The Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project.

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Conference to explore newly translated work of Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand on the fundamental human question, “What is love?”

ROME, ITALY — Lauded by Pope Benedict XVI as one of the most prominent Christian thinkers of the twentieth century, the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project in collaboration with the department of philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross is hosting an intellectual gathering in Rome to explore the question “What is love?”

It’s aim is to bring together philosophers, theologians, psychologists, doctors, scientists, writers, and artists to unpack the original insights of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s most important philosophical work, The Nature of Love, published for the first time in English by the Hildebrand Project and St. Augustine’s Press.

The conference is also taking place under the supreme patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture, headed by Archbishop Ravasi, as well as by Christof Cardinal Shoenborn, Arhcbishop of Vienna, who serves as an honorary member of the Hildebrand Project’s board of advisors.

“We entitle our conference, The Christian Personalism of Dietrich von Hildebrand: Exploring His Philosophy of Love, because we want our study of his treatise on love to stand in the service of what he once called “the struggle for the person,” said Crosby, Founding Director of the Hildebrand Project.

Crosby went on to say, “We are organizing the conference on the assumption that one cannot make sense of the human person apart from his or her capacity for loving and being loved. To quote the late Pope John Paul II, ‘Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.’”

Keynote speakers include: Roberta Green Ahmanson, Joseph Bottum, Rocco Buttiglione
John F. Crosby, Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, Alice von Hildebrand, Charles Morerod OP, Michael Novak, Josef Seifert, Michael Waldstein, Robert Spaemann, and Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas.

Submitted papers will come from as far and as wide as Algeria, Russia, Poland, South America, Germany, Italy, England, and Austria. There is also an international graduate student essay contest associated with the conference, supported in part by the generous funding of the Earhart Foundation and Franciscan University of Steubenville, where the top submissions will be invited to present their papers at the conference.

The Hildebrand Project is proud to collaborate with organizations such as the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and the Acton Institute, both co-sponsors of the event, who see their participation as an extension of their own missions, as a means of enriching their own work through a careful study of the life and thought of Dietrich von Hildebrand.

The conference will be interdisciplinary in nature and have both a theoretical and an applied focus. Several sessions will be devoted to the importance of a proper understanding of love for psychotherapy and neurology, while others will look to Shakespeare and Mozart as they seek to unpack the aesthetic dimension of this all important human experience.

Pope Benedict XVI has been actively involved in the work of the Hildebrand Project since its founding, first by becoming an honorary member of the organization when still a Cardinal, and then by receiving Hildebrand Project Founder John Henry Crosby and Alice von Hildebrand, the late philosopher's wife, in a private audience to discuss the importance and future of their work within the church.

The conference will be broadcast live via the organization’s website www.hildebrandlegacy.org/rome.

Conference Details:

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross School of Philosophy
Piazza di Sant'Apollinare, 49
00186 Roma, Italy
May 27-29, 2010

To register for the conference, visit The Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project’s website at www.hildebrandlegacy.org/rome, or email conferences@hildebrandlegacy.org