Theo-Drama, vol. III: Dramatis Personae: Persons in Christ
Overview
The third volume of Theo-Drama is considered the most central book of von Balthasar’s entire theological project. Structurally it is the middle volume of the middle part of his theological trilogy: Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, and Theo-Logic. More significantly, it contains von Balthasar’s synthetic treatment of the central mysteries of the Catholic Faith: Christ, Mary, the Church, man, and the Trinity.
The various elements of von Balthasar’s theological reflection converge here, and here as nowhere else one can find the systematic elaboration of his Christology, Mariology, ecclesiology, anthropology and Trinitarian doctrine. It is both a one-volume compendium of this theology and a key to his trilogy and other writings.
With the Logos edition the reader has an abundance of resources that offer applicable and insightful material for their study. You can easily search the subject of theological dramatic theory to access an assortment of useful resources and perspectives from a variety of pastors and theologians.
Key Features
- Contains von Balthasar’s synthetic treatment of the central mysteries of the Catholic Faith
- Explores the relationship between exegesis and dogmatics
- Develops conclusions about the being and the consciousness of Jesus
Top Highlights
“It can only be given by the absolute Subject, God. It is when God addresses a conscious subject, tells him who he is and what he means to the eternal God of truth and shows him the purpose of his existence—that is, imparts a distinctive and divinely authorized mission—that we can say of a conscious subject that he is a ‘person’.” (Page 207)
“Sublime inspiration awakens in the person inspired a deeper freedom than that involved in arbitrary choice; for that very reason, it stamps the work with the character of personal uniqueness and necessity. It is revealed as the work for which a man has lived, in which he has ‘immortalized’ himself; it enabled him to possess himself entirely, precisely because he was possessed by it. He has grasped and fulfilled his mission. This mission was not waiting for him, ready-made, in some preexistence: it was slumbering within him like a child in its mother’s womb, pressing to be delivered—out of the womb of his most personal freedom.” (Page 198)
“The adjective ‘Christian’ was not available to Paul, so the en Christōi formula can simply mean this, but the connotation is always that this ‘being in’ is an event achieved by Christ; objectively it implies a response to Christ on the part of the Christian; subjectively it demands such a response.” (Page 246)
“Between the divine and the created natures there is an essential abyss.” (Page 220)
“The mystery that lies at the heart of the entire creation is not only the universalization of salvation (stretching from the chosen Israel to the nonelect ‘Gentiles’); this takes place explicitly by the making of a peace: ‘bringing the hostility to an end through the cross’ (Eph 2:16). There can be no going back behind God’s plan of salvation, which has always known of man’s sin and even took account of it in the act of creation.” (Page 48)
Praise for the Print Edition
Balthasar’s most important works, at least in his own eyes, are not his writings but his foundations.
—Peter Henrici
. . . 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 I cannot even begin to say how much I owe to my encounter with him.
—Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
Product Details
- Title: Theo-Drama, vol. III: Dramatis Personae: Persons in Christ
- Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar
- Publisher: Ignatius
- Publication Date: 1992
- Pages: 550