A Catholic Hölderlin? An alternative reading by Guardini and Przywara

It is common to associate Friedrich Hölderlin with Martin Heidegger. The latter not only contributed to the twentieth-century revival of interest in the work of Hölderlin but also extended the influence of this poet beyond the confines of literature. However, despite its undeniable significance, the Heideggerian interpretation of Hölderlin is not the only one possible. This article shows that, around the time Heidegger was working on this author, two Catholic theologians, Romano Guardini and Erich Przywara, also published their own work on the poet. It is clear that alongside the “Heideggerian Hölderlin,” there is also a “Catholic Hölderlin.” The Catholic interpretation of this author shares many similarities with that of Heidegger, and yet there are a few notable differences. Like Heidegger, Guardini, and Przywara viewed Hölderlin as offering an antidote to the challenges of modernity. Unlike him, however, they also found in Hölderlin a poetic expression of their analogical and theological thought-forms. This Catholic reading of Hölderlin enriches our understanding of Hölderlin and provides us with a symbolic and analogical worldview that is worth recovering.