The Glory Of The Lord The Realm Of Metaphysics In The Modern Age

Von Balthasar explores the main streams of metaphysics which have developed since the "catastrophe" of Nominalism, with its denial of the divine light in creation. Three paths have been taken, each with its own dangers. In a series of studies of representative mystic theologians, philosophers and poets, glory is traced through such figures as Eckhart, Ignatius, de Sales; the attempt to relocate theology in a recovery of antiquity's sense of being and beauty through figures like Holderlin, Goethe, Heidegger; the metaphysics of spirit through Descartes, Spinoza and the Idealists. - Publisher.

In A Sacramental-Prophetic Vision: The Praxis of Christian Spirituality in a Suffering World Matthew Eggemeier argues that the sacramental and prophetic traditions of Christian spirituality possesses critical resources for responding to the contemporary social crises of widespread ecological degradation and the innocent suffering of a crucified people. Eggemeier maintains that the vital key for cultivating these sacramental and prophetic traditions in the present is to situate these spiritualities in the context of spiritual exercsises or ascetical practices that enable Christians to live more deeply coram Deo and in turn to make this presence visible in a suffering world.

Through a comparison of their aesthetics and hermeneutics, this book reveals that both Gadamer and Balthasar reject an autonomous, neutral, distanced starting point for interpretation. Instead, they advocate a dialogical model in which interpreters allow themselves to be engaged by the truth of the text or artwork at hand. Both thinkers use aesthetic categories to describe this model of interpretation (such as the neo-Platonic category of radiance) and both reflect a disclosure-concealment theory of truth. In recognizing that interpreters are part of an unfolding history and that the examination of historical texts cannot be done from a neutral standpoint, they both acknowledge that textual interpretation must contain the dimension of dialogue with the past truths. Significantly, Balthasar incorporates these aesthetic and hermeneutical categories into an explicitly Trinitarian salvation-history framework, which is absent in Gadamer's thought. This book concludes with the implications of an aesthetic hermeneutics for contemporary Roman Catholic theology and its dialogue with various schools of thought (philosophical and religious), arguing that the concrete, particular forms of Christianity as expressed in Roman Catholicism cannot be bracketed or evacuated by Catholic theologians in the interest of achieving consensus in religious matters. To the contrary, it is precisely in these forms that we believe that God's revelation takes place.

This volume of essays centers on the theme of doing Christian theology in the present postmodern context, a consistent theme of the teaching of John D. Castelein. The work will celebrate and honor John's years of service by representing reflections of his teaching in the thought of his students and colleagues. The essays range over such topics as theological reflections on the postmodern philosophical themes, the relations between Christian theology and culture, the contributions of philosophical hermeneutics for Christian theology, and the challenges of engaging in ministry in a postmodern context. The seventeen contributors to the volume are former students and both present and former colleagues involved in various ministries, be they in a college setting or in a local church.

Pro Ecclesia is a quarterly journal of theology published by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

Pro Ecclesia is a quarterly journal of theology published by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.