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Balthasar and Prayer

Publisher:
, 2021
ISBN: 9780567701909
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This study renders an original and constructive Catholic theology of prayer drawing on the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988). Travis LaCouter explores the trinitarian, Christological, ecclesial, anthropological, and eschatological dimensions of prayer in Balthasar's theology, and shows how these combine to give a powerful account of prayer's proper theological scope and purpose. There is also a critical dimension of prayer which is arguably underdeveloped in some of Balthasar's key texts, but which LaCouter shows to have significant dialogical potential with contemporary accounts of parrhesia since Foucault.

This approach demonstrates the centrality of prayer to Balthasar's entire theological system and does so in a way which itself constitutes an exercise in Catholic systematics. This study is also distinctive for establishing a method of proceeding through Balthasar's sprawling oeuvre (and the similarly vast secondary literature) by arguing for three “categories” of texts in Balthasar's writings and, separately, three “waves” of Balthasar readers. Thus, this study is a resource not just for those interested in prayer but for anyone interested in reading Balthasar today.

This study renders an original and constructive Catholic theology of prayer drawing on the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Exhibits a deep and broad engagement with the relevant source texts
Shows the continued relevance of Balthasar' theology by engaging contemporary debates in critical theory
Reinterprets the mystery of Christian prayer as an integral and integrating reality, rather than a discrete act or 'ascending' ritual

PART I: APPROACHES TO THE QUESTION

Chapter 1:
Mapping Balthasar Studies
Chapter 2:
Prayer's Role

PART II:
BALTHASAR'S THEOLOGY OF PRAYER

Chapter 3:
Prayer's Source: Trinitarian Dimensions
Chapter 4:
Prayer's Shape: Christological Dimensions
Chapter 5:
Prayer's Effects: Anthropological Dimensions
Chapter 6:
Prayer's End: Eschatological Dimensions
Chapter 7:
Prayers Power: Critical Dimensions

Bibliography
Index

In this ground-breaking study, LaCouter offers a brilliantly eloquent and razor sharp analysis of one the modern tradition's great theorisers of prayer. Everyone credits Balthasar with making one of the strongest turns to prayer in modern theology, but this is the most extensive and doctrinally rigorous investigations to date in English-language scholarship of how the 'drama of prayer' actually plays out in Balthasar's famously prayerful theology. The unashamedly doctrinal structure of the book is used creatively to leverage unseen aspects of Balthasar's theorisation of prayer, chart its reception by modern theology, and respond patiently and comprehensively to some of Balthasar's most formidable critics. Balthasar and Prayer is, simply speaking, a foundational work for anyone interested in modern theology.

Balthasar and Prayer not only deftly elucidates the nature of prayer as trinitarian, Christological, and eschatological, but also makes sense of Balthasar's sprawling corpus, its complex reception, and how the thematic of prayer animates the deep structures of his thought. In this bold and masterful performance, LaCouter enacts the very parrhesia he recommends!

In Balthasar and Prayer, Travis LaCouter offers a valuable exegesis of Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of prayer and makes a convincing case for Balthasar's account of prayer as a meaningful framework through which to engage in Balthasar's theology on the whole … The book commends itself as an excellent contribution to the present state of Balthasarian scholarship, both outlining prayer as a crucial piece in Balthasar's theological thought and showing how Balthasar's hermeneutic of prayerful theology might transform not only an understanding of Balthasar's larger theological project, but rather encourage new fruitful-even prayerful-ways of explicating theology in the present time.

Travis LaCouter is a Visiting Lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross, USA.

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