Theologian · Contemporary

Hans Urs von Balthasar

1905–1988 · Theological aesthetics; ressourcement

Catholic Latin

Swiss priest; left the Jesuits in 1950 to found the Community of St. John with Adrienne von Speyr; named cardinal 1988 but died two days before the consistory.

The author of the fifteen-volume trilogy (Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, Theo-Logic), which approaches revelation through beauty, dramatic freedom and truth, and of “Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?,” which argued that Christians may hope, though not assert, universal salvation. His theology of Holy Saturday, Christ's descent into the godforsakenness of the dead, drew on the mystical experiences of Adrienne von Speyr.

Why he matters: With Ratzinger and de Lubac the founder of Communio and the chief shaper of the “conservative” reception of Vatican II; his aesthetics and Marian ecclesiology have remade Catholic theology's imagination.

Where to be careful

His theology of Holy Saturday (Christ suffering the pains of the damned) departs from the traditional reading of the descent and has been seriously criticized (Alyssa Pitstick); his hope for universal salvation is disputed; his dependence on von Speyr's private revelations is a methodological concern.

Reading

Love Alone Is Credible

Hans Urs von Balthasar · The shortest entry into his whole project.

Journal
Dare We Hope 'That All Men Be Saved'?

Hans Urs von Balthasar · The disputed book on hell and hope.

Journal
The Glory of the Lord, vol. 1: Seeing the Form

Hans Urs von Balthasar · The foundation of the theological aesthetics.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology

Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology

How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing

Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing

Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes

Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes

Do natures and essences really exist? Realism

Nominalism Realism

God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity

Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity

How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way

Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way

Is 'being' said of God and of creatures in the same sense? Analogy of being

Analogy of being Univocity of being

How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges

Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism

Rationalism Fideism

Where does knowledge begin? Illumination and innate ideas

Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas

Is truth objective? Objective truth

Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving

A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving

Does doctrine develop? A living development

Always the same, in the same words A living development

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul

Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul

Is the body really you? Body–soul unity

Dualism Body–soul unity

Are you free? Free will

Determinism Free will

How fallen is human nature? Between

Totally depraved Basically good

Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God

Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God

The body and its desires Between

Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law

Person and community Between

Individualism Collectivism

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

What makes you this one and no other? A positive thisness (haecceity)

This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)

What is suffering for? A share in the Cross

An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law

Relativism Natural law

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude

Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude

What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth

Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The will's love and enjoyment of God

The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Molinist

Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace

Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace

Who can be saved? Between

Strict exclusivism Indifferentism

What is salvation for? Deification

Pardon and escape Deification

Hell and hope All will be saved

The many are lost All will be saved

Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)

Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? Between

The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Between

Laicism Social kingship of Christ

Reform or tradition? Guided by tradition

Remake by reason Guided by tradition

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically

Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically

Icons and images Veneration of images

Iconoclasm Veneration of images

The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer

Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation

The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy

Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy

What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato

Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato

The Second Vatican Council Between

Reject the Council A new beginning

When the Pope speaks Every word binds

Resist and judge Every word binds

Holy Orders and the Church's constitution A clerical Church

A clerical Church Reformable by the people

What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful

Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful