released 2/21/2025
In this 2016 lecture, Dr. John F. Crosby explores key personalist insights found in the thinking of John Henry Newman and Romano Guardini. After a brief look at some varieties of personalism — each of which is opposed to a particular evil — Crosby discusses Newman’s particular resistance against the pretensions of extreme rationalism. Newman distinguished between nominal and real assent, arguing that real apprehension of an idea or a person not only satisfies reason but “makes the human heart expand.” Guardini’s contributions to personalism included the insight that we need to recover, or recollect, ourselves so we can be present to ourselves, to God, and to one another. Crosby also explains Guardini’s thoughts on how one life profoundly influences another and on how God honors and respects us as persons.
This lecture is provided courtesy of The Hildebrand Project. The full title of the lecture is “Fundamental Ideas of Personalism: John Henry Newman and Romano Guardini.”
The entire text of Newman’s sermon mentioned by Ken in his opening remarks to this Feature may be found here.
60 minutes
PREVIEW