Transformation in Christ [Paperback]

Dietrich Von Hildebrand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Recognized as a modern spiritual classic and perhaps Dietrich von Hildebrand's greatest work, this sublime and practical study gives a penetrating analysis of the true path to holiness for those who love Christ. The first requisite is the person's desire for change, and with that fundamental attitude in mind, von Hildebrand devotes a chapter to each of the successive spiritual attitudes necessary for those who strive for Christian perfection. The Beatitudes are treated with beauty and depth in an uncompromising challenge to every serious Christian to put into practice these teachings of Christ.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A magnificent treatise by a distinguished philosopher on the pursuit of spiritual perfection." -- —Publishers Weekly

"A major contribution to the only important question: the transformation of our soul in Christ." -- —Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"A masterpiece of modern spirituality: eminently practical and highly recommended." -- —Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

"A solid and penetrating analysis of the Christian virtues, and their application in the struggle toward Christian perfection." -- —Library Journal

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 538 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898708699
• ISBN-13: 978-0898708691
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern spiritual masterpiece by Von Hildebrand, a modern day John Cassian?,, January 1, 2010

By 

Aquinas "summa" (celestial heights, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transformation in Christ (Paperback)

Von Hildebrand ("Von H") is both a spiritual diagnostician and surgeon, knowing when to take the knife to counterfeit spirituality. This is the greatness of the work - how he distinguishes naturalistic impulses and effects from their spiritual counterparts. Do I real have the peace that surpasses all understanding or do I simply have a phlegmatic and complacent temperament? Von H combines razor sharp logic with real heart and passion - a kind of combination of St Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine. He also brilliantly shows how the Christian life requires that we hold opposites within ourselves - we must be zealous and passionate about our transformation in Christ and yet we must be sweetness itself, drinking deeply of Divine patience. Make no mistake, this is a difficult book - each of the 18 Chapters is challenging and , like all spiritual classics, we are likely to squirm as we face uncomfortable disclosures about ourselves - we begin to see that Von H has indeed diagnosed our sham spirituality as being the mere manifestation of naturalistic impulses. To give an idea what this book is about, I will make some short observations on each Chapter, but these are only initial thoughts and reflections - there is immense depth in this book (500 pages) - Von H, like Cassian, has a wonderful insight into the manifold varieties of the human person - he knows us through and through. How wonderful it is that the Church has had such a great philosopher and lay man, a husband and a father, to serve Christ and his Church. Dietrich Von Hildebrand pray for me!

The readiness to Change

In this Chapter, Von H puts before us the stark choice we are given: do we really want to be transformed in Christ - all of us who seek to answer this question know that there are all sorts of resistances we put up against the inflow of God's grace - we wish to retain our own areas of sovereignty but Von H urges us to be like wax ready to receive the stamp of Christ. But, God does not wish to annihilate our personality and freedom - the paradox is that we only become our true selves so that our unique personality shines when we become transformed in Christ. And this is where Von H brilliantly shows us true personality versus the kind of conventional personality into which we have grown, petrified by prejudices and conventions. Readiness to change and be moved towards Christ: this is the key.

Contrition

In contrition, Man finds his greatness, he humbles himself and submits to God, knowing that he has done wrong.

Self knowledge

Von H contrasts the real desire to know thyself with a mere neutral observer type attitude, typical of the psychological approach. The former can only be realised though a radical confrontation with God. "We ought to feel a boundless gratitude to those who rudely destroy our illusions concerning our person". "We mistake our enthusiasm for a virtue for its real presence in us". We need the help of other so are illusions about ourselves can be shattered.

True Consciousness

Her Von H excessive self consciousness with true consciousness, the latter involving a kind of loss of oneself in response to value. We should not pry into our psychic entrails and become self obsessed - we must not go around self consciously doing good - in fact by doing so, we destroy the good we are doing. "A truly conscious person has so far advance over his nature that he no longer agrees implicitly to all its suggestions". "Unconscious man gives himself entirely to the moment's experiences". We must become truly awake and simple.

True simplicity

Complexity is not profundity. Von H shows us what it true simplicity and what is sham simplicity. He notes that the reductionist who "walks through life with a boastful smile, proud of being past all obscure and grave difficulties" is not simple but merely engaging in platitude, levelling all depth and value with his reductionist approach. "The basic error of all simplicity lies in the assumption that it is a simple thing to have true simplicity" and "No deficiency of natural dispositions can prevent us from transformation in Christ". Simplicity is "the unity of a life anchored in God". Simplicity is linked with continuity. "The truly simple man always preserves his basic identity". Von H warns us of the draw to shallowness and the movement to the periphery which conflicts with the desire to be simple such as indulging in magazines, visiting fashionable beaches, going to music halls, shows, cinemas etc. He is supremely practical here. These things "dishabituate the mind from the unum necessarium and so interfere with the progress towards simplicity". We must expressly offer everything to God and always and everywhere give thanks. We must have a "permanent attitude of sursum corda, of eagerness to be let ourselves be borne aloft to God". But to attain simplicity, we need the contemplated attitude of Mary: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful , and art troubled about many things; but one thing alone is necessary"

