Ezra's Bookshelf

Power And Responsibility

by Romano Guardini

PhilosophyReligion & Spirituality

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Romano Guardini, a Catholic theologian who influenced both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, examines how modern human beings understand themselves and their relationship to power. Writing after World War II, Guardini observed that technological power had expanded beyond humanity's moral capacity to control it. He traces how modern thought detached power from responsibility, treating nature as raw material for human projects rather than a creation with inherent meaning. Guardini argues for recovering an understanding of human beings as responsible moral agents, accountable not only to each other but to the Creator whose image they bear. The book addresses philosophy, politics, and spirituality, examining how the loss of transcendent reference points leaves power without guidance. For readers interested in Catholic social thought, the relationship between technology and ethics, or philosophical critiques of modernity, Guardini provides a serious alternative to both naive progressivism and nostalgic reaction.

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