS

As Neuhaus and Wilhelmsen warn us, Guardini's vision of the present and the future is bracing stuff, going beyond optimism and pessimism into the prophetic wilderness where the difficult truth can be proclaimed. The truth, in his view, is that man has lost his place in the universe--and he has not lost it because God no longer has a place there. Guardini sees a new age coming, however, in which the fight between Christianity and secularism will be sharpened and in which it will be possible, if we have the nerve for it, to restore man's dignity and his sense of place.... It is a urgent call to holiness, and inspiring challenge, and an exceptionally important book for a new millennium. -- First Things, January 1999 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882926587
• ISBN-13: 978-1882926589
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #811,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a prophetic book for the times in which we live., November 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The End of the Modern World (Hardcover)

The End of the Modern World, by Romano Guardini, is a short masterpiece on the problems of the age in which we now live - and which is now drawing to a close. Modern man is faced for the first time in his history with "mass" man. This "mass" affects everything - human dignity, right relationship with God, individuality, freedom, quality of life. The very nature of man can be called into question, with shattering consequences for our faith and our "home" in the universe. Guardini understood very well the "warehousing" concept of human life, where amongst crowds of men, the human person can lose significance, spiritual autonomy, and his bearings, feeling both crushed by these masses, and at the same time unable to escape them. He also understood the reality and trends toward totalitarianism, having resisted, been silenced by, and gone into hiding to escape the Nazis, himself. In my opinion, Guardini's writings (prophetic as they were) on the times in which we live are his most brilliant. He is a voice of God crying out in a world that is escalating ever more surely to annihilation of all that the human person has always considered fundamental to human life - dignity, right relationship with God, freedom. His other books which touch on this subject, The World and the Person, The Virtues, Power and Responsibility, and Letters from Lake Como, are also indispensable reading for facing and grappling with the problems of The End of the Modern World. I highly recommend Romano Guardini.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Penetrating look at the successor to the Modern World, October 10, 2003

By 

Steven G. Hotovy (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of the Modern World (Paperback)

Father Guardini has a matchless ability to "get under the skin" of a culture, to define its essence, to elaborate what makes it tick. He turns his penetrating gaze briefly on Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but spends most time analyzing the Modern Age. For him, the keys aspects of the Modern world were a rich and expressive humanity, exemplified by the genius; a warm relationship with nature in which man is embedded; and a seemingly inexhaustible culture which man created.

He contends that the wellsprings of the Modern World have run dry. A new age is being born, the outlines of which are still very indistinct. The new age will foster a more frugal personality; it will view nature more from a distance and as something which man is called to master; the culture will be defined less by artistic expression than by the use of the enormous power over nature made possible by technology.

For the Christian, this means that a different set of virtues come to the fore. Guardini identifies 3 key ones: earnestness, gravity and asceticism, all springing from a deep humility. They are vital because we must be able to discipline ourselves before we can profitably use the enormous power at our disposal.

The book is vastly more penetrating, more challenging than my little overview can suggest. There is not a wasted word. On the contrary, ideas are almost underdeveloped. The book is meant to be read, and then read again. Each reading brings forth different aspects of this most profound book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scorching Criticism, June 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The End of the Modern World (Hardcover)

Guardini has written, in a small space, what amounts to one of the most incisive, blistering critiques of the modern world that I've ever read. Beautifully abstract yet precise, this masterwork will leave you nearly breathless with its forceful prose and unwavering criticism. After reading this book, one may wonder how one has remained asleep for all this time. Wake up, world, Guardini is calling you! A fierce read that's about the most painfully honest thing a human being can read these days. Save your propaganda, your agenda, and your polemics for another time. Guardini will work on your last nerve until you are driven to action. Again, WAKE UP, WORLD!