Recollection and contemplation

"In recollecting ourselves, we empty our soul of all current concerns, and are no longer possessed by the things which fill our life". When we are dispersed, we are not really and truly alive. Even in activity (even intellectual activity) "our awareness of God continues to resound in our soul like and unending melody". But to achieve this "we must bring ourselves to a full and exclusive awareness of God" from time to time. And this is where the "heart" comes in, showing Von H's personalism: "Many of our emotional acts have a contemplative character". We must dwell in the present. "In contemplation, I abandon myself to an object as a majestic entity which reposes in itself and does not me in order to exist". The key here is receptivity and a restful attitude . But contemplation is not mere relaxation as it involves intense spiritual activity. And this is where Von H himself seems to soar, one becomes acutely aware that a kind of mystical experience must have informed some of his insights. He cites the wonderful passage from St Augustine in the City of God: "There we shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise. Behold what shall in the end without end". To come to this inner stillness, we must have times of silence and solitude. Von H never loses site of practical considerations and warns us that contemplation requires a degree of mental alertness which is not consistent with the exhausted state where we react impulsively and lose control of our reactions. We need rest! And again, the practical man comes to the fore: "Since e are psycho-pysical beings, we cannot invariably live with the same spiritual intensity". We need recreation and rest- this is the result of our fallen state and we must not in pride resist their call. He ends this Chapter with a stream of beautifully recollected thoughts.

Pride

"Humility involves the full knowledge of our status as creatures, a clear consciousness of having receiving everything we have from God". As St Catherine of Siena puts it: "That Thous shalt be, and that I shall not be". "Humility calls upon us to allow our hearts to be wounded by the glory of God, to fall on our knees in loving adoration, and to deliver ourselves over to God entirely". Thus we can "blissfully assent to our creaturely status". Let us be filled with a holy longing for God. The humble man "finds the cause of his joy in the magnolia Dei, the glory of God, as mirrored and signified by the cosmos and its wealth of values, including, in particular, the values he discerns in human beings other than himself". "Humility prescribes all contemplation of one's own values, the humble man will never direct his glance to one of his own virtues, lest he should lapse into pride" . "The humbles one has divested himself of all hardness; he faces his fellow men, not mailed and armoured, but in the luminous attire of invincible charity. Even his foes - and this is the test of meekness - he confronts unarmed." "he is past all self-assertion". "He who speaks the word of total assent to his finiteness and limitation will thereby illuminate his nature with an aura which in some way images the unlimited breadth of God".

Confidence in God

Von H again alerts us to spiritual counterfeits - confidence in God is not about optimisim, "smugness masquerading as religiosity". Our trust in God must be absolute. "We must never say that God has rejected our prayer". We must see suffering against the backdrop of the Cross but remembering that "death really and objectively is a terrible thing". Von H never stops looking into the depths and glossing over the metaphysical reality of all things, including death. We must confront all our anxieties and fears with God.

Striving for perfection

"The vision of the beautiful, as Plato says (Phaedrus 249d) causes the soul "to grow wings". "Whenever a true value affects us, whenever a ray of beauty, goodness or holiness wounds our heart...a certain actual change is produced in our being which...will leave permanent traces far outlasting our actual experience. By this spiritual nourishment our very essence will be changed and ,as it were, leavened." " love-relationship rooted in Jesus is certain to transform us and to bring us nearer to God". And Von H, having discussed things in depth, never sidesteps practicality: "We must avoid contact with everything that has an air of triviality...to avoid certain unnecessary conversations, to do without the entertainment provided by shallow readings, to shun everything that panders to out delight in sensations, in general, to steer clear of whatever is calculated to draw us away from God". Von H reminds us of the importance of work:... Read more ›

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent source for facing oneself honestly /with Christ, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Transformation in Christ (Paperback)

Thanks be to God for gifting this author with so much clarityin thinking, wholesome approach to the true nature of humanity, andability to translate his wisdom into understandable concepts which can be applied in daily life. For the serious seeker who is willing to strip himself of illusions, this work is a jewel.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Spiritual Reading, May 16, 2007

By 

Joseph R. Caudle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Transformation in Christ (Paperback)

Dietrich Von Hildebrand's "Transformation in Christ" is probably one of the best modern works on the Spiritual Life. I have heard it compared to the "Introduction to the Devout Life" by Saint Francis de Sales, and I know that Pope Pius XII called von Hildebrand the 20th century Doctor of the Church. If you are looking for a book to really grow closer to Christ, this is it.