Dr. John F. Crosby’s lecture on the legacy of twentieth century phenomenologist Dietrich von Hildebrand was greeted by a full house and fine conversation at the First Things editorial headquarters last evening. After mingling over wine and cheese, guests took their seats while the founder and director of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project, John Henry Crosby, gave a welcome to guests and expressed his gratitude to longtime friends and collaborators at the magazine.
After a formal introduction by First Things ’ editor R.R. Reno, Dr. Crosby launched in to the central themes of his talk, noting from the outset the fittingness of the collaboration of First Things with the Legacy Project. As with First Things ’ founder Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, von Hildebrand’s concern for the relationship between religion and public life was at the forefront of his work, particularly his early life in 1930s Austria, where he edited an intellectual review that became a powerful voice against Nazi ideology and even against fellow Catholics who imagined that a kind of “mainstream” fascism could be redeemed or directed towards religious ends. So powerful was his voice, in fact, that von Hildebrand, who had decamped to Vienna, was at times considered “enemy number one” by the Berlin regime.
Dr. Crosby’s account of von Hildebrand’s work on religion and the political sphere segued into three central characteristics of von Hildebrand’s life and philosophy, which Dr. Crosby highlighted as particularly relevant today. Indeed, more than relevant, Dr. Crosby suggested that valuable insight would be lost without the preservation of, and conversation with, von Hildebrand’s work. It is the threefold contribution of: (1) his life as witness, (2) personalism, and (3) attention to “the heart” as a faculty for knowing, that Dr. Crosby highlighted as salient features of von Hildebrand’s work.
These contributions to the history of thought find unique expression and synthesis in von Hildebrand’s understanding of beauty, the correlative of goodness and truth experienced most profoundly by way of the heart. As von Hildebrand writes, “Beauty is not only a central source of joy. It also possesses a great significance for the development of the personality, especially in an ethical sense.” Herein might lie a wellspring of inspiration for fresh insight into the perennial questions persons face, both individually and as a society. Indeed, as Dr. Crosby noted, quoting Fr. Neuhaus, von Hildebrand’s time may yet be “coming around again.”
Many thanks to Dr. John Crosby and the Legacy Project for a splendid evening of provoking thought and fruitful conversation.
Sasha Tatasciore is interning this summer at First Things .
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