View source for Biography:Hans Urs von Balthasar

{{Short description|Swiss Catholic theologian (1905–1988)}}
{{Infobox person
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| name               = Hans Urs von Balthasar
| honorific_suffix   = 
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| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1905|8|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Place:Lucerne|Lucerne]], Switzerland
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1988|6|26|1905|8|12|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Place:Basel|Basel]], Switzerland
| awards             = 
| module             = {{Infobox clergy
| child         = yes
| religion      = [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] (Roman Catholic)
| church        = Latin Church
| ordained      = 1936 (priest)
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| school_tradition  = ''[[Religion:Nouvelle théologie|Nouvelle théologie]]''
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = 
| influences        = {{flatlist|
* Rudolf Allers<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nichols |first=Aidan |year=1998 |title=An Introduction to Balthasar |journal=New Blackfriars |volume=79 |issue=923 |pages=2–10 |doi=10.1111/j.1741-2005.1998.tb02800.x |issn=1741-2005 |jstor=43250077}}</ref>
* [[Biography:Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm of Canterbury]]<ref name="Wigley">{{cite thesis |author=Stephen David Wigley |year=2006 |title=Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar: A Critical Engagement |url=http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/247 |degree=PhD |location=Birmingham |publisher=University of Birmingham |page=230 |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref>
* [[Biography:Thomas Aquinas|Thomas Aquinas]]<ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), p. 3.</ref>
* [[Biography:Karl Barth|Karl Barth]]<ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), p. 1.</ref>
* [[Biography:Martin Buber|Martin Buber]] 
* Henri de Lubac 
* [[Biography:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]<ref name="Polanco 2017, p. 413">{{cite journal |last=Polanco |first=Rodrigo |year=2017 |title=Understanding Von Balthasar's Trilogy |journal=Theologica Xaveriana |volume=67 |issue=184 |page=413 |doi=10.11144/javeriana.tx67-184.uvbt |doi-access=free |issn=0120-3649}}</ref>
* G.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;F. Hegel<ref name="Polanco 2017, p. 413"/>
* Friedrich Hölderlin<ref name="Polanco 2017, p. 413"/>
* Ignatius of Loyola<ref>{{cite book |last=Walatka |first=Todd |year=2017 |title=Von Balthasar and the Option for the Poor: Theodramatics in the Light of Liberation Theology |location=Washington |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |page=105 |isbn=978-0-8132-2948-5}}</ref>
* Irenaeus<ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), p. 144.</ref>
* [[Biography:Maximus the Confessor|Maximus the Confessor]]<ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), p. 104.</ref>
* [[Biography:Origen|Origen]]
* [[Biography:Plato|Plato]]<ref name="Polanco 2017, p. 413"/>
* Erich Przywara<ref name="Polanco 2017, p. 413"/><ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), pp. 14–15.</ref>
* Adrienne von Speyr<ref>Stephen David Wigley (2006), p. 145.</ref>
}}
| era               = 
| discipline        = [[Religion:Theology|Theology]]
| sub_discipline    = {{hlist | [[Religion:Christology|Christology]] | [[Religion:Soteriology|soteriology]] | [[Religion:Systematic theology|systematic theology]] | [[Religion:Theological aesthetics|theological aesthetics]]}}
| workplaces        = <!--full-time positions only, not student positions-->
| doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
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| main_interests    = 
| notable_works     = 
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| influenced        = {{flatlist|
* [[Biography:Robert Barron|Robert Barron]]
* Stratford Caldecott
* [[Biography:David Bentley Hart|David Bentley Hart]]<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Placher |first=William C. |date=September 7, 2004 |title=God's Beauty |url=https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2004-09/gods-beauty |url-access=subscription |magazine=The Christian Century |volume=121 |issue=18 |location=Chicago |page=42 |issn=0009-5281 |access-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726084459/https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2004-09/gods-beauty |archive-date=26 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Biography:Dietrich von Hildebrand|Dietrich von Hildebrand]]
* [[Biography:Jean-Luc Marion|Jean-Luc Marion]]
* [[Biography:John Milbank|John Milbank]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=D. Stephen |year=2000 |title=Divine Economy: Theology and the Market |url=https://archive.org/details/divineeconomythe00long |url-access=limited |series=Radical Orthodoxy |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=[https://archive.org/details/divineeconomythe00long/page/n263 251] |isbn=978-1-134-58888-6}}</ref>
* Aidan Nichols
* Thierry de Roucy
* Raymund Schwager
* [[Biography:Eric Voegelin|Eric Voegelin]]
}}
}}
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}}
'''Hans Urs von Balthasar''' (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a {{wipe|Switzerland}} theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century.<ref name="oakes">{{Cite book |editor=Edward T. Oakes |editor2=David Moss |title=The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TBF6xVdJyQEC |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |year=2004 |isbn=1-13982680-8 }}</ref> [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] announced his choice of Balthasar to become a [[Religion:Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]], but he died shortly before the consistory. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]]) said in his funeral oration for Balthasar that "he is right in what he teaches of the faith" and that he "points the way to the sources of living water".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ratzinger|first=Joseph Cardinal|date=Winter 1988|title=Homily at the Funeral Liturgy for Hans Urs von Balthasar |journal=[[Religion:Communio|Communio]] |volume=15 |pages=512–16}}</ref>

With Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac, he founded the theological journal ''[[Religion:Communio|Communio]]''. Over the course of his life, he authored 85 books, over 500 articles and essays, and almost 100 translations.<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Henrici |editor=David L. Schindler |title=Hans Urs Von Balthasar. His Life and Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTK8zhja1v4C |chapter=Hans Urs von Balthasar: A Sketch of His Life |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTK8zhja1v4C&q=%22Hans+Urs+von+Balthasar:+A+Sketch+of+His+Life%22&pg=PT30 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location={{wipe|San Francisco}} |year=1991 |isbn=0-89870378-6 |page=31}}</ref> He is known for his 15-volume trilogy on beauty (''The Glory of the Lord''), goodness (''Theo-Drama''), and truth (''Theo-Logic'').

==Life and career==

=== Early life ===
[[File:Franziskanerkirche in Lucerne.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Franziskanerkirche (Franciscan Church) in Lucerne, Switzerland]]
Balthasar was born in [[Place:Lucerne|Lucerne]], Switzerland, on 12 August 1905, to a noble family. His father, Oscar Ludwig Carl von Balthasar (1872–1946), was a church architect, and his mother, Gabrielle Pietzcker (d. 1929), helped found the ''Schweizerischer Katholischer Frauenbund'' (Swiss League of Catholic Women). Pietzcker was related to the beatified Hungarian bishop Blessed Vilmos Apor, who was shot by [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet]] troops in 1945 while trying to protect women from drunken Soviet soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Blessed Vilmos Apor|url=https://www.mindszentyalapitvany.hu/en/canonization/hungarian-blesseds/blessed-vilmos-apor|access-date=2020-10-06|website=Mindszenty Alapítvány|language=en}}</ref> Oscar and Gabrielle had three children. Hans Urs was the eldest. Their son Dieter would join the [[Religion:Swiss Guard|Swiss Guard]]. Their daughter Renée (1908–1986) became the superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of Sainte-Marie des Anges.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 8.</ref> Hans Urs would later describe his family as "straightforwardly Catholic ... I grew up with a faith that was equally straightforward, untroubled by doubt. I can still remember the silent and very moving early Masses on my own in the choir of the Franciscan church in Lucerne and the ten-o'clock Mass in the Jesuit church, which I thought was stunningly beautiful."<ref>{{Cite book|last=von Balthasar|first=Hans Urs|title=Our Task|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=1994|isbn=9780898705157|location=San Francisco|page=35}}</ref>

As a child, Hans and his family spent much time at the hotel Pension Felsberg, which his grandmother managed. Here, he was regularly exposed to a "cosmopolitan" atmosphere where "trilingualism (German, French, English) [was] taken for granted," as biographer Peter Henrici notes.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 8–9.</ref> Hans, who had absolute pitch, was immersed in classical music, particularly Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler, and this interest would continue through early adulthood. By his own account, he "spent endless hours on the piano".<ref name="Von Balthasar p. 36">Von Balthasar, ''Our Task'', p. 36.</ref> While doing university studies in Vienna, he reportedly would play the piano four hands almost nightly with his roommate Rudolf Allers. Later, as a Jesuit chaplain, he would perform a transcription of Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' from memory.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 16.</ref>

