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Against the Titans

Theology and the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp

Peter Nguyen

Modern history has been marked by the emergence of the figure of the titan, who yearns for self-mastery in the face of death and who denounces modernity’s tendency to reduce the individual to the lockstep of need and gratification. But what of those few who rejected the impulses of the titan, those militant desires to exert supremacy over all? The story recounted in Against the Titans: The Theology of the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp examines one martyr’s rejection of the titan’s perversion of heroism and sacrifice. The life of Delp, a Jesuit priest, embodied a Christian theology of martyrdom, articulated over against a virile fundamentalism that rejected divine sovereignty. As Peter Nguyen, S.J., shows, Delp opposed Ernst Jünger’s active nihilism by revealing a more authentic and no less demanding existence, one that came not from acquiring self-mastery, but rather from an emptying out of self — an indiferencia, an unselving — through a radical dependence upon God.

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Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 302 • Trim: 6½ x 9
978-1-9787-0477-0 • Hardback • June 2020 • $140.00 • (£108.00)
978-1-9787-0478-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / History, History / Europe / Germany, Philosophy / General, Religion / Christian Theology / Systematic
Peter Nguyen, S.J., is assistant professor of theology at Creighton University.
1. Alfred Delp’s Faith and Ministries

2. The Militant Appeal of Titanism

3. Against the Hypertrophy of Sacrifice

4. The Heart of Christ and the Theology of Kenosis

5. Pneumatic Existence

In this significant study Father Peter Nguyen presents a fine introduction to the life and thought of the twentieth-century Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp. Even more, he offers a moving and insightful analysis of Delp’s own painful spiritual maturation as he confronts anxiety and fear in a Nazi prison. Hence the book is not merely an historical exploration, but a penetrating theological discernment that makes Delp’s witness newly available to us as we seek, as disciples, to journey from darkness into the full light of Christ.


— Fr. Robert P. Imbelli, author of Rekindling the Christic Imagination


This fascinating book presents the witness of the German Jesuit and martyr Alfred Delp. Peter Nguyen provides an invaluable overview of Delp’s life and theology, making use of his sermons, essays, plays, journal entries and prison letters. Furthermore, Nguyen carefully locates Delp in his early twentieth-century intellectual context, convincingly contrasting him with the Promethean philosophy of Ernst Jünger. Nguyen also clarifies Delp’s rich, kenotic Christology with close reference to his contemporary Hans urs von Bathasar. This important book is an invitation to learn from Delp’s extraordinary witness and theology.


— Michael Mawson, Charles Sturt University


2/2/2021 - The National Catholic Register published a lengthy article about Alfred Delp, which praises the book and quotes correspondence from author Peter Nguyen. Link: https://www.ncregister.com/features/jesuit-vs-the-nazis-the-remarkable-witness-and-martyrdom-of-father-alfred-delp



Against the Titans

Theology and the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Modern history has been marked by the emergence of the figure of the titan, who yearns for self-mastery in the face of death and who denounces modernity’s tendency to reduce the individual to the lockstep of need and gratification. But what of those few who rejected the impulses of the titan, those militant desires to exert supremacy over all? The story recounted in Against the Titans: The Theology of the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp examines one martyr’s rejection of the titan’s perversion of heroism and sacrifice. The life of Delp, a Jesuit priest, embodied a Christian theology of martyrdom, articulated over against a virile fundamentalism that rejected divine sovereignty. As Peter Nguyen, S.J., shows, Delp opposed Ernst Jünger’s active nihilism by revealing a more authentic and no less demanding existence, one that came not from acquiring self-mastery, but rather from an emptying out of self — an indiferencia, an unselving — through a radical dependence upon God.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
    Pages: 302 • Trim: 6½ x 9
    978-1-9787-0477-0 • Hardback • June 2020 • $140.00 • (£108.00)
    978-1-9787-0478-7 • eBook • July 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / History, History / Europe / Germany, Philosophy / General, Religion / Christian Theology / Systematic
Author
Author
  • Peter Nguyen, S.J., is assistant professor of theology at Creighton University.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • 1. Alfred Delp’s Faith and Ministries

    2. The Militant Appeal of Titanism

    3. Against the Hypertrophy of Sacrifice

    4. The Heart of Christ and the Theology of Kenosis

    5. Pneumatic Existence
Reviews
Reviews
  • In this significant study Father Peter Nguyen presents a fine introduction to the life and thought of the twentieth-century Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp. Even more, he offers a moving and insightful analysis of Delp’s own painful spiritual maturation as he confronts anxiety and fear in a Nazi prison. Hence the book is not merely an historical exploration, but a penetrating theological discernment that makes Delp’s witness newly available to us as we seek, as disciples, to journey from darkness into the full light of Christ.


    — Fr. Robert P. Imbelli, author of Rekindling the Christic Imagination


    This fascinating book presents the witness of the German Jesuit and martyr Alfred Delp. Peter Nguyen provides an invaluable overview of Delp’s life and theology, making use of his sermons, essays, plays, journal entries and prison letters. Furthermore, Nguyen carefully locates Delp in his early twentieth-century intellectual context, convincingly contrasting him with the Promethean philosophy of Ernst Jünger. Nguyen also clarifies Delp’s rich, kenotic Christology with close reference to his contemporary Hans urs von Bathasar. This important book is an invitation to learn from Delp’s extraordinary witness and theology.


    — Michael Mawson, Charles Sturt University


Features
Features
  • 2/2/2021 - The National Catholic Register published a lengthy article about Alfred Delp, which praises the book and quotes correspondence from author Peter Nguyen. Link: https://www.ncregister.com/features/jesuit-vs-the-nazis-the-remarkable-witness-and-martyrdom-of-father-alfred-delp



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