Explorations in Theology, vol. 1: The Word Made Flesh
Overview
The first of four volumes of Balthasar’s many essays and conferences. Each focuses on a specific aspect of theology or spirituality and presents it with all the richness which comes from his immense erudition, but in a style that is directed and intelligible since few of these essays were intended for scholarly audiences.
Having this volume in Logos gives you unprecedented ways to study the theology of Balthasar. With just a click, you can perform powerful word studies, explore cross-references and footnotes, open theological dictionaries, encyclopedias, lectionaries, the Church Fathers, and much more.
- Unveils a thorough synopsis of Balthasar’s theological thought
- Links every cross-reference to the Church Fathers and to other works of Balthasar
- Presents practical and invigorating theological ideas
- Word and Revelation
- The Word, Scripture and Tradition
- The Word and History
- The Implications of the Word
- God Speaks As Man
- Revelation and the Beautiful
- The Word and Silence
- Word and Redemption
- The Place of Theology
- Characteristics of Christianity
- Theology and Sanctity
- Spirituality
- Action and Contemplation
- Christian Universalism
- Some Points of Eschatology
Top Highlights
“Revelation then is effected partly before the writing, partly in the actual writing; in other words, scripture participates in God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ through the Spirit.” (Page 13)
“We take this word ‘theology’ in its widest sense, as the understanding of the truth delivered for our belief, and this presupposes the application of reason and a striving to live by it.” (Page 120)
“it is always the function of a given epoch to make itself receptive to the art of the Holy Spirit” (Page 126)
“As time went on, theology at prayer was superseded by theology at the desk, and this brought about the cleavage now under discussion. ‘Scientific’ theology became more and more divorced from prayer, and so lost the accent and tone with which one should speak of what is holy, while ‘affective’ theology, as it became increasingly empty, often degenerated into unctious, platitudinous piety. It was in this way responsible for the parallel decline in Christian art, which threatens to disintegrate into a ‘modern’ realism devoid of awe and reverence, and on the other hand into a romanticism remote from reality.” (Page 208)
“In its head it has already emerged into the divine light, and the Church glorious in heaven, suffering in purgatory and struggling on earth is a single body; the individual Christian too is conscious of sharing in the continual transformation from the darkness of this world into the light of the next.” (Page 109)
Hans Urs von Balthasar was a theologian who placed his research at the service of the Church, because he was convinced that theology could be defined only in terms of ecclesiality. Theology, as he conceived of it, must be joined with spirituality; indeed, only in this way could it be profound and effective. . . . These are words that prompt us to reconsider the true position of research in theology. The demand for scientific method is not explorations theology sacrificed when theological research is carried on in a religious spirit of listening to the Word of God, when it is alive with the life of the Church and shares in the strength of her Magisterium. Spirituality does not attenuate the work of scholarship, but rather supplies theological study with the correct method so that it can arrive at a coherent interpretation.
Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) was a Swiss theologian, considered to be one of the most important Catholic intellectuals and writers of the twentieth century. He studied in Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich, and completed his doctorate in German literature in 1928. Incredibly prolific and diverse, he wrote over one hundred books and hundreds of articles. Although the Balthasar’s studies are diverse and scattered, his theology and philosophies are stirring, practical, and profound. He was drawn towards the spiritual and mystical theology of the Church Fathers, deferring to Scripture and patristic writers to answer modernist and neo-scholastic questions. During his life, he was both a diocesan priest and a Jesuit instructor. He was nominated to be a cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II himself, but Balthasar died two days before his ceremony.