The following are the ten books of Theology that the theologian Juan Luis Lorda considers most important in the 19th and especially in the 20th centuries. In his opinion, it is worth reading them, or at least getting to know them.
"Sometimes you can't read a book in its entirety," he says, "but you can at least have a relationship with it, have it located, know what it's about, have read something, that helps a lot," says the professor from the University of Navarra. The comments are taken from Professor Lorda's video. This is their relationship.
1) 'Grammar of Assent', John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Newman has many important books, but the most important is perhaps 'Grammar of Assent'. It is important because "it is a wonderful book, and a very difficult one, about faith, the motives of faith". It may not be easy to read at first, but it is worth knowing. The book had a great influence on Chesterton (1874-1936). When Chesterton explains why he was converted, he points to "a convergence of reasons", which "is exactly what 'Grammar of Assent' is talking about".
It's easier 'Apologia pro Vita SuaThis is basically a defense of his life and his approach to the Catholic Church, his incorporation into it. "Faced with an objection - that he had been disloyal, self-serving - Newman recounts his life, which is a life of faith, where the Lord shows himself to him". Perhaps it is a similar biography, of importance, in the 19th century, "to the one that has been that of saint Augustine, 'The Confessions', older, precious, worth reading, of course."
2) 'Introduction to Christianity', Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) (1927-2022)
The figure of Joseph Ratzinger has had historical importance, and is gaining importance. Fifty years ago, if one were to ask which was the most important and significant theologian of the twentieth century, the answer is Joseph Ratzinger. Because he has a very complete work, although there are others who have worked more academically.
But when it comes down to it, Joseph Ratzinger, with the stages of his life, as a professor, as a bishop, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with a series of very important conferences, and then as Pope, has a very singular career. He has always been a theologian, everything he has done has been interesting. The book, from 1967 but very current, has an introductory character, for those who want to situate themselves.
3) 'The Essence of Christianity', Romano Guardini
The author reflects on the essence of Christianity, which has a doctrine, a morality, a cult. But what is the most important thing? "The center, the essence of Christianity is a person, a living person, who is Jesus Christ our Lord," Juan Luis Lorda picks up on Guardini's words. "In Him is what Christianity is. He says it: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life'".
Another central book by Guardini is 'World and personwhich reads very well. Juan Luis Lorda also mentions two books on liturgy. 'The spirit of the liturgy', by the same author, Guardini, and 'Theology of the liturgy'.by Joseph Ratzinger, now included in his Collected Works.
4) 'God and us', Jean Danièlou
He says a lot in very few pages. "Jean Daniélou had a great capacity to synthesize, and he knew a lot," says theologian Lorda. To speak of the Christian God, he explains the God of religions, the God of philosophers, the God of the Old Testament, who made himself present to Abraham, the God of Jesus Christ, manifested in Christ, the God of the Church - how the Christian doctrine of God was constructed - the God of the mystics, the experience of God lived by Christians....
5) 'Catholicism', Henri de Lubac
Historically, it has had a lot of importance, emphasizes Juan Luis Lorda. De Lubac only wanted to emphasize that Christianity has a social aspect, it is lived within a society, the Church. A society that is the Body of Christ. And he emphasizes this by taking quotes from the Fathers. With this, he was doing, without realizing it, an ecclesiology, a treatise on the Theology of the Fathers, which had not been done, and in those years, was not very well known. For many, the book was the discovery of how the ancient Fathers of the Church thought about the Church.
Then, he ordered and published 'Meditations on the Church', also very nice, he points out.
6) 'Disunited Christians', Yves M. Congar (1904-1995)
Congar is a pioneer in ecumenism. The book gathers the principles of a Catholic ecumenism. "The position of the Church in this aspect has changed a little. It has gone from 'guarding borders' against others, to an attempt at dialogue, thinking about what the Lord wants." "This is summarized in the Second Vatican Council, and he owes a lot to Congar because he has studied it".
The Holy Spirit is also a very important book by Congar. He compiles in the book all the important questions about the Holy Spirit. Although it is not systematic and orderly, everything he says is interesting, with a historical flavor.
7) 'Glory', Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)
Von Balthasar has bequeathed to 20th century Theology above all his trilogy, although it has much more. It is centered on a great argument. Which is, in short, the following: 'Glory', the glory of God, the beauty of God, which has been manifested in the self-giving of the Son, who has gone so far as to die. That manifests the beauty of God's love, which is capable of that. That abasement and that surrender.
"Balthasar is a very German author, although he was Swiss, who wants to put 'everything in everything', I usually say that about him, which has a reading difficulty, everything is huge," Lorda explains.
8) 'Orthodoxy', and 'The Eternal Man', G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
Chesterton is, like C.S. Lewis, a great apologist for the faith. There are two books by Chesterton from the point of view of Theology. One is 'Orthodoxy', which describes the reasons for his conversion, using the same argument as Newman: "many converging reasons". For the testimony, the verisimilitude, the reasonableness he puts on many things in the world, etc.
The first part of 'The Eternal Man' deals with the great contribution of Christianity to the world, in the face of rationalist, agnostic criticism. The second part deals with salvation through Jesus Christ. A few months later, C.S. Lewis read it, and it was very important for his conversion, as he himself says.
9) 'Mere Christianity', C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
He has helped many converts, especially in the Anglo-Saxon area. Many quote him. Lewis was concerned with "retelling" things well. That is, to translate them into a language that is understood, without altering them. With the literary talent he had, the book has done a lot of good. Personally, says Lorda, I have been more impressed by other books, such as 'The Abolition of Man', which conveys the experience of natural law.
10) 'Mary in Scripture and in the Church', Cándido Pozo (1925-2011)
Perhaps it does not have the universal impact of others to which the author has referred. But Juan Luis Lorda assures that this book by Jesuit professor Candido Pozo explains Marian theology very well. In addition, it completes well, in the list he has made, the answer to the question of who Mary is in the life of the Church.
To conclude, it may be useful to listen to the last minute of the video, where Professor Lorda refers to a Theology of the Bible.
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