Razing the Bastions
Razing the Bastions

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2013-11-18

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1681493977

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Written in the 1950s, this book defines and anticipates, in a prophetic way, the role of the laity in the Church, and the intimate relationship between the Church and the world. These two themes were recognized by the Second Vatican Council especially in the two constitutions "On the Church" and "The Church in the Modern World." Von Balthasar's "bastions" are barriers erected over the centuries which separated the laity from the clergy and the Church from the world. He pleads for a Church that interprets "the signs of the age," grasps them and answers them, allowing herself to be awakened by the Holy Spirit and by the age "from the bed of historical sleep for the dead of today." The new function of the Church is to be the "yeast of the world"--she must understand herself as the "instrument of the mediation of salvation to the world." Stressing that the hour of the laity is sounding in the Church, von Balthasar makes it clear that the "true program of the Church for today is: the most powerful radiance into the world through the most immediate imitation of Christ."

The Moment of Christian Witness
The Moment of Christian Witness

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2012-09-11

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1681495236

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Balthasar puts his finger on the precise origin of all those elements in modern Christianity which see the real Jesus Christ as unknowable, the Gospels as merely the confused reflections of later Christians, and Christian tradition as a perpetuation of the mythology.

A Fundamental Theological Study of Radical Secularization and its Aftermath
A Fundamental Theological Study of Radical Secularization and its Aftermath

Author: Alpo Penttinen

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2024-01-17

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 1527572331

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In the wake of various secularization processes, a growing number of people in Western societies are now describing themselves as “non-religious.” But what does this sociological fact really mean, for the Church and for society at large? Has human religiosity a future after secularization? It does, this book argues, but in a radically altered form. Taking its cue from Pope Francis’s suggestion that globalizing humanity is presently living through a genuine “epochal shift,” this book presents an original analysis of the transformative effect of secularization on our spiritual predicament in the Western, now definitively post-Christian, world. Instead of succumbing to the all-too-common polarizations in contemporary religious discourse, this book aspires to overcome the “religious” vs. “secular” dichotomy through developing the logic of “Radical Secularization,” arguably the genuine novelty of the particularly Western process of secularization. The past homogeneously religious culture is certainly dusking, but this only paves the way for the dawn of the future and radically open horizon for our human search for meaning. This challenging book will offer intellectual impulses and spiritual incentives to everybody who ponders the future of human religious evolution after secularization.

Love Alone Is Credible
Love Alone Is Credible

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2012-09-04

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 1681493136

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In Hans Urs von Balthasar's masterwork, The Glory of the Lord, the great theologian used the term "theological aesthetic" to describe what he believed to the most accurate method of interpreting the concept of divine love, as opposed to approaches founded on historical or scientific grounds. In this newly translated book, von Balthasar delves deeper into this exploration of what love means, what makes the divine love of God, and how we must become lovers of God in the footsteps of saints like Francis de Sales, John of the Cross and Therese of Lisieux. Based in the theological aesthetic form, Love Alone is Credible brings a fresh perspective on an oft-explored subject. A deeply insightful and profound theological meditation that serves to both deepen and inform the faith of the believer.

My Work
My Work

Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2012-09-10

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1681493470

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Hans Urs von Balthasar made detailed statements about his work on five occasions, mostly on the birthdays that marked the end of a decade of his life: as a young author in his "desire to lift out of the jumble of history the four or five figures which represent for me the constellation of my idea and my mission;" as publisher and writer, "out of concern for the reader" and in order to equip this reader with a guide to his own books. Then, in the midst of the transformations connected with the Council, he wrote an "Account" for himself and his readers, about what had been done, and what was still required. Finally, in a kind of pause, as one already looking toward the close of his life, he gave once again an account of what had been achieved and what could no longer be achieved, in a clear shift of emphasis away from his "authorship" in favor of the pastoral work in the communities which he had founded. This present volume is a helpful guide to his many-sided work.

Balthasar and Prayer
Balthasar and Prayer

Author: Travis LaCouter

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-12-02

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0567701905

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This study renders an original and constructive Catholic theology of prayer drawing on the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988). Travis LaCouter explores the trinitarian, Christological, ecclesial, anthropological, and eschatological dimensions of prayer in Balthasar's theology, and shows how these combine to give a powerful account of prayer's proper theological scope and purpose. There is also a critical dimension of prayer which is arguably underdeveloped in some of Balthasar's key texts, but which LaCouter shows to have significant dialogical potential with contemporary accounts of parrhesia since Foucault. This approach demonstrates the centrality of prayer to Balthasar's entire theological system and does so in a way which itself constitutes an exercise in Catholic systematics. This study is also distinctive for establishing a method of proceeding through Balthasar's sprawling oeuvre (and the similarly vast secondary literature) by arguing for three “categories” of texts in Balthasar's writings and, separately, three “waves” of Balthasar readers. Thus, this study is a resource not just for those interested in prayer but for anyone interested in reading Balthasar today.

Solidarity with the World
Solidarity with the World

Author: Carolyn A. Chau

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2016-11-15

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1498235875

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Is Christian mission even possible today? In "a secular age," is it possible to talk about the goodness of God in a compelling way? How should the church proceed? Carolyn Chau explores the question of Catholic mission in a secular age through a constructive interpretation of the work of two celebrated Catholic thinkers, philosopher Charles Taylor and theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, arguing that Taylor and Balthasar together offer a promising path for mission today. Chau attends to Taylor's account of the conditions of belief today, and the genesis of the sociohistorical limits on contemporary "God-talk," as well as his affirmation of certain aspects of Western modernity's "culture." From Balthasar, Chau sifts out the distinctiveness of his view of the human person as defined by mission, and his encouragement of a kenotic self-understanding of the church. In the end, Chau claims that if modern persons in secular Western societies are seeking fulfillment and integrity, Christian spirituality remains a rich resource on offer.

Finding Pieces of the Puzzle
Finding Pieces of the Puzzle

Author: Ronald A. N. Kydd

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-06-10

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1606085670

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Climate change. Radical politics. National debt. Globalization. What do Christians have to say to the big questions we all face? Whatever they try to say, they will be seriously handicapped if they do not know their own story. Finding Pieces of the Puzzle will fill the knowledge gap. It breaks away from the usual manner in which history is written. Here is a sweeping overview of the story of Christianity that takes the reader to parts of the world seldom visited, that watches as the message of Christ encounters cultures as different as ninth century Persia and sixteenth century Kongo. The story is carried from the first to the twenty-first century by a series of mini-biographies--a young woman facing martyrdom, a boy from a little French town who becomes Pope and launches an army, an African-American who uses a successful international trade network to combat slavery. The glory, the confusion, the shame, the holiness of Christianity are all here. As the pieces are slipped into place, the puzzle begins to make sense. Watching Christians of the past face their challenges helps us understand who modern Christians really are.

We Preach Christ Crucified
We Preach Christ Crucified

Author: Michael Connors

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0814638481

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In June of 2012, an astounding 360 people gathered at the University of Notre Dame for a major conference on Catholic preaching. With contributions by a wide variety of theologians and practitioners, We Preach Christ Crucified gathers the fruits of those days spent reflecting on the importance of the preaching ministry. Its release is timely, given the US bishops' promulgation of a new document on preaching, Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily (January, 2013), and the renewed emphasis on preaching by both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. The challenges facing Christian preachers in our time are many and formidable ones. The authors in this collection take a fresh look at the task, the resources at hand, the contemporary context, and the preacher. The result is a refreshing and stunningly hopeful reconsideration of an ancient ministry. We Preach Christ Crucified includes essays by: Robert Barron Archbishop Robert J. Carlson John C. CavadiniArchbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS Mary Catherine Hilkert, OPJan Michael Joncas Barbara E. Reid, OP Michael E. Connors, CSC, ThD, is a pastoral theologian and teacher of homiletics on the faculty of the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame, where he also directs the John S. Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics. He is the author of Inculturated Pastoral Planning: The U.S.Hispanic Experience (Gregorian University Press, 2001).

Love Itself Is Understanding
Love Itself Is Understanding

Author: Matthew A. Rothaus Moser

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1506418996

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Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) sets out to reunite Truth and holiness by returning the saints to their proper place at the heart of philosophy, theology, and metaphysics. Love Itself is Understanding is one of the first systematic treatments of Balthasar’s theology of the saints. Matthew Rothaus Moser presents Balthasar as an alternative to Idealist philosophy, a thinker who develops a religious metaphysics in which the saints’ practices of prayer and contemplation are the chief mode of knowing that the Truth of Being is divine love. Love Itself is Understanding casts new light on dominant themes in Balthasar’s thought and invites a renewed vision of the theological and metaphysical significance of the spiritual practices of prayer, obedience, and charity.