Seeing the Form by Hans Urs von Balthasar

This did not prevent a spirited debate from taking place in 2006 in First Things between two theologians, Alyssa Lyra Pipstick and Edward Oakes, SJ, on the question of whether von Balthasar’s rich and provocative theology of Christ’s descent into Hell involved him in some heretical statements. But at his funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) stated: “What the pope intended to express by this mark of distinction, and of honor, remains valid, no longer only private individuals but the Church itself, in its official responsibility, tells us that he is right in what he teaches of the faith.” Von Balthasar died just two days before the ceremony. Paul VI added him to the International Theological Commission in 1969, and John Paul II named him a cardinal in 1988. Again a little later, the Vatican began to catch up. Then there is the fact that, despite his brilliance, von Balthasar was entirely passed over for participation in the Second Vatican Council.

This left him without a formal position in the Church (and without a regular income) until he was finally incardinated as a secular priest in the sympathetic Diocese of Chur in 1956. John as incompatible with his membership in the Society of Jesus, and so he left the Society in 1950. But his superiors regarded his management of the Community of St. In time, von Balthasar developed an appropriate theology of secular institutes which, again, has proven extraordinarily fruitful. Later, deeply struck by the mystical visions of the Protestant Adrienne von Speyr, von Balthasar received her into the Church and the two collaborated in the establishment of a secular institute, the Community of St.

Seeing the Form by Hans Urs von Balthasar