=== Education ===
[[File:07HUvB Wien.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Balthasar in his early twenties, during studies in Vienna]]
Educated first by Benedictine monks at the abbey school of Engelberg in central Switzerland—during the time of the [[Social:World War I|First World War]]—Balthasar transferred to the more academically rigorous Stella Matutina, a preparatory school run by the Society of Jesus in Feldkirch, Austria, whose alumni include [[Biography:Arthur Conan Doyle|Arthur Conan Doyle]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 {{!}} Dartmouth Library Archives & Manuscripts|url=https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/agents/people/1483|access-date=2020-10-06|website=archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu}}</ref> and the Thomist cardinal Franz Ehrle.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science|publisher=Marcel Dekker|year=1985|isbn=0824720377|editor-last=Kent|editor-first=Allen|volume=38, Supp. 3|location=New York|pages=145}}</ref> Aside from music, Balthasar also took a strong interest in literature, later citing [[Biography:Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and [[Biography:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] as key early influences.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 9.</ref>

A year before graduation from Stella Matutina, he enrolled early at the [[Organization:University of Zurich|University of Zurich]] to study German literature. After stints researching in [[Place:Vienna|Vienna]] and [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]], he obtained his doctorate in 1928, with a dissertation on the theme of [[Unsolved:Eschatology|Eschatology]] in German and Germanophone thought, drawing heavily from Catholic theology.<ref>The doctorate was entitled "History of the Eschatological Problem in German Literature". It appeared, considerably rewritten, as ''Apokalypse der deutschen Seele'', 3 vols, (Salzburg, 1937-9)</ref> Writing in the 1980s, he said of this latter work that "its fundamental impulse was the desire to reveal ... the ultimate religious attitude, often hidden, of the great figures of modern German literature. I wanted to let them, so to speak, 'make their confession'. The work was of insufficient maturity—most of the chapters ought to be rewritten—and yet some of it may still be valid."<ref name=":1">Von Balthasar, ''Our Task'', p. 37.</ref> According to Henrici, submitting a dissertation of this nature to the "Liberal Protestant" University of Zurich was academically risky for a student at that time, but the faculty awarded Balthasar his doctorate ''[[Social:Latin honors|summa cum laude]].''<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 10–11.</ref>

=== Society of Jesus ===
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| source = — Hans Urs von Balthasar, on his vocation to the Jesuits
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Though a practicing Catholic, with "untroubled faith" and "devotion to our Lady," Balthasar had remained largely uninterested in theology and spirituality until his university years.<ref name="Von Balthasar p. 36"/> At the [[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]]—where atheism was prevalent—he was influenced in his religious thinking by Hans Eibl and, more decisively, his friend Rudolf Allers, a convert to Catholicism.<ref name="Von Balthasar p. 36"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cirelli|first=Anthony|date=14 April 2011|title=Facing the Abyss: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Reading of Anxiety|journal=New Blackfriars|pages=706|doi=10.1111/j.1741-2005.2010.01388.x}}</ref> While studying in Berlin, too, he heard lectures by the theologian [[Biography:Romano Guardini|Romano Guardini]].<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 10.</ref>

In 1929, Balthasar attended a retreat for students in Wyhlen, Germany, and sensed what he believed to be a sudden call to follow [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus Christ]]:<blockquote>Even today [in 1959], after thirty years, I could still find again the tree on the lost path in the Black Forest, not far from Basel, under which I was struck as if by lightning.... [I]t was neither theology nor the priesthood that, at that moment, appeared in a flash before my mind; it was this alone: You have nothing to choose; you are called. You will not serve; another will use you. You have no plans to make; you are only a small little tile in a mosaic that has long been ready. I needed only to "leave everything and follow," without making plans, without wishes or ideas: I needed only to stand there and wait and see what I would be used for—and so it happened.<ref>von Balthasar, Hans Urs. "Perché mi sono fatto sacerdote." In ''Hans Urs von Balthasar''. Edited by Elio Guerriero. Milan: Edizioni Paoline, 1991.</ref></blockquote>He understood this experience as having been mediated by the figure of Ignatius of Loyola. Balthasar would later write of Loyola, "I did not choose him; he set me ablaze like a bolt of lightning."<ref>von Balthasar, Hans Urs (1988). "Le sorgenti della vita." In ''La realtà e la gloria: Articoli e interviste 1978–1988''. Milan: EDIT.</ref> On November 18, 1929, Balthasar entered the Society of Jesus in south Germany, not long after the death of his mother.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 12.</ref> At that time, Jesuit work and ministry was prohibited in Switzerland by constitutional law.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 14–15.</ref>
[[File:Von Balthasar family 1930s.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Balthasar (second from left) with his sister, father, and brother]]
After two years as a Jesuit novice, he studied philosophy at Pullach, near [[Place:Munich|Munich]], where he came into contact with Erich Przywara, who formed him in [[Philosophy:Scholasticism|Scholasticism]] and whose work on the ''analogia entis'' impacted him, though he would later express some hesitation about certain aspects of his thought. In 1932, Balthasar moved to Fourvière, the Jesuit school in Lyon, France, for four years of theological study. Here he encountered fellow Jesuits Henri Bouillard, Jean Daniélou, [[Biography:Gaston Fessard|Gaston Fessard]], and Henri de Lubac, figures later associated with the ''[[Religion:Nouvelle théologie|nouvelle théologie]].'' De Lubac kindled the young student's interest in the [[Religion:Church Fathers|Church Fathers]], especially [[Biography:Origen|Origen]], [[Biography:Gregory of Nyssa|Gregory of Nyssa]], and [[Biography:Maximus the Confessor|Maximus the Confessor]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=von Balthasar|first=Hans Urs|title=Test Everything—Hold Fast to What Is Good|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=1989|isbn=9780898701968|location=San Francisco|pages=11–12}}</ref> In Lyon, Balthasar also encountered the work of French writers [[Biography:Charles Péguy|Charles Péguy]], Georges Bernanos, and Paul Claudel.

Balthasar was ordained a priest on 26 July 1936. As a motto on his ordination card, he used the phrase ''"Benedixit, fregit, deditque"'' ("He blessed it, broke it, and gave"), taken from the words of the institution of the Eucharist in the Gospel of Luke.<ref>Henrici, "A Sketch", p. 14.</ref> After finishing his theological studies in 1937, he was sent to Munich to work at the journal ''Stimmen der Zeit'', where he remained until 1939. He completed his tertianship with Albert Steger in 1940.
[[File:HUvB-Schulungsgemeinschaft.jpg|thumb|Balthasar (third from right) with the Studentische Schulungsgemeinschaft]]
When given the choice between a professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome and a role as student [[Religion:Chaplain|chaplain]] in [[Place:Basel|Basel]], Switzerland, he chose the chaplaincy, preferring pastoral work to academia. Moving to Basel in 1940, Balthasar edited the ''Europaische Reihe'' literary series for the Sammlung Klosterberg, translated French Resistance poetry, helped to produce plays (including a staging of his own translations of Bernanos' ''Dialogues of the Carmelites'' and Claudel's ''The Satin Slipper''), published book-length studies on [[Biography:Maximus the Confessor|Maximus the Confessor]] and [[Biography:Gregory of Nyssa|Gregory of Nyssa]], and regularly lectured to students. He established the ''Studentische Schulungsgemeinschaft'' in 1941, an institute for student formation that featured courses and conferences by [[Biography:Hugo Rahner|Hugo Rahner]], [[Biography:Martin Buber|Martin Buber]], Yves Congar, Gustav Siewerth, Henri de Lubac, and others. To the students, Balthasar offered liturgies, sermons, retreats, and spiritual direction, with a particular emphasis on the ''Spiritual Exercises'' of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 15–16.</ref> According to Jacques Servais, "A good number of the young men eventually entered the Society of Jesus, while others decided to remain in the lay state, hoping to find a form of consecration to God in the world."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises: An Anthology|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2019|editor-last=Servais|editor-first=Jacques|location=San Francisco|pages=xvi–xvii}}</ref>

=== Collaboration with Adrienne von Speyr ===
[[File:Adrienne von Speyr high res.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Adrienne von Speyr]]
During his first months in Basel, he met the physician Adrienne von Speyr through a mutual friend. A mother in her late thirties, and a somewhat prominent figure in Basel society, she was married to the historian Werner Kaegi, with two children from her first marriage to Emil Dürr, who had died suddenly in 1934. She was a Protestant, but interested in becoming Catholic. Balthasar began to offer her catechetical instruction and later said of this process, "In the instructions she understood everything immediately, as though she had only—and for how long!—waited to hear exactly what I was saying in order to affirm it."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Von Balthasar|first=Hans Urs|title=First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2017|isbn=978-1-62164-180-3|location=San Francisco|pages=32}}</ref>

Shortly following her reception into the Catholic Church on 1 November 1940—at a liturgy celebrated by Balthasar—Speyr began reporting intense experiences in prayer, including visions of [[Religion:Passion of Jesus|Christ's Passion]] and encounters with various [[Religion:Saint|saint]]s. In Balthasar's words, "A veritable cataract of mystical graces poured over Adrienne in a seemingly chaotic storm that whirled her in all directions at once."<ref>Von Balthasar, ''First Glance'', p. 33.</ref> He began to accompany her as a spiritual director, in order to help evaluate the experiences. After he became convinced of the authenticity of Speyr's [[Religion:Christian mysticism|mysticism]], Balthasar and Speyr both began to believe that they had a shared theological mission.<ref>Von Balthasar, ''Our Task'', p. 13–20.</ref>

Between 1944 and 1960, Speyr dictated to Balthasar some 60 books of spiritual and Scriptural commentary. Given Speyr's responsibilities as a mother and a practicing doctor, Balthasar alone worked to arrange, edit, and publish the texts. In 1947, he founded a publishing house, Johannes Verlag, in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, where he began to print and distribute her works with ecclesiastical ''[[Religion:Imprimatur|imprimatur]]''.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 19.</ref> Some of Speyr's works, namely those of a more explicitly mystical character, were not released until [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] organized a Vatican symposium on her thought in 1985, almost 20 years after her death.<ref>Von Balthasar, ''First Glance'', pp. 91–95.</ref><ref>Von Balthasar, ''Our Task'', p. 9.</ref> In an interview with Angelo Scola in 1986, Balthasar gave a portrait of his relationship with the "extensive theology" of von Speyr:<blockquote>All I attempted to do was gather it up and embed it in a space, such as the theology of the Fathers, that of the Middle Ages and the modern age, with which I was fairly familiar. My contribution consisted in providing a comprehensive theological horizon, so that all that was new and valid in her thought would not be watered down or falsified, but be given space to unfold. With a mere textbook-theology one could not have captured Adrienne's work; it required a knowledge of the great tradition to realize that her original propositions in no way contradicted it.<ref>Von Balthasar, ''Test Everything'', p. 88.</ref></blockquote>Von Speyr and von Balthasar also collaborated closely in the founding of the ''[https://balthasarspeyr.org/community-of-st-john/ Johannesgemeinschaft]'' (Community of Saint John), a Catholic institute of [[Philosophy:Consecrated life|consecrated]] laypeople established in 1945, with a mission to work for the sanctification of the world from within the world.<ref>Von Balthasar, ''Our Task'', p. 55.</ref> It became more widely known three years later when Balthasar produced a theology for secular institutes in his work ''Der Laie und der Ordenstand'', the first book to be published by Johannes Verlag.<ref>Aidan Nichols, ''The word has been abroad: a guide through Balthasar's aesthetics'', Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar 1, (1998), p. xviii.</ref> After a long discernment, Balthasar would eventually leave the Society of Jesus to found this community, since his superiors did not believe it would be compatible with Jesuit life. He saw it as a "personal, special, and non-delegable task."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Servais|first=Jacques|title=Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Spiritual Exercises|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2019|isbn=9781621642794|location=San Francisco|pages=xx–xxi}}</ref> Speyr referred to the ''Johannesgemeinschaft'' metaphorically as a “Child” she shared with the priest—an analogy that has drawn some criticism<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Ralph|title=Balthasar and Speyr: First Steps in a Discernment of Spirits|url=https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:52efcdaa-cdb5-4f7f-abc1-122cc68e4369|website=Adobe Cloud}}</ref> but been defended by others.<ref>Miles, ''Obedience'', pp. 11, 50–52.</ref> Speyr served as the superior of the women's branch of the community until her death.

=== Departure from the Jesuits ===
Beginning in 1945, the year in which he published ''Das Herz der Welt'' (''Heart of the World''),<ref name=":3" /> Balthasar met a series of difficulties. He was scheduled to give a Christmas sermon on Swiss public radio, but this was cancelled at the last moment because of the ongoing national constitutional ban on Jesuit activity. The event caused some controversy. In June 1946, his father passed away, followed not long after by his godmother. In May 1946, Robert Rast, a Jesuit novice who had been his friend and collaborator in the Schulungsgemeinschaft, died of tuberculosis.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 19-20.</ref>

