Theology and the Drama of History

Theology and the Drama of History

Author: Ben Quash

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-08-11

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1139446096

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How can theology think and talk about history? Building on the work of the major twentieth-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar as well as entering into sharp critical debate with him, this book sets out to examine the value and the potential of a 'theodramatic' conception of history. By engaging in dialogue not only with theologians and philosophers like von Balthasar, Hegel and Barth, but with poets and dramatists such as the Greek tragedians, Shakespeare and Gerard Manley Hopkins, the book makes its theological principles open and indebted to literary forms, and seeks to show how such a theology might be applied to a world intrinsically and thoroughly historical. By contrast with theologies that stand back from the contingencies of history and so fight shy of the uncertainties and openness of Christian existence, this book's theology is committed to taking seriously the God who works in time.


The Self and the Dramas of History

The Self and the Dramas of History

Author: Reinhold Niebuhr

Publisher: New York : Scribner

Published: 1955

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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The mysteries of human selfhood and the religious dimensions of this problem, as affected by the Graeco-Hebraic components of western thought, and as affecting the attempts of the human self to build communities.


A Theology of History

A Theology of History

Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9780898704600

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Man has always wrestled with the problem of finding meaning in history. It is not surprising that, as a Christian, von Balthasar finds the meaning of history in Christ, its Center and Lord. What may surprise-as it will surely stimulate-is the theological mastery with which von Balthasar traces the effects of Christ's lordship upon the daily life of the Christian. In this book we have one of the indispensable sources for understanding Balthasar's Catholic Christocentrism. Here we find elaboration of the striking statement that Jesus Christ is 'the Idea made concrete, personal, historical; universale concretum et personale'-which, put otherwise, means that Christ is the universally valid in the here and now. Characteristic of Balthasar, the book inspires as much spiritually as it informs theologically.


Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 4

Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 4

Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 626

ISBN-13: 0898704715

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Having presented his christology and mariology under the sign of the "Dramatis Personae" in volume three of Theo-Drama, von Balthasar now turns to the action of the divine drama itself. Here we find his soteriology, where time, freedom, history, power, sin, conflict are seen in the light of the Cross, the culmination of the action and passion of God and man. As Balthasar expresses it in the conclusion to his preface: here "we discern the unity of 'glory' and the 'dramatic'. God's glory, as it appears in the world--supremely in Christ--is not something static that could be observed by a neutral investigator. It manifests itself only through the personal involvement whereby God himself comes forth to do battle and is both victor and vanquished. If this glory is to come within our range at all, an analogous initiative is called for on our part. Revelation is a battlefield. Those who do battle on it can only be believers and theologians, provided they have equipped themselves with the whole armor of God (Eph 6:11)."


Theo-drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 3

Theo-drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 3

Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 089870295X

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The third volume of Theo-Drama is considered the most central book of Fr. von Balthasar's entire theological project. Structrually it is the middle volume of the middle part of his theological trilogy: Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, and Theo-Logic. More significantly, it contains von Balthasar's synthetic treatment of the central mysteries of the Catholic Faith: Christ, Mary, the Church, man and the Trinity. The various elements of von Balthasar's theological reflection converge here, and here as nowhere else one can find the systematic elaboration of his Christology, Mariology, ecclesiology, anthropology and trinitarian doctrine. It is both a one-volume compendium of this theology and a key to his trilogy and other writings.


The Drama of Scripture

The Drama of Scripture

Author: Craig G. Bartholomew

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2014-07-08

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1441246193

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This bestselling textbook surveys the grand narrative of the Bible, demonstrating how the biblical story forms the foundation of a Christian worldview. The second edition has been thoroughly revised. Additional material is available online through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources, offering course help for professors and study aids for students. Resources include discussion questions, a Bible reading schedule, an adult Bible class schedule, and a course syllabus.


