Luigi Giussani - Böcker

Father Luigi Giussani engaged tirelessly in educational initiatives throughout the course of his life. Much of his thought was communicated through the richness and rhythm of oral discourse, preserved as audio and video recordings in the archive of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation in Milan.This volume presents the last three spiritual exercises of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, drawing from the transcripts of these recordings. In these exercises Giussani investigates the rise of ethics and the decline of ontology that have accompanied modernity and the spread of rationalism. Bearing up against old age and illness, he resisted the urge to withdraw, instead finding new avenues of communication and the technological means to reach all corners of the movement. To Give One's Life for the Work of Another explores the nature of God, the powerful human experience of self-awareness, and the fundamental components of Christianity, in the unmistakable voice of a consummate teacher.At a time when young people are abandoning the church and questioning the value of faith, Father Giussani's method of judging and verifying Christianity as an experience is a timeless intervention.

The Religious Sense, the fruit of many years of dialogue with students, is an exploration of the search for meaning in life. Luigi Giussani shows that the nature of reason expresses itself in the ultimate need for truth, goodness, and beauty. These needs constitute the fabric of the religious sense, which is evident in every human being everywhere and in all times. So strong is this sense that it leads one to desire that the answer to life’s mystery might reveal itself in some way.Giussani challenges us to penetrate the deepest levels of experience to discover our essential selves, breaking through the layers of opinions and judgments that have obscured our true needs. Asserting that all the tools necessary for self-discovery are inherent within us, he focuses primarily on reason, not as narrowly defined by modern philosophers, but as an openness to existence, a capacity to comprehend and affirm reality in all of its dimensions.Part of the so-called new religious revival, The Religious Sense avoids any sentimental or irrational reduction of the religious experience. It is a forthright and refreshing call to reassess our lives. In this revised edition, John Zucchi offers a new translation of this seminal and best-selling work.

The Religious Sense, the fruit of many years of dialogue with students, is an exploration of the search for meaning in life. Luigi Giussani shows that the nature of reason expresses itself in the ultimate need for truth, goodness, and beauty. These needs constitute the fabric of the religious sense, which is evident in every human being everywhere and in all times. So strong is this sense that it leads one to desire that the answer to life's mystery might reveal itself in some way.Giussani challenges us to penetrate the deepest levels of experience to discover our essential selves, breaking through the layers of opinions and judgments that have obscured our true needs. Asserting that all the tools necessary for self-discovery are inherent within us, he focuses primarily on reason, not as narrowly defined by modern philosophers, but as an openness to existence, a capacity to comprehend and affirm reality in all of its dimensions.Part of the so-called new religious revival, The Religious Sense avoids any sentimental or irrational reduction of the religious experience. It is a forthright and refreshing call to reassess our lives. In this revised edition, John Zucchi offers a new translation of this seminal and best-selling work.

In At the Origin of the Christian Claim Luigi Giussani examines Christ’s claim to identify himself with the mystery that is the ultimate answer to our search for the meaning of existence.If we accept the hypothesis that the mystery entered the realm of human existence and spoke in human terms, Giussani argues, the relationship between the individual and God is no longer based on a moral, imaginative, or aesthetic human effort but instead on coming upon an event in one’s life. Thus the religious method is overturned by Christ: in Christianity it is no longer the person who seeks to know the mystery but the mystery that makes himself known by entering history.At the Origin of the Christian Claim, newly revised by John Zucchi, presents an intriguing argument supported with ample documentation from the gospels and other theological writings.

Giussani begins by focusing on the Church as a community composed of people who are aware of themselves as defined by the gift of the Spirit, from which they derive a new conception of existence, the fruit of conversion. He then describes the Church's developing self-awareness of its dual elements of the human and divine. Concerned with verifying the Church's claim to embody Christ, Giussani situates the locus of verification in human experience, arguing that a different type of life is born in those who try to live the life of the Church. Why the Church? is a seminal study that will engage both the scholar and the general reader.

As a young priest, Luigi Giussani was troubled by Catholicism's inability to effectively deal with secularism or laicism. In 1954 he began to develop a vision of faith rooted in experience. His ideas resonated with students and led to the birth of the Gioventù Studentesca (Student Youth) movement. Known today as Communion and Liberation, the movement is flourishing in Italy and around the world, including Canada, the United States, Brazil, Uganda, and Britain. The Journey to Truth Is an Experience is the first English translation of Il Cammino al vero è un'esperienza, Giussani's early works on the Christian experience, written from 1959-64. It begins with a guide on how to live the Christian life within the Student Youth community, followed by a call to base one's relationship with Christ on the example set by the apostles and other figures in the New Testament. Giussani concludes by outlining the movement's mission and the possibility for community, charity, and communion in the Christian life.

Generating Traces in the History of the World is a synthesis of Monsignor Luigi Giussani's reflection on the Christian experience. His exploration of Christianity as an unforeseen and unforeseeable event in which the mystery became a man reveals how, by acknowledging this fact, an individual is simultaneously able to use reason and be moved by affection. Discussing the ways in which Christ continues to be present in history through the companionship of those whom He joins to himself in Baptism, Giussani illuminates how a sense of Christ's mercy can overcome negativity and encourage a useful life. A profound and moving work, Generating Traces in the History of the World will interest all those who have been inspired by Giussani's thought.

This volume is a selection of the most significant writings by Monsignor Luigi Giussani, founder of the Italian Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation, which is practised in eighty countries around the world. Presented by Julián Carrón, Giussani's successor as head of Communion and Liberation, Christ, God's Companionship with Man is the most succinct introduction to the breadth of Giussani's thought, including memorable passages from works such as The Journey to Truth Is an Experience, At the Origin of the Christian Claim, Why the Church?, Generating Traces in the History of the World, and Is It Possible to Live This Way? Many speak of Giussani as a friendly presence, a man who believed that it was possible to live in faith every day and in any circumstance. As a writer and religious scholar who was deeply devoted to his work, Giussani's teachings and reflections have come to generate worldwide recognition and support. Revealing that spirituality and community can be found in ordinary ways, Christ, God's Companionship with Man will inspire all who read it.