Bøger af Hans Urs von Balthasar

It is not only the Catholics who attend Sunday Mass, but also the priests who preach at Mass who feel overwhelmed by the three scripture readings in which for the most part only the first from the Old Testament and the third from the Gospel have any interconnection, while the second from the apostolic letters stands by itself. This book seeks to present the common theses that connect all three of the readings for Sundays and feasts of the Lord in the three year cycle of readings. The reflections here are meant to be theological and spiritual suggestions that the one who is preaching can develop further and from which he can select individual perspectives. Rather than seeking immediately concrete applications, Fr. von Balthasar attempts to elucidate the content which is immediately present in the passages. Organized by each Sunday and feast day of the liturgical year for years A, B, & C, these reflections are meant to be theological and spiritual suggestions that the one who is preaching can develop further and from which he can select individual perspectives.

Saint Irenaeus was the first great Christian theologian. Born in Asia Minor in about 130 A.D., he became Bishop of Lyons and died as a martyr early in the third century. His main work, Adversus Haereses (Against the Heresies), is as relevant today as it was eighteen hundred years ago. It is a critique of Gnosticism, the 'anti-body' heresy, which, far from dying out, continues to flourish as the main threat to the Christian faith in our own day. With serenity and good humor, Irenaeus unfolds the unity of God's purpose in creation and redemption, in Old and New Testaments. The flesh and blood which Gnosticism so despised has been assumed by God in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and glorified in the Resurrection and the Eucharist. In this book, quotations from Saint Irenaeus have been arranged thematically in order to show the unity of his Christian view of the world. The texts have been selected and are introduced by the late Hans Urs von Balthasar, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Catholic theologians of this century. They are translated by John Saward. "Everything in Irenaeus is bathed in a warm and radiant joy, a wise and majestic gentleness. His words of struggle are hard as iron and crystal clear, ... so penetrating that they cannot fail to enlighten the unbiased observer." -- Hans Urs von Balthasar

When it comes to meditation the decisive question, according to Hans Urs von Balthasar, is whether God has spoken or "whether the Absolute remains the Silence beyond all words". Christianity claims God has spoken, and spoken fully, in his Son, the Word made flesh. While God remains mysterious, he is not utterly unknown or unknowable. Von Balthasar insists through Christian meditation we enter with mind and heart into God's self-disclosure. In Jesus, God reveals his own inner depths to us. At the same time, because Jesus is God-made-man, he also reveals our inner depths to ourselves. Christian Meditation is at once a book about what meditation is, in light of God's revelation, and a book that assists believers to meditate. In a treatment that is both fresh and profound, von Balthasar describes the central elements of all Christian meditation, provides a guide for meditation and then points the way to the union that prayer achieves in the footsteps of Mary, within the Church and in and for the world. "Christian meditation is entirely trinitarian and at the same time entirely human. In order to find God, no one need reject being human personally or socially, but in order to find God all must see the world and themselves in the Holy Spirit as they are in God's sight." - Hans Urs von Balthasar

This is the introduction to the second part of the trilogy which is von Balthasar's major work. The Glory of the Lord approaches revelation from the standpoint of the beautiful. The final part of the trilogy, the Theo-Logic, will treat Christian revelation from the standpoint of the true.In this first volume von Balthasar shows how many of the trends of modern theology (e.g. "event", "history", "orthopraxy", "dialogue", "political theology") point to an understanding of human and cosmic reality as a divine drama. He will then consider objections to such a theological dramatic theory and also the relationship between the Church and the theatre. This volume assembles the materials and the themes that will make it possible in subsequent volumes to develop this theological dramatic theory."...meeting Balthasar was for me the beginning of a lifelong friendship I can only be thankful for. Never again have I found anyone with such a comprehensive theological and humanistic education as Balthasar and de Lubac, and I cannot even begin to say how much I owe to my encounter with them." --Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

This is perhaps the best and most comprehensive book on prayer ever written. From the persons of the Trinity through the Incarnation to the Church and the very structure of the human person, this book is a powerful synthesis of what prayer is and how to pray. The testament of a great theologian on something which is most personal and interior, contemplative prayer. "This is a book that changes, not only your mind, but your life. It lays out, in language both theologically precise and spiritually vivid, what it is like to enter into a relationship with the three persons of the Trinity. One of its major emphases is how authentic Christian prayer is always conducted in and through the words given to us by God himself in the Scriptures, so that our speech to God always mirrors and mimics God speech to us. This single volume also functions as a remarkably good introduction to Balthasar's architectonic thought as a whole." - Fr. Robert Barron, Author & Host of CatholicismIn this modern classic, von Balthasar illumines the nature and practice of contemplative prayer in explicit and vital connection with the mysteries of Christian revelation. His extraordinary flair for drawing spiritual implications from the most profound theological insights is brilliantly displayed on so many of its pages. This is a book on prayer that stimulates our yearning for God as it points us toward ever-deepening and authentic encounters with Him. - Margaret M. Turek, S.T.D., Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Patrick's Seminary and University

Originally published in German in 1938, this highly acclaimed volume presents more than one thousand selections from the various extant writings of Origen, the great Alexandrian theologian. Robert J. Daly, S.J., has re-translated the majority of these texts from the original Greek and Latin, added the scriptural references in the translated texts and an index, and included updated bibliographical information.This volume comprises thoughts of one of the greatest of ancient theologians as seen through the eyes of an almost equally prolific successor in the same central Christian enterprise. The book remains a great resource for anyone interested in patristic theology, early Christian mysticism, and early interpretation of Scripture. This Cornerstones edition has a new introduction written by Robert J. Daly, S.J.

This volume initiates von Balthasar's study of the biblical vision and understanding of God's glory. Starting with the theopanies of the Patriarchal period, it shows how such glory is most fully expressed in the graciousness of the Covenant relationship between God and Israel.

This volume presents a series of studies of representative mystics, theologians, philosophers, and poets and explores the three mainstreams of metaphysics which have developed since the "catastrophe" of Nominalism.

Considers the metaphysical tradition of the contemplation of Being: Homer, the Greek Tragedians, Plato, Plotinus and the development of the tradition in the Middle Ages. Von Balthasar then explores the analogy between the metaphysical vision of Being and the Christian vision of the Trinity.

This text offers a series of earlier Christian theology when the aesthetic view was still held and appreciated. Drawing insights from some of the leading figures of the early Church such as Anselm, Augustine, Bonaventura, Denys and Irenaeus.

This work offers a series of earlier Christian theology when the aesthetic view was still held and appreciated. It draws insights from some of the leading figures of the early Church such as Anselm, Augustine, Bonaventura, Denys and Irenaeus.

This text reviews developments since the Reformation which have led to the neglect of aesthetics in Christian theology. The author then considers the question of theological knowledge, and the nature of Christian believing, drawing widely on such theological figures as Anselm, Pascal and Newman.

This work reflects on the New Testament vision of God's revelation of his glory in Christ. This divine "appearing" is grounded in the self-emptying of the eternal Logos in the incarnation, cross and descent into hell, yet this is the means whereby his glory is manifested.