Vorlage:1961 Rezensionen Die Macht

• [1961-000] [Englisch] Clifford M. Drury: Rezension zu: Guardini, Power and Responsibility, in: The Christian Century, 78, 1961, 13. September, S. 1082 f. [neu aufgenommen] – [Rezension] - https://books.google.de/books?id=KolNAk11LCIC
  • S. 1082 f.: „WIDELY KNOWN in Europe as a lecturer and author, Romano Guardini is also a professor at the University of Munich. In this timely and stimulating book he deals with the great dilemma confronting man how to master the power he has discovered before being destroyed by it. Exploring the connection between man and power, Guardini traces it back to the Garden of Eden; he sees the essence of the first temptation as involving the right or wrong exercise of power given by God. His main emphasis is that if man forsakes his religious and ethical moorings, he places himself at the mercy of power: "Nothing corrupts purity of character and the lofty qualities of the soul more than power." Today's tragedy is that while man is gaining more and more power, at the same time he is "removing himself farther and farther from the norms which spring from the truth of being and from the demands of goodness and holiness." In his concluding chapter, "Possibilities of Action," Guardini argues that the only solution is to call man "to accept the full measure of responsibility," and to this end schools, universities and the church must work together. Before man can control power he must first control himself. The author commends a new asceticism as a step in self-mastery, an asceticism which is "the refusal to capitulate,“ the determination to fight the forces of barbarism „at the key bastion – namely in ourselves.“ The author´s honorific use of the term „asceticism“ is understandable in view of the fact that he writes as a devout Roman Catholic. In any case, his book comes with a message for all Christians."