Von Hildebrand's The Heart, Newly Published

Just out from St. Augustine Press (Oct. 30) is the a new edition of Dietrich von Hildebrand's book The Heart: An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity. The new edition is edited by a past professor of mine, John F. Crosby (Franciscan University) who could very well be one of the only philosophers in America advancing new scholarship on von Hildebrand's work. I know Crosby is now also working on a translation of Dietrich's work on love.

Despite the fact that, since his conversion to Catholicism through the inspiration of Max Scheler, von Hildebrand became more of an obscure figure in mainstream German phenomenology, it is clear he has been a great influence on the part of bringing the fruits of phenomenology to the life of the Church and, to a lesser extent, her doctrine. Pius XII's statement of Dietrich as a "twentieth century Doctor of the Church," is certainly a testament to how his penetrating phenomenological analyses are not to be held in opposition to the Church's entrenched Thomistic tradition, but as complementary. Another testament to this, of course, is Franciscan University itself, which is one of the only philosophy departments in the country, which is strongly rooted in the Catholic tradition (I'm thinking also of University of Dallas, and perhaps, though to a lesser extent, Ave Maria with Fedoryka), and whose faculty have more of a phenomenological representation than a Thomistic one; and whose graduate program (this is unique to Franciscan) is modeled according to "realist phenomenology," explicitly. This type of phenomenological realism is precisely what the work von Hildebrand promotes.

Alice von Hildebrand's biography of her husband, The Soul of a Lion, is excellent exploration of Dietrich's truly fascinating life and his philosophical and spiritual journey. However, I must say, as a Schelerian, that many of the sections concerning Dietrich's relationship with Max, and especially what the book brings out about Scheler's life, is not to be wholly trusted as accurate, for a number of reasons. Nevertheless, read it.