'The Kernel of Politics' According to von Balthasar: Preliminary Resources for a Theology of Protest
In this article, I read von Balthasar’s theology for what it has to say about the interaction of grace and power in history. By doing so, I draw attention to the resources given by this supposedly conservative theologian for an incipient theology of protest, one which is marked by a distinctly Ignat...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
2021
|
| In: |
Louvain studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 44, Issue: 1, Pages: 82-96 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Balthasar, Hans Urs von 1905-1988
/ Political theology
/ Female saint
|
| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this article, I read von Balthasar’s theology for what it has to say about the interaction of grace and power in history. By doing so, I draw attention to the resources given by this supposedly conservative theologian for an incipient theology of protest, one which is marked by a distinctly Ignatian imagination and which proves sensitive to the realities of historical injustice. Following his friend Reinhold Schneider, von Balthasar conceives of the grace/power dynamic symbolically as an encounter between the 'king' and the 'saint' (understood metonymically as stand-ins for grace and power writ large). The value of von Balthasar’s approach lies in the way in which it conceives of an essential continuity between the historical present and the eschatological future, thus providing the grounds for a critique of the former in light of the latter. I aim to highlight these and other features of von Balthasar’s account in order to contribute to the growing body of research that reads von Balthasar’s theology as a resource for a liberative political theology (Walatka, Brown, etc.) as well as to establish some general theological principles for a theology of protest. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1783-161X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Louvain studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/LS.44.1.3289243 |