It was the beauty of supernatural values which first touched my husband’s soul, stirred within it love and longing, and brought him into the Church; it is just this beauty that he eloquently celebrates in Transformation in Christ.

Transformation in Christ reveals the splendor of God through the majesty of created things

Much as Transformation in Christ deserves to be compared to The Imitation of Christ, there is, however, an important difference between these two works which share the very same aim: to help the soul on her path to holiness. For whereas The Imitation of Christ (particularly in its first three books) stresses the dangers that natural goods constitute for man on his way to God, Transformation in Christ—while fully acknowledging these dangers—shows how these goods, if properly understood as being reflections of God’s infinite goodness and beauty, can actually lead us closer to Him by being used as stepping stones leading to Him.

From this point of view, Transformation in Christ is strongly marked by the spirit of St. Francis who understood nature and creation to be singers of the glory of the Great King. Created by God’s bounty, natural goods are to be loved—but God is to be loved more. That is to say, all created goods should be loved not above God, not outside of God, not apart from God, but in God, and should kindle our loving gratitude toward Him as the Giver of all gifts. Indeed, heaven and earth are filled with the glory of the Lord, and are footprints of His greatness.

Transformation in Christ is deep but not complicated

At first sight, Transformation in Christ may strike the reader as a long and complicated book, written for a small minority of scholarly people. But this difficulty is only apparent. True, Transformation is written by a German, but a German born and raised in Italy, whose mind has been formed and benefited by the clarity of the Latin spirit. In fact, Transformation in Christ is luminous throughout, but like all great things, it calls for close and constant attention.

Too many are those who believe that a deep book must be complicated and therefore above the head of the average reader. But deep does not mean “complicated” and complication does not guarantee depth. It is true, there are books which hide the penury of their contents by using highly esoteric language which is not only confused but confusing as well. There are thinkers who major in this: their language is so tortuous, so ambiguous, that they cheat people into believing that their message is deep. But the reading of the greatest of all boob, the Gospel, should reveal to us that a book can be of sublime depth and yet be understood by any man whose heart is open to Truth.

Granted: Transformation in Christ was written by “an intellectual”—and even by one who had studied under some of the very great thinkers of this century (including Husserl, Scheler and Reinach). Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that Dietrich von Hildebrand put his intellectual talents in God’s service and that in writing this book, he wanted to address himself not to a few pundits, but to every Christian who is, like Daniel, “a man of longing.”