That same year, his Jesuit superiors informed him that the Society of Jesus could not be answerable for the Community of Saint John, the secular institute he had begun to organize with Adrienne von Speyr.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 21.</ref> Feeling that he "was being called by God to certain definite tasks in the Church", he made a 30-day retreat at the request of Father General Jean-Baptiste Janssens, where the director confirmed that Balthasar, while remaining a priest, should leave the Jesuit order to work with the Community of Saint John. Balthasar considered this a "very grave" step,<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 20–21.</ref> but in 1950, he officially left the Society of Jesus.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Munro |first=André |title=Hans Urs von Balthasar |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Urs-von-Balthasar |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=21 January 2014 |access-date=9 July 2018}}</ref> He renewed his religious vows a few months later. Shortly before his exit from the society, the University of Munich offered him a professorship, as a successor to [[Biography:Romano Guardini|Romano Guardini]], but he declined.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 24.</ref> He remained without a ministerial role in the church until, in 1956, he was incardinated into the Diocese of Chur as a [[Religion:Secular clergy|diocesan priest]].

=== Lectures, writing, and publishing (1950–1967) ===
[[File:Glory of the Lord vol 1 English.jpg|thumb|263x263px|''The Glory of the Lord'', vol. 1 (2nd English ed., Ignatius Press, 2009)]]
Balthasar's exit from the Jesuits left him "literally on the street", as biographer Peter Henrici notes, and he took up lecture tours across Germany, which helped him provide for himself and fund the Johannes Verlag publishing house.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 23–24.</ref> He also continued giving retreats to young people. Between 1950 and 1956, he authored a number of books and articles, including ''Therese von Lisieux'' (''Thérèse of Lisieux'') (1950), ''Schleifung der Bastionen'' (''Razing the Bastions'') (1952), ''Das betrachtende Gebet'' (''Prayer'') (1955), and ''Die Gottesfrage des heutigen Menschen'' (''The God Question and Modern Man'') (1956), as well as monograph studies of Georges Bernanos, [[Biography:Karl Barth|Karl Barth]], and Reinhold Schneider. Much of his work during this period—written after the release of Pope Pius XII's apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia, which gave an ecclesiastical blessing to secular institutes—confronts the question of how Christian discipleship might be lived from within the world.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 26–27.</ref>

After he was welcomed into the Diocese of Chur, he settled in the city of [[Place:Basel|Basel]], hosted by his married friends Werner Kaegi and Adrienne von Speyr, in whose home he remained until 1967. During this period—although he was diagnosed with leukemia in 1958—Balthasar wrote prolifically,<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), pp. 26.</ref> most notably the seven-volume work ''Herrlichkeit'' (The Glory of the Lord) (1961–1967), which was to serve as the first part of a theological trilogy on the three classical [[Philosophy:Transcendentals|transcendentals]] of beauty, goodness, and truth. He also translated and edited for Johannes Verlag, with an emphasis on the writing of his collaborator Speyr. Balthasar was not invited to take part in the Second Vatican Council, which took place during this time, but after the release of ''Herrlichkeit'', his theological reputation would grow significantly.

Adrienne von Speyr, who had been seriously ill since the mid-1950s, died on September 17, 1967, and Balthasar assumed responsibility for the Community of Saint John.

=== Later years: ''Communio'' and ecclesiastical honors ===
Moving to another house in Basel, Balthasar continued to write, edit, and translate extensively.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2020|title=Bibliographie Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988)|url=http://www.johannes-verlag.de/jh_huvb_bibliographie.pdf|website=Johannes Verlag}}</ref>

[[File:Tomba 200dpi.jpg|thumb|right|255x255px|Tomb of von Balthasar, Church of St. Leodegar im Hof, Lucerne]]

In 1969, Pope Paul VI appointed him to the [[Religion:International Theological Commission|International Theological Commission]]. He worked as a theological secretary at the Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 1971, penning the synod document on priestly spirituality, and he also received the Romano Guardini Prize from the Catholic Academy of Bavaria.<ref>Peter Henrici (1991), p. 35.</ref>
With [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Joseph Ratzinger]] and Henri de Lubac, he founded the international theological journal ''[[Religion:Communio|Communio]]'' in 1971, with collaboration from members of the Italian Communion and Liberation movement, including Angelo Scola.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Guerriero|first=Elio|title=Benedict XVI: His Life and Thought|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2018|isbn=9781642290493|location=San Francisco|pages=218–24}}</ref> The journal was conceived as a more traditionally minded alternative to the progressive ''Concilium'', and Balthasar described its mission in terms of courage:  "[T]his truth we believe in strips us bare. Like lambs among wolves. It is not a matter of bravado, but of Christian courage, to expose oneself to risk."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=von Balthasar|first=Hans Urs|date=Spring 2006|title=Communio—A Program|url=https://www.communio-icr.com/files/balthasar33-1.pdf|journal=Communio|volume=33|pages=153–69}}</ref> [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Karol Wojtyła]] became the editor of the Polish edition of the review.

