Towards a Model of Transnational Agency: the Case of Dietrich von Hildebrand

This article presents a study of the transnational agency of the German Catholic philosopher and intellectual Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977) in Germany during the inter-war period. Von Hildebrand's transnationalism was a reaction against the nationalist challenge to Catholic universalism. By way of an analysis of von Hildebrand's case, this study proposes a model of intentional transnational agency. Through communication and exchange, von Hildebrand attempted to form a transnational network of Catholic intellectuals in order to solidify Catholic transnational solidarity in opposition to the nationalisation of Catholic identity and mentality. Von Hildebrand's universal conception of the Catholic faith on the one hand and the Catholic Church as community on the other provided the universal principle into which a particular value, namely, the nation, was to be (re-)integrated.