Power and Responsibility a Course of Action for the New Age [Hardcover ed.] 129750156X, 9781297501562

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If the characteristic of Hellenic civilization is to be summed up in the word logos, the character­ istic of our own is more exactly summed up in the word power. The fact itself is a challenge to the wisdom of man. One is gra1 ful that Romano Guardini is a wise man. has takr challenge. ,URRAY, S.J. JOHN COURr: �

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An in t e n s e p r a c t i c a l i t y, grounded in calm religious faith, informs this remarkable essay by one of Ieday's most profound thinkers. Here Monsignor Guar­ dini turns his attention to con­ temporary man's most shatter­ ing dilemma: man must use the power he has amassed over na­ ture and other men, yet in using this power he threatens to de­ stroy himself. Those who expect a pious an­ swer will be surprised, perhaps jolted. Instead of renouncing power, Guardini approves of it. Indeed, he contends it is man's right, as well as duty, to exercise sovereignty over the world. But this sovereignty must be used realistically. It must have re­ spect for things as they are, and the realization that among the realities of life is man's spirit, which alone is free to determine the use of power for good or evil. Jacket

art

by Carl Merschel

POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY A Course of Action for the New Age

by

ROMANO GUARDINI Tr411Si4ted by EuN:o11 C. BRIEFS

HENRY REGNERY COMPANY CHICAGO

1961

First published in German as Die Macht: Verrucb einer IVeg'IDBis!mg, copyright 1951 by Werkbund-Verlag, Wiinburg.

This English translation @ Henry Regnery Company 1¢1. Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress Catalog No.

Msor. ]. Cardina.l

61-7¢3.

Genld Kealy. CIIIJor DrprA.,tU. Nihil Obstm: Rt. Rev. lmpritlust��r: Albert Mcyc:r, S.T.D., S.S.L., kcbi•piuoPm Chit&t&irn.si.r, October 27, 19613,

To my brother ALEARDO

ACKNOWLEDGEl\lEI\'T Except for a few places where the older translations are more appropriate, the Biblical quotations used in this tramlati011 are in the translation of M011signor Ronald A. Knox, Copyright 11)44, 1�48 tmd 1�50 Sheed and Ward, Inc., New York. Permission to use the Knox translation was

given by His Emi1le1lce the

Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

xi

THE E.ssENCE oF PoWER THEoLOGICAL CoNCEPT OF PoWER THE U: