In Balthasar’s retelling of the history of Western metaphysics, he discerns a dialectical relation between the dialogico-dualistic world of myth and the monological world of philosophical reason. It is only when a distinctively Christian metaphysic comes on the scene—a metaphysic in which a (Triune) God existing a se freely creates and allows his creatures to [...]

Larry Chapp in his essay, “Revelation,” provides an excellent discussion of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theology of revelation [1]. Chapp begins by setting forth what he discerns as von Balthasar’s most basic assertion concerning revelation, viz., “in revelation we have a sovereign divine action pro nobis that makes God known to his creatures in a [...]

I recently received word that my submission to the upcoming Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference at Villanova (Oct. 19-21) has been accepted (see abstract below). I also found out that two of my friends will be presenting papers as well (Mike Vendsel and Joel Garver), which means that I can hardly wait for this [...]

Here is my contribution to the meme inspired by

A discussion of my guest post at the church and postmodern culture is underway. The focus of the discussion is D.C. Schindler’s essay, “Surprised by Truth: The Drama of Fundamental Theology.” Please join us, if you are so inclined.

In the prologue of his book, Truth is Symphonic, Balthasar depicts creation as God’s symphony. Symphony of course literally means, “to sound together.” As Balthasar so elegantly describes it, “[f]irst there is sound, then different sounds and then we hear the different sounds singing together in a dance of sound” (p. 7). In order to [...]

I recently came across an informative essay by Peter J. Leithart entitled, “Trinitarian Anthropology: Toward a Trinitarian Re-casting of Reformed Theology,” and wanted to share some of Leithart’s findings [1]. Having spent a good deal of time this summer reading von Balthasar, I was struck by the amazing similarity between Balthasar and Edwards in their [...]

As mentioned in part I, Vermigli and Calvin regularly appeal to St. Augustine (as well as other Church Fathers) and understand their position to be in line with Augustine, who defines a sacrament as the “sacrae rei signum, aut visibile signum invisibilis gratia” (“a sign of a holy/sacred thing, or a visible sign of invisible [...]

Though I am still working through a good deal of Calvin, Vermigli, and others on the subject of the Eucharist and want to (re)emphasize that my thinking on this topic is still very much in progress, the following seem to me important additions to add to the on-going discussion of a Reformed view of the [...]

In part I, we discussed John 6:22-51 in order to better understand the context of the famous bread of life discourse. We now come to the concluding section of the passage, viz., verses 52-58. In verse 52, we again have echoes of the Israelites’ grumblings during the exodus, as the Jews in the current dialogue [...]

During the academic year, I spend a good deal of time reading, studying, and contemplating various philosophical issues and theological topics as understood in the broader Christian tradition—an activity by which my faith is greatly benefited and strengthened. For example, in one of my courses last semester, we read book IV of St. Thomas’ Summa [...]

The fourth Balthasarian thesis is one of my favorites, viz., that “[m]ystery is convertible with truth.” Though the Gestalt includes the appearance or surface of being (that which is immediately accessible to us), it is more than this surface: “it is the coincidence of appearance and being, taken both in their unity and in their [...]

[In order to avoid an excessively long post, I have decided to make theses four and five a separate post (part VI), which will conclude the series].
Here we begin with the third Balthasarian thesis, viz., that “the ‘locus’ of truth is the concrete Gestalt. As Schindler is aware, it at first seems odd to speak [...]

In the third section of his essay, Schindler begins by mapping out five theses of Balthasar’s philosophy that will help us to better understand Balthasar’s non-possessive concept of knowledge. First, “love is the meaning of being.” Here we should underscore that for Balthasar love is not first and foremost restricted to an act of the [...]

As noted at the end of the previous post, Schindler wants to explore a more paradoxical reading of Aquinas on the will-intellect relation in order to avoid seemingly irresolvable tensions that arise from a conventional interpretation [see Part II for a detailed explanation of the problems highlighted by Schindler]. At this point, Schindler brings Balthasar [...]

Although Balthasar has been criticized for offering a theological cure to a philosophical malady, Schindler maintains that Balthasar’s philosophical position is actually more adequate than certain traditionally accepted views on the relation of the will and intellect. In order to demonstrate his claim, Schindler examines a number of texts from Thomas’ works and highlights a [...]

In the introductory section of his superb essay, “Towards a Non-Possessive Concept of Knowledge: On the Relation Between Reason and Love in Aquinas and Balthasar,” [1] David C. Schindler observes that determining whether the intellect or the will reigns supreme is a distinctively Christian problem. Though the Greeks no doubt thought deeply about the [...]