Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Priesthood and crisis are two words that appear to be very closely related. Or so it has seemed for the past thirty years and more. The crisis in the priestly ministry is constantly showing new sides, however--the issue of the priest's own self-understanding, for example, the interplay of the various different vocations within the Church, and the struggle, in the face of a plethora of different offices and ministries, to discern what constitutes the speci?c priestly dimension and identity. Again and again, in his theological writings, Hans Urs von Balthasar has addressed the fundamental issues of office and ministry, of priesthood and discipleship. He has uncovered the foundations from a biblical and theological historical perspective and has offered answers to the current problems of priestly existence. This book presents the confrontation with relevant trends, and at the same time the opposing current generated by von Balthasar, since he does not follow popular positions but instead gives us the very core of the Gospel and of revelation, like rye bread. In order to illuminate the spirituality and meaning of the life of the priest of today, von Balthasar goes back to the origins, to the apostles, to their calling, and above all to that moment from which their apostolic mission and their entire Christian existence originates, the Paschal mystery of Jesus. On the eve of his death, Jesus establishes the Eucharist and the priesthood; immediately after his Resurrection he bestows on the disciples the power to forgive sins, entrusts his sheep to Peter, and sends them out into the whole world. Thus von Balthasar considers the life and mission of today's priests in continuity not only with the ?rst apostles, but above all, with Jesus himself. The person and mission of Jesus Christ stand at the center of priestly spirituality. Hence all the re?ections in this work revolve unswervingly around Jesus Christ and his mission. Jesus is the source and norm of priestly existence. Only when God, made manifest in the ?gure of the Savior Jesus Christ, is understood as the center from which this priestly existence springs, and only when this enduring center is proclaimed, can the bold presumption of the Lord in entrusting his mission to weak men be understood in con?dent trust and attract new followers, even in lean times.

Death and dying are inseparably linked with life. They are self-evident and at the same time cannot be grasped by reason alone - they are ordinary, and yet so incredible. In these meditations, the acclaimed theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar investigates this great mystery. He asks about the contradiction, inherent in all men, of wishing to achieve something "imperishable in transitoriness" and gives an answer culled from the Scriptures and from the Church Fathers. In looking at this contradiction that appears to be irreconcilable from a purely human perspective, Balthasar tries to find something in the human existence that the Christian solution can take up, for if there was nothing, one would not see how Christianity could connect to our existence at all. This starting-point becomes fully visible and effective only when the Christian interpretation itself becomes evident, otherwise it remains open to dangerous misinterpretations. The emphasis lies in the word "mystery." The reader must meditate on these profound ideas which are demanding both in language and contents - then the reading will inspire him with insights and prospects that will, while not resolving the paradox "that everything earthly is inscribed on the sand of transitoriness," will anchor it in the Christian faith, which claims that man is eternal and that God himself became man in the person of Jesus Christ to help us attain to that eternal life.

Hans Urs von Balthasar (19051988) anses som en av 1900-talets främsta katolska teologer. Hans teologiska tänkande ansågs av många kontroversiellt, men kyrkans förtroende för honom förblev obrutet. von Balthasars litterära kvarlåtenskap är mycket omfattande med genomträngande teologiska analyser men också med vida utblickar över samtidens kultur. Denna bok med bibelmeditationer, den sista han skrev, är den kanske mest lättillgängliga för den vanlige läsaren.

Originally published in 1967 (the German title of the original volume translates to The Whole in the Fragment), ATheological Anthropology is described by the author as "an essay". Indeed, it is man's history of theology, without firm conclusions, but brilliantly written by one of the foremost theologians of his time.

Foreward by Dr. Margaret Turek The brilliant theologian and philosopher Hans Urs von Balthasar writes about God's involvement with man and man's involvement with God in the Old and the New Testaments. He shows how that interaction of the divine with the human reveals the meaning of true freedom that man is always hungering for but often strives after in wrong and dangerous ways. He shows that God's free revelation of himself in Christ is an invitation to enter into the realm of absolute and divine freedom, in which alone human freedom can be fully realized. From the true Christian there radiates the kind of freedom that is constantly being sought after by the non-Christian. In modern times, the freedom of man is a theme that preoccupies everyone. Atheistic philosophies are wholly taken up with this preoccupation. The Enlightenment was concerned with the freeing of reason from the "fetters of faith". Marx wrote about freeing man economically, and Freud wrote of freeing man from the bondage of a past as yet unmastered. As opposed to those whose search for freedom urges them onward into a barren void, the Christian stands as the messenger of freedom accomplished and a freedom attainable by all. A true freedom of the sons and daughters of God. "Just as Love Alone Is Credible captures the essence of the seven-volume The Glory of the Lord, so does Engagement with God explain his five-volume Theo-Drama. But here he does more: by setting his account of the drama of Christian discipleship against the anti-Christian ideologies of the 1960s he brings his theology to bear on the highest cost of discipleship--martyrdom--by seeing the martyr as the mirror of God's own involvement in the human race through his own martyred Son. One can hardly read a more sober, and yet exhilarating, account of what it means to live committed to God's own commitment to the world." --Edward T. Oakes, S. J. Author, Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Two great theologians endeavor to recover the centrality of Marian doctrine and devotion for the contemporary Church, offering a view of Mary as both the embodiment of the Church, and the mother who cooperates in giving birth to the Church in the souls of believers.