Von Hildebrand Alice - In defense of purity: an analysis of the Catholic ideals of purity and virginity

In Defense of Purity

Dietrich von Hildebrand

Originally published in German as Reinheit und Jungfrulichkeit.

KlnMnchenWien: Oratoriums Verlag, 1927.

First English Edition:

London: Sheed & Ward, 1931.

Published 2017 by Hildebrand Press

1235 University Blvd., Steubenville, Ohio 43952

Copyright 2017 Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project

All rights reserved

Cataloguing-in-Publication Information

Von Hildebrand, Dietrich, 18891977, author.

[Reinheit und Jungfrulichkeit. English]

In defense of purity : an analysis of the Catholic ideals of purity and virginity / Dietrich von Hildebrand; foreword by Alice von Hildebrand; preface by Leo ScheffczykSixth edition.

pages cm

Includes index.

LCCN 2017942244

ISBN 978-1-939773-03-6

1. SexReligious aspectsCatholic Church.

2. VirginityReligious aspectsCatholic Church.

I. Von Hildebrand, Alice, writer of foreword. II. Scheffczyk, Leo, writer of preface. III. Translation of: Von Hildebrand, Dietrich, 18891977.

Reinheit und Jungfrulichkeit. German. IV. Title.

BV4647.C5V62 2017 241.66

QBI17-823

Book design by Mark McGarry, Texas Type & Book Works Set in Adobe Caslon

Cover design by Marylouise McGraw

Cover Image: Portrait of a Young Woman, by Sandro Botticelli, in the Stdel of Frankfurt, Germany. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Front Cover Font: Circular Bold by Lauren Brunner

www.hildebrandproject.org

Contents

Dietrich von Hildebrand

Dietrich von Hildebrand was born in Florence in 1889, and studied philosophy under Adolf Reinach, Max Scheler, and Edmund Husserl. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1914. He distinguished himself with many publications in moral philosophy, in social philosophy, in the philosophy of the interpersonal, and in aesthetics. He taught in Munich, Vienna, and New York. In the 1930s, he was one of the strongest voices in Europe against Nazism. He died in New Rochelle, New York in 1977.

Hildebrand Project

We advance the rich tradition of Christian personalism, especially as developed by Dietrich von Hildebrand and Karol Wojtyla (Pope St. John Paul II), in the service of intellectual and cultural renewal.

Our publications, academic programs, and public events introduce the great personalist thinkers and witnesses of the twentieth century. Animated by a heightened sense of the mystery and dignity of the human person, they developed a personalism that sheds new light on freedom and conscience, the religious transcendence of the person, the relationship between individual and community, the love between man and woman, and the life-giving power of beauty. We connect their vision of the human person with the great traditions of Western and Christian thought, and draw from their personalism in addressing the deepest needs and aspirations of our contemporaries. For more information, please visit: www.hildebrandproject.org

Editorial Board

General Editor: John F. Crosby

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Rmi Brague

University of Paris, Sorbonne, Emeritus Romano Guardini Chair of Philosophy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Emeritus

Rocco Buttiglione

John Paul II Chair for Philosophy and History of European Institutions Pontifical Lateran University

Antonio Calcagno

Kings University College at The University of Western Ontario

Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz

Technische Universitt Dresden, Emerita Hochschule Heiligenkreuz

Dana Gioia

Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture University of Southern California

John Haldane

University of St. Andrews Baylor University

Alice von Hildebrand

Widow of Dietrich von Hildebrand

Joseph Koterski, SJ

Fordham University

Sir Roger Scruton

Writer and Philosopher

Josef Seifert

Edith Stein Institute of Philosophy, Granada, Spain

D. C. Schindler

Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family Washington, DC

Christoph Cardinal Schnborn

Archbishop of Vienna

Fritz Wenisch

University of Rhode Island

* Student of Dietrich von Hildebrand

Special Thanks

We gratefully acknowledge the vision and generosity of the many friends who have supported the publication of this book.

EXTRAORDINARY SUPPORT

The Catholic Association Foundation Alice von Hildebrand Robert L. Luddy Patricia C. Lynch James N. Perry, Jr.

PATRONS

Daniel and Teresa Cotter Madeline L. Cottrell Julia Harrison Robert Kreppel H. Kimberly Lukens Charles A. Mastronardi Foundation Jeffrey and Mary Petrino

BENEFACTORS

John F. Cannon Rafael Madan and Lilian Casas Foundation Allison Coates and Joshua Kneubuhl Geoff and Lauren Gentile Edward and Alice Ann Grayson Patrick J. Hart Richard and Vera Hough Timothy J. Joyce John Kelly Franco S. Madan William and Robin Mureiko Kevin and Dawn OScannlain Martha Reichert Stanley Stillman

FRIENDS

Rev. Ryan J. Adams Tessa Breen JA & A Brennan family, Australia Andrew Cannon Sheila A. Conforti Andrea Corallo John and Claire Foster Fr. Andrew Fryml Arthur and Mariluz Giron Willard and Shirley Haley Jo-Ann M. Henry Roy and Elizabeth Heyne John Iverson Michael and Rebecca Matheson Miller Scott McCawley Gerard and Germana Mitchell Roberta De Monticelli Bartolom Ribas Ozonas and Elisabeth Wannieck Sattler Barbara Parrish Britt and Noah Riner Thomas W. Shaw Stan Sienkiewicz Rev. Robert F. Slesinski Madeleine F. Stebbins Martha A. Sullivan Jon Tveit Martn von Hildebrand Katherine Weir Fritz K. Wenisch Kent and Nancy Young

Foreword
By Alice von Hildebrand

Written to appear in this new edition of In Defense of Purity, by Dietrich von Hildebrand (Steubenville: Hildebrand Press, 2017).

RARELY DOES a book come along that takes up a perennial theme in such a fresh and unexpected way as to transform all subsequent discussion of the issues. This is one of those books. A concern for purity, especially purity of heart, of course, is as old as many ancient faiths, and common to most. But in this book, Dietrich von Hildebrand inaugurated a new approach to thinking about sex and how the body reveals the human person.