Later in the 1970s, he was given fellowships at the British Academy and the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, in addition to prizes for translation. In 1984 [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] awarded him the first Paul VI International Prize for his contributions to theology.<ref name="Britannica" /> The following year saw an official Vatican symposium on the life and work of Adrienne von Speyr, which closed with a laudatory closing address by the pope.

=== Death ===
From the low point of being banned from teaching as a result of his leaving the Society of Jesus,<ref>''Leaving the Society meant that Balthasar was without a position, a pastorate, a place to live, or an income. Because he had left the Jesuit order, the Catholic Congregation for Seminaries and Universities had banned him from teaching. But he eventually found an ecclesiastical home under a sympathetic bishop and was able to live by a grueling schedule of lecture tours.'' [http://homepages.which.net/~radical.faith/thought/balthasar.htm "Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)" ''Radical Faith'' The Society of the Sacred Mission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405084550/http://homepages.which.net/~radical.faith/thought/balthasar.htm |date=2007-04-05 }}, retrieved 1 February 2009.</ref> Balthasar's reputation had risen to the extent that [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] announced plans to make him a cardinal on 29 May 1988. He died, however, in his home in Basel on 26 June 1988, two days before the ceremony which would have granted him that rank.<ref>On 29 May 1988 [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] announced his intention to create Balthasar a cardinal at the next consistory, scheduled for 28 June 1988; see Salvador Miranda, "[http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/consistories-xx.htm#6-28-88 Consistories for the creation of Cardinals: 20th Century (1903-2005)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627065511/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/consistories-xx.htm#6-28-88 |date=2015-06-27 }}," retrieved 9 May 2013. One is not a cardinal until the pope announces the new cardinal in a consistory with the existing members of the College of Cardinals; see Code of Canon Law (1983), [https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#CHAPTER_III. canon 351].</ref> He is buried in the cemetery of the Church of St. Leodegar im Hof (Hofkirche) in Lucerne.<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Henrici |editor=David L. Schindler |title=Hans Urs Von Balthasar. His Life and Work |chapter=A Sketch of His Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTK8zhja1v4C |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTK8zhja1v4C&q=%22von+Balthasar%22+Hofkirche&pg=PT18 |year=1991 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location={{wipe|San Francisco}} |isbn=0-89870378-6 }}</ref>

==Theology==
Along with [[Biography:Karl Rahner|Karl Rahner]] and [[Biography:Bernard Lonergan|Bernard Lonergan]], Balthasar sought to offer a response to [[Philosophy:Modernity#Culturally and philosophically|Western modernity]], which posed a challenge to traditional Catholic thought.<ref name=oakes />{{rp|262}} While Rahner offered a progressive, accommodating position on modernity and Lonergan worked out a philosophy of history that sought to critically appropriate modernity, Balthasar resisted the reductionism and human focus of modernity, wanting Christianity to be more challenging toward modern sensibilities.;<ref name=oakes/>{{rp|262}} <ref>{{Cite journal
  | author =John Anthony Berry
  | url =https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/224735/MT622013145-170JohnAnthonyBerry,HansUrsvonBalthasarontheMomentofChristianWitness.pdf
  | title =Tested in Fire: Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Moment of Christian Witness
  | journal =MELiTA THEoLoGiCA
  | volume =62
  | pages =145–170
  | date =2012
  | access-date =11 October 2018
  | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20181011214507/https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/224735/MT622013145-170JohnAnthonyBerry,HansUrsvonBalthasarontheMomentofChristianWitness.pdf
  | archive-date =11 October 2018
  | url-status =dead
  }}</ref> Balthasar is eclectic in his approach, sources, and interests and remains difficult to categorize.<ref name=oakes/>{{rp|2}} An example of his eclecticism was his long study and conversation with the influential Reformed Swiss theologian [[Biography:Karl Barth|Karl Barth]], on whose work he wrote the first Catholic analysis and response. Although Balthasar's major points of analysis on Barth's work have been disputed, his book ''The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation'' (1951) remains a classic work for its sensitivity and insight; Barth himself agreed with its analysis of his own theological enterprise, calling it the best book on his own theology.<ref>{{Cite journal
  | last =Colón-Emeric
  | first =Edgardo Antonio
  | url = https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-133108472/symphonic-truth-von-balthasar-and-christian-humanism <!-- https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2005-05/symphonic-truth -->
  | title =Symphonic Truth: Von Balthasar and Christian Humanism
  | journal =The Christian Century
  | volume = 122
  | issue = 11
  | pages = 30–
  | date =31 May 2005
  | access-date  = 21 November 2016
  }}</ref> A distinctive thought in Balthasar's work is that our first experience after birth is the face of love of our mothers, where the "I" encounters for the first time the "Thou", and the "Thou" smiles in a relationship of love and sustenance.<ref name="oakes" />{{rp|236}}