Theology in History

Theology in History

Author: Henri De Lubac

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2013-06-05

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 1681495848

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The unique insight and impressive scholarship of the eminent French theologian Cardinal Henri de Lubac are clearly evident in this volume of collected articles and essays. An article of great timeliness on the priesthood according to St. John Chrysostom as well as an important study of the long debate over the salvation of Origen are among the texts included in the first section, devoted to patristics and Christian humanism. The second section, comprised entirely of an unpublished work on tripartite anthropology tracing the body-soul-spirit distinction from St. Paul, the patristic tradition, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, up to the modern period, will prove an invaluable guide for further study and reflection. The section concludes with a beautiful text entitled "The Light of Christ", a prayerful meditation written during the dark hours of Nazi domination. Section three deals with disputed theological questions such as the internal causes of the disappearance of the sense of the sacred, the mystery of the supernatural, and the development of dogma. He also has a section on Christian resistance to Nazism and anti-semitism, as well as two sections on the thought and writings of several important modern spiritual writers.


Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 5

Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 5

Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 0898706890

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This is the final volume of this series on "theological dramatic theory" by the great 20th century theologian Balthasar. This series is the second part of Balthasar's trilogy on the good, the beautiful and the true which is his major work. The first series in the trilogy is The Glory of the Lord, and following this Theo-Drama series will be Theo-Logic. In this series "the good" has been the focus. Balthasar maintains that it is in the theater that man attempts a kind of transcendence to observe and to judge his own truth about himself. He sees the phenomenon of theater as a source of fruitfulness for theological reflection on the cosmic drama that involves earth and heaven. This fifth volume is trinitarian, focusing on the mystery of God. He draws heavily on Scripture and many passages from the works of the mystic Adrienne von Spyer. Some of the topics covered include "A Christian Eschotology," "The World is from the Trinity," "Earth moves Heavenward," "The Final Act: A Trinitarian Drama."


A Theology of History

A Theology of History

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2017-01-12

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 1681491257

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Man has long wrestled with the problem of finding meaning in history. It is not surprising that, as a Christian, Hans Urs von Balthasar finds the meaning of history in Christ, its center and Lord. What may surprise and stimulate us is the theological mastery with which von Balthasar traces the effects of Christ's lordship upon the daily life of the Christian. In this book we have one of the indispensable sources for understanding Balthasar's Catholic Christocentrism. Here we find elaboration of the striking statement that Jesus Christ is "the Idea made concrete, personal, historical: universale concretum et personale"?which means that Christ is the universally valid in the here and now. Characteristic of von Balthasar, the book inspires spiritually as much as it informs theologically. Von Balthasar follows Saint Irenaeus in viewing theology through the drama of history, and presents Jesus Christ as the norm by which all history?secular history as well as salvation history?ought to be interpreted. As God, Jesus is the universal norm for all humanity who stands outside of history; as man he became particular within history. By seeking to become one with him, our own history becomes meaningful, purposeful, and significant.


Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize

Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize

Author: Robert J. McKelvey

Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Published: 2011-06-16

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 3647569399

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Robert McKelvey argues that John Bunyan wrote The Holy War as a warfare allegory symbolizing the salvation history of Scripture from a Calvinistic-covenantal perspective. In this cosmic drama of redemption, the "Histories That Mansoul, and her Wars Anatomize" include the individual-soteric-microcosmic level or ordo salutis unfolding analogous to the redemptive-historical-macrocosmic level or historia salutis. The eternal covenant of redemption provides the foundation for this history of salvation, which progresses from creation to the anticipation of consummation. This scheme finds its roots in the Puritan philosophy of "universal history" which sees all historical events serving God's redemptive purposes. The individual, through union with Christ founded on election, participates in the drama by inclusion within the trans-historical covenant of grace. As a depiction of cosmic war, The Holy War sets forth the enmity between the church and Antichrist, which is representative of the greater battle between Christ and the devil from Genesis to Revelation. As a pastoral guide to persecuted saints, Bunyan retrospectively rehearses the history of redemption to grant comfort. In addition, he prospectively reveals the consummation of redemption to encourage perseverance and instil eschatological hope. This thesis is substantiated contextually through Bunyan's life and writings, historiographically by surveying the history of Holy War interpretation, pre-textually by examining the introduction to the allegory, and textually by analyzing the allegory itself.