Balthasar on the 'Spiritual Senses'

Balthasar on the 'Spiritual Senses'
Author: Mark McInroy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199689008

Examines Balthasar's recovery of the doctrine of the spiritual senses in the mid-20th century, focusing on his model of the perceptual faculties through which one beholds the form that God reveals.

Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses

Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses
Author: Mark McInroy
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-06-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191002941

In this study, Mark McInroy argues that the 'spiritual senses' play a crucial yet previously unappreciated role in the theological aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar. The doctrine of the spiritual senses typically claims that human beings can be made capable of perceiving non-corporeal, 'spiritual' realities. After a lengthy period of disuse, Balthasar recovers the doctrine in the mid-twentieth century and articulates it afresh in his theological aesthetics. At the heart of this project stands the task of perceiving the absolute beauty of the divine form through which God is revealed to human beings. Although extensive scholarly attention has focused on Balthasar's understanding of revelation, beauty, and form, what remains curiously under-studied is his model of the perceptual faculties through which one beholds the form that God reveals. McInroy claims that Balthasar draws upon the tradition of the spiritual senses in order to develop the means through which one perceives the 'splendour' of divine revelation. McInroy further argues that, in playing this role, the spiritual senses function as an indispensable component of Balthasar's unique, aesthetic resolution to the high-profile debates in modern Catholic theology between Neo-Scholastic theologians and their opponents. As a third option between Neo-Scholastic 'extrinsicism', which arguably insists on the authority of revelation to the point of disaffecting the human being, and 'immanentism', which reduces God's revelation to human categories in the name of relevance, McInroy proposes that Balthasar's model of spiritual perception allows one to be both delighted and astounded by the glory of God's revelation.

The Spiritual Senses

The Spiritual Senses
Author: Paul L. Gavrilyuk
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2011-11-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1139502417

Is it possible to see, hear, touch, smell and taste God? How do we understand the biblical promise that the 'pure in heart' will 'see God'? Christian thinkers as diverse as Origen of Alexandria, Bonaventure, Jonathan Edwards and Hans Urs von Balthasar have all approached these questions in distinctive ways by appealing to the concept of the 'spiritual senses'. In focusing on the Christian tradition of the 'spiritual senses', this book discusses how these senses relate to the physical senses and the body, and analyzes their relationship to mind, heart, emotions, will, desire and judgement. The contributors illuminate the different ways in which classic Christian authors have treated this topic, and indicate the epistemological and spiritual import of these understandings. The concept of the 'spiritual senses' is thereby importantly recovered for contemporary theological anthropology and philosophy of religion.

Prayer

Prayer
Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 1986
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0898700744

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.

Dare We Hope - 2nd Edition

Dare We Hope - 2nd Edition
Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 158617942X

This book is perhaps one of the most misunderstood works of Catholic theology of our time. Critics contend that von Balthasar espouses universalism, the idea that all men will certainly be saved. Yet, as von Balthasar insists, damnation is a real possibility for anyone. Indeed, he explores the nature of damnation with sobering clarity. At the same time, he contends that a deep understanding of God’s merciful love and human freedom, and a careful reading of the Catholic tradition, point to the possibility—not the certainty—that, in the end, all men will accept the salvation Christ won for all. For this all-embracing salvation, von Balthasar says, we may dare hope, we must pray and with God’s help we must work. The Catholic Church’s teaching on hell has been generally neglected by theologians, with the notable exception of von Balthasar. He grounds his reflections clearly in Sacred Scripture and Catholic teaching. While the Church asserts that certain individuals are in heaven (the saints), she never declares a specific individual to be in hell. In fact, the Church hopes that in their final moments of life, even the greatest sinners would have repented of their terrible sins, and be saved. Sacred Scripture states, “God ... desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:4–5).

Word and Silence

Word and Silence
Author: Raymond Gawronski
Publisher:
Total Pages: 266
Release: 1995
Genre: Asia
ISBN:

The Sacramentality of the World and the Mystery of Freedom

The Sacramentality of the World and the Mystery of Freedom
Author: Elisa Zocchi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2021-02-18
Genre: Creation
ISBN: 9783402137413

The book offers the first in-depth study of Origen's presence in Hans Urs von Balthasar, not only considering his books on Origen, but also analyzing Origenian ideas that played a decisive role in his theological building. Starting from the historical context, the book connects Balthasar's reading of Origen to the main issues of 20th-century Catholic theology and to theologians like Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, and Karl Barth. The book moves then to the main theological elements traceable in the relationship between Origen and Balthasar: Eros, spiritual senses, freedom, and universal salvation. Throughout these ideas, Balthasar's attitude towards Origen emerges as dynamic and multifaceted.

Love Alone Is Credible

Love Alone Is Credible
Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1681493136

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.

The Moment of Christian Witness

The Moment of Christian Witness
Author: Hans Urs Von Balthasar
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2012-09-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1681495236

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.