Hildebrand Press

In Defense of Purity

Paperback · ISBN 9781939773036 · Foreword by Alice von Hildebrand

$17.99 USD

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A probing meditation on the nature, value, and beauty of purity. First published in 1927, this is neither a manual of sexual ethics nor a how-to guide, but a transformative reflection for the open-minded reader. It anticipated many pressing issues of our own day and shaped Karol Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility and the Theology of the Body. Foreword by Alice von Hildebrand, preface by Leo Scheffczyk.

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How presumptuous it is to try to treat of such a subject…when great books (like Dietrich von Hildebrand’s In Defense of Purity) have been written on the subject.

This book is possibly the best introduction to Hildebrand’s philosophy I have encountered, but it has great content for those already familiar with his works as well. It is well suited both to a scholarly audience and to general readers. Hildebrand tackles many common errors in the sphere of sexual thought, while building up a rich description of the virtue of purity.

In Defense of Purity is one of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s smaller works, yet for this very reason it became a jewel in the hands of this master of thought and word.

I have never read a book on this topic that is so applicable to a modern reader’s viewpoint.

This little book on the nature and importance of purity is packed with insights and shows Hildebrand’s genius in phenomenological analysis of Catholic moral thought.”

The book is a meditation on the depth and mystery of sex. In contrast to his contemporaries, who emphasized the dangers of impurity and sin, von Hildebrand’s account is grounded in the beauties of purity and virtue.

Dietrich von Hildebrand’s reverence toward the world and his rich moral seriousness are, as always, inspiring and eye-opening – he makes you feel (and in some measure perceive) that human sexuality is beautiful, valuable, deep, demanding, and joyous.

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.