The Threefold Garland
The Threefold Garland

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2012-09-27

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1681495627

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The renowned Swiss theologian offers in this little book very beautiful and practical reflections for praying and living the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. He makes the profound truths and events of our salvation take on a freshness and splendor by allowing the reader to enter his own contemplation of the mysteries. Von Balthasar's theology is a theology that does not read like theology, but one that derives from prayer and leads back to prayer. Contemplating each of the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries, with his focus on Jesus' giving himself for us - and Mary's part in it - Von Blathasar leads the reader to see that "Christian prayer can attain to God only along the path God himself has trod" - a God who not only addresses his Word to us, but makes it live among us. Von Balthasar says his meditations are designed to "free the prayer of the Rosary from a certain narrowness, alien to Mary's own spirit and easily leading to monotony, and to nourish it . . . with the fullness of God's saving thoughts and saving deeds for the world." "Von Balthasar's meditations can make the Rosary a living experience." - Spiritual Book News "For anyone looking for Rosary meditations, this book would be a first-rate choice." - Spirituality Today "No other book on the Rosary has such profound depth. It is a bouquet fragrant with the scent of a truly spiritual life. Its freshness will inspire you." - New Covenant

Deep Mysteries
Deep Mysteries

Author: Aidan Nichols OP

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-11-27

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 1978704844

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This study explores the way in which, by way of the Christian mysteries, divine action impacts human life. The triune God acts in Jesus Christ by means of historical events whose effects transcend time and which are mediated through their celebration in memorial and worship. Drawing on both Evangelical and Catholic writers, Nichols provides evidence that the general portrait of Jesus found in the Pauline letters and the four Gospels rests on reliable historical witness. On this basis, he offers a concise Christology which presents Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Messianic hope of the Old Testament; explores his unique being as laid out in the teaching of the great Ecumenical Councils of the first Christian millennium, and describes how the classic theologian of the Latin tradition, St Thomas Aquinas, sees the chief historical events of Christ’s life as affecting humanity throughout future time. Nichols then looks at the Christian concept of God – namely, Trinitarian monotheism. God so conceived can act efficaciously in the created order and does so by the deployment of his Word and Spirit in ways which express for a fallen, historical world, the dynamics of the interaction of the divine Persons in eternity – Persons who now draw human beings within their range. Those gains in understanding are then applied to the individual mysteries of the life of Christ, from his biological conception to his coming Parousia. For each mystery, Nichols describes a biblical preamble; an account of how the mystery is seen by the Liturgy and the Fathers of the Church; illumination from the three theological masters whom the author makes his own in this work – Aquinas, Balthasar and Bulgakov;- and a visual image drawn from the treasury of sacred art.

Divine Kenosis
Divine Kenosis

Author: Philip Krill

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2024-01-04

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13:

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To appreciate the theological genius of Hans Urs von Balthasar, we must note his inseparable connection with Adrienne von Speyr. Balthasar referred to Von Speyr as the inspirational source of his theological vision and literary achievements. Says Balthasar: ‘Her work and mine are neither psychologically nor philologically to be separated: two halves of a single whole, which has as its center a unique foundation’ (My Work: In Retrospect, 105, 89). This ‘unique foundation’ is a mystical apprehension of the immanent Life of the Trinity. At the heart of the Trinity, Balthasar and Speyr see a primordial Mystery of Kenosis, i.e., self-dis-possession. Balthasar terms this Trinitarian self-expropriation Ur-kenosis, since the self-emptying (kenosis) within the Trinity applies not only to Christ but also to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Father divests himself of himself in the begetting of his Son; the Holy Spirit is the fontal Power of self-abnegation (kenosis) within the Trinity, so ‘emptied of himself’ that he, as Spirit, is absolutely incognito. DIVINE KENOSIS is an attempt to draw attention to the neo-patristic synthesis and anagogical vision promoted by Han Urs von Balthasar and Adrienne von Speyr. It is also an extension of my personal mission to ‘promote a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer.’

Analyzing Prayer
Analyzing Prayer

Author: Oliver D. Crisp

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-07-14

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0192859048

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Analyzing Prayer draws together a range of theologians and philosophers to deal with different approaches to prayer as a Christian practice. The essays included deal with issues pertaining to petitionary prayer, prayer as reorientation of oneself in the presence of God, prayer by those who do not believe, liturgical prayer, mystical prayer, whether God prays, the interrelation between prayer and various forms of knowledge, theologizing as a form of prayer, lament and prayer, prayer and God's presence, and even prayer and the meaning of life. The volume contains cutting-edge studies on a neglected topic of theological study that contributes to the broadening of themes tackled by analytic theology.

Balthasar for Thomists
Balthasar for Thomists

Author: Aidan Nichols

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2020-07-01

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 164229134X

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Students of Catholic theology are often presented with a choice between two great masters: Thomas Aquinas and Hans Urs von Balthasar. What starts as a cordial difference in form and method often morphs into a bitter rivalry. Dominican theologian Father Aidan Nichols sees no need for competition. Balthasar for Thomists gives a panoramic view of Balthasar's thought and spirituality, unearthing many of his innumerable debts to Aquinas and providing context for their points of divergence. The enormous cultural project of Balthasar, writes Father Nichols, differs too much from St. Thomas' pedagogical one "to count as a rival to Thomism on the latter's own ground (and, of course, vice versa)". While constituting an original form of faithful Catholic thought, Balthasar's approach may be regarded as a synthesis of the influences of Thomas and his Franciscan contemporary St. Bonaventure. In its breadth, Balthasar for Thomists serves as a general introduction to Balthasar for those unacquainted with his profound and wide-ranging theology.

Roman Pilgrimage
Roman Pilgrimage

Author: George Weigel

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2013-10-29

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 0465074952

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A preeminent scholar of Catholicism transports readers to Rome for the traditional station churches pilgrimage, offering a vivid and informative guide to the Eternal City and the Lenten season. The annual Lenten pilgrimage to dozens of Rome's most striking churches is a sacred tradition dating back almost two millennia, to the earliest days of Christianity. Along this historic spiritual pathway, today's pilgrims confront the mysteries of the Christian faith through a program of biblical and early Christian readings amplified by some of the greatest art and architecture of western civilization. In Roman Pilgrimage, bestselling theologian and papal biographer George Weigel, art historian Elizabeth Lev, and photographer Stephen Weigel lead readers through this unique religious and aesthetic journey with magnificent photographs and revealing commentaries on the pilgrimage's liturgies, art, and architecture. Through reflections on each day's readings about faith and doubt, heroism and weakness, self-examination and conversion, sin and grace, Rome's familiar sites take on a new resonance. And along that same historical path, typically unexplored treasures-artifacts of ancient history and hidden artistic wonders-appear in their original luster, revealing new dimensions of one of the world's most intriguing and multi-layered cities. A compelling guide to the Eternal City, the Lenten Season, and the itinerary of conversion that is Christian life throughout the year, Roman Pilgrimage reminds readers that the imitation of Christ through faith, hope, and love is the template of all true discipleship, as the exquisite beauty of the Roman station churches invites reflection on the deepest truths of Christianity.

A Trinitarian Anthropology
A Trinitarian Anthropology

Author: Michele M. Schumacher

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2014-11-10

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 081322697X

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"Schumacker systematically exposits the Trinitarian theological anthropology of von Speyr, as it emerges through her vast corpus, in parallel with a development of the same theme in Balthasar's work. ... Finally, the volume exposits Aquinas's own doctrine on theological discourse, in view of initiating a dialogue wiwth his disciples." -- publisher's description.