==Writings and thought==

=== Trilogy ===
Balthasar was better known for his sixteen-volume systematic theological "trilogy", published between 1961 and 1987, with a concluding ''"epilog"'' ("epilogue"). It is called a trilogy because it is divided into [[Philosophy:Trichotomy|three parts]]: ''Herrlichkeit'' (''The Glory of the Lord''), ''Theodramatik'' (''Theo-Drama''), and  ''Theologik'' (''Theo-Logic''). They follow the threefold self-description of Jesus in the Gospel of John {{bibleref2-nb|John|14:6|NKJV}} ("I am the way, the truth, and the life") and therefore the [[Philosophy:Transcendentals|transcendentals]] ''bonum'', ''verum'', and ''pulchrum'' (the good, the true, and the beautiful),<ref>{{cite book
 | editor1=Mathijs Lamberigts
 | editor2=Lieven Boeve
 | editor3=Terrence Merrigan
 | others=In collaboration with Dirk Claes
 | title=Theology and the Quest for Truth. Historical- and Systematic-theological Studies
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaFDKoELWY0C
 | publisher=[[Company:Peeters (publishing company)|Peeters Publishers]]
 | location=Leuven
 | year=2007
 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DaFDKoELWY0C&dq=%22Balthasar+published+the+first+book+of+his+impressive+trilogy,+which+he+conceived+according+to+the+three+transcendentalia+'the+Beautiful,+the+Good,+and+the+True'%22%22purposefully+inverting+the+traditional+order+of+the+transcendentals+(verum,+bonum,+pulchrum)%22&pg=PA79 79]
 | isbn=978-9-04291873-3
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Aidan Nichols
 | title=A Key to Balthasar. Hans Urs von Balthasar on Beauty, Goodness, and Truth
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbgjKQEACAAJ
 | publisher=Baker Publishing Group
 | location=Ada Township, Michigan
 | year=2011
 | isbn=978-0-80103974-4
 }}</ref> although the trilogy begins with ''Herrlichkeit'', a study of the ''pulchrum'', the beautiful.

====''Herrlichkeit'' (''The Glory of the Lord'') ====
''Herrlichkeit'' is a seven-volume work on [[Religion:Theological aesthetics|theological aesthetics]]. One of the most often quoted passages from the trilogy comes from the first volume, ''Schau der Gestalt'' (''Seeing the Form''): "Before the beautiful—no, not really ''before'' but ''within'' the beautiful—the whole person quivers. He not only 'finds' the beautiful moving; rather, he experiences himself as being moved and possessed by it."<ref name="oakes" />{{rp|270}}

#''Schau der Gestalt'' (''Seeing the Form'') (1961)
#''Fächer der Stile: Klerikale Stile'' (''Studies in Theological Style:'' ''Clerical Styles'') (1962)
#''Fächer der Stile: Laikale Stile'' (''Studies in Theological Style:'' ''Lay Styles'') (1962)
#''Im Raum der Metaphysik: Altertum'' (''The Realm of Metaphysics in Antiquity'') (1965)
#''Im Raum der Metaphysik: Neuzeit'' (''The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age'') (1965)
#''Theologie: Alter Bund'' (''Theology: The Old Covenant)'' (1967)
#''Theologie: Neuer Bund'' (''Theology: The New Covenant'') (1967)

According to Cyril O'Regan of the University of Notre Dame, "Aquinas is hardly absent from the three thousand pages of ''Glory of God''" and "nowhere throughout the trilogy do we find a trace of Thomistic triumphalism in which Aquinas is considered to be ''the'' philosopher and