Against the Titans: Theology and the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp

In this significant study Father Peter Nguyen presents a fine introduction to the life and thought of the twentieth-century Jesuit martyr Alfred Delp. Even more, he offers a moving and insightful analysis of Delp’s own painful spiritual maturation as he confronts anxiety and fear in a Nazi prison. Hence the book is not merely an historical exploration, but a penetrating theological discernment that makes Delp’s witness newly available to us as we seek, as disciples, to journey from darkness into the full light of Christ.

This fascinating book presents the witness of the German Jesuit and martyr Alfred Delp. Peter Nguyen provides an invaluable overview of Delp’s life and theology, making use of his sermons, essays, plays, journal entries and prison letters. Furthermore, Nguyen carefully locates Delp in his early twentieth-century intellectual context, convincingly contrasting him with the Promethean philosophy of Ernst Jünger. Nguyen also clarifies Delp’s rich, kenotic Christology with close reference to his contemporary Hans urs von Bathasar. This important book is an invitation to learn from Delp’s extraordinary witness and theology.