nothingness. In Delp’s view, in this philosophical system, the person “has nowhere to look beyond” him- or herself. He writes, “Behind [them] lies the nothingness of [their] origin. Before [them] lies [their] future,” which consists of decay, a sinking, and dying into death.”26 Consequently, existence is “hollowed-out,” devoid of depth and substance.27 For Delp, Heidegger’s philosophy left the question of one’s existence unfulfilled. Existence was narrowed or reduced to a finitude, only directed downward into a nothingness.28
Nonetheless, Heidegger, according to Delp, attempted to put forth a reason or a positive attitude for life despite the dread and finitude—“even if [one’s actions] are doomed, there will be a proud ending based on a clear knowledge and firm will!”29 Here, the German Jesuit charged Heidegger with bringing forth this philosophy into the hearts of young men and women, encouraging them to find the strength and determination to master and to overcome the nihilism of their existence. This approach corrupted persons, who “must live and die without dignity in the midst of a chaotic and desperate time.”30 This proposed ethos, according to Delp, was ultimately tragic because the appeal to live with resoluteness is one great deception in the face of anxiety and nothingness.31 Delp pronounced Heidegger’s worldview and way of being to be an “existence out of nothing, a heroism of finiteness! The gruesome attempt of our existence is always built and christened in a multitude of forms, only to founder again and again in a thousand shipwrecks!”32 That is, Heidegger’s will-to-live was without reason, substance, or purpose. Heidegger, for Delp, did not adequately solve the question of the meaning of existence.
In Delp’s analysis, Heidegger posited a worldview that holds no center or grounding; it was entirely horizontal or secular. As such, this philosophy merely corresponded to the ethos of the time, wherein men and women undergo anxiety, confusion, and the loss of self.33 Life was something to be suffered; a lonely world arose. Delp wrote of Heidegger’s philosophy:
This Being-in-the-world is dominated by a tremendous inner pessimism, whose most significant achievement is nothing more than possessing the courage “Yes” to the crash into nothingness. This tragic busy world of ours is a lonely world. The only community of existence is the man of everyday decay.34
There remained only a distressing anxiety. Delp concluded that in Heidegger’s philosophy, the creature would attempt to replace or usurp God in a titanist fashion and the meaning of existence would be sought solely within oneself. As a result, life was reduced to a solipsism or a monism, tempting the human person to be like God and inducing a breakdown of the real difference between the Creator and the creature.35
According to Delp, a philosophy that immanentized the world could not lead contemporary humanity out of its crisis of meaning. It told persons that what brought them liberation was the recognition of the inherency of “guilt, decay, arbitrariness, loneliness, and anxiety”36 in life, and the decision to live as if there was nothing beyond life. In a world without a divine foundation, the person “who conquers pain and fear will become a god himself.”37 Delp referred to this alluring but reductive view of existence as a “titanic finitism,” wherein the human person’s freedom decided everything. Delp wrote, “Titanic finitism: this is the thinking of the time; the project of the day.”38 The solipsism or titanism in Heidegger’s philosophy, in Delp’s view, would not bring persons to genuine flourishing. The pessimistic individual existence meant that persons would be unable to find meaning in the relationship with others, especially the Absolute Other—God, who was the ground and goal of existence. From a Christian view, Delp asserted, “the tragedy” of Heidegger’s philosophy and our time was that “one does not encounter humanity because one does not find God, and one does not find God because one has no humanity.”39
The key for genuine living, for Delp, consisted in encountering the center that transcended finitude and connected all life. If people could find and return themselves to this center, who was God, then persons could overcome the crisis of the contemporary time. This center, which grounded and related all things, enabled persons to find a new depth of meaning in all things, including misfortunes, hardship, and even death. For Delp, a relationship with God offered the security and assurance that life was not condemned to creaturely freedom in the face of a cold, arbitrary existence. He wrote, “Where existence is liberated from a tragic worldview, then whoever loses his [or her] life, will find it again overflowing.”40
The immediate reaction to Delp’s first academic work was modest in the face of a growing totalitarian state and impending war.41 Heidegger, who during this time was a member of the Nazi Party and the rector of Freiburg University, did not respond. Later criticisms rebuked Delp for taking a condemnatory and moralistic approach to Heidegger’s project. The war and the execution of Delp interrupted the discussion of the first engagement of Heidegger’s philosophy from the Catholic side. Even though his work on Heidegger was considered to be an early and immature grasp of a formidable system by a young scholar, Delp’s grappling with Heidegger’s thought was significant insofar as it represented another crucial stage in his intellectual progression. As he attempted after his criticism of Heidegger, Delp often returned to engage the anxiety of contemporary humankind, created by the crisis of meaning, and to confront the false paths taken by men and women that lead them away from God and their fellow human beings.
While in philosophy studies, in addition to engrossing himself in studying the philosophy of Heidegger, Delp also showed a loved of history, particularly the history of politics and political change. He also enjoyed academic debates with his classmates and showed a keen interest in the new social teaching of the church, which had emerged with Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Delp was to become an expert in this field, especially in matters concerning Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (In the Fortieth Year).42 One of his Jesuit brothers, Josef Neuner described Delp as a man of enormous energy—someone who threw himself into books and possessed a deep and intense prayer life.43 Such interests in politics, justice, and prayer, while a young Jesuit, help set the foundation for Delp’s ardent love of God and love of neighbor amid the Nazi oppression and persecution. In the political turmoil in Germany of the 1920s and 1930s, Delp was also sensitively aware of the changing political events. Toward the end of his letter to his brother Ewald, dated September 4, 1930, Delp appealed:
Keep your spirits up. On September 14, perform your civic duty.44 If the Christian parties are not careful during these years, you can visit your brother in exile in a few years. If certain political movements get the majority, they will come for us first with a knife. If you can, support the Centre Party and Brüning’s election campaign.45
This letter revealed both Delp's political leanings and trepidation for Germany’s future.46
Regency and The Eternal Advent
As a regent at Stella Matutina, Delp found the ministries of teaching, being a prefect, and chaperoning to be successful matches for his creative, restless energy. One of his successes entailed writing and directing three melancholic one-act plays performed by and for the young men on December 21, 1933. The three together are called the Eternal Advent titled, respectively: The Dead Soldiers, The Mineworkers, and The Worker Priest. 47 The first play deals with six soldiers who are sentries, isolated from their base and facing an enemy attack. The second involves five miners who are trapped in a collapsed tunnel and confronted with death. The third play concerns a priest who tries to mediate the dispute between a factory owner and revolutionary workers before the Christmas holidays, though the priest eventually gets assaulted by the workers. In these one-act plays, the anxiety, the arbitrariness, and the sinfulness of the human condition accosting the characters is an aesthetical and dramatic embodiment of Delp’s intellectual grappling with Heidegger’s philosophy.
In the tradition of Jesuit theater, the drama of Delp’s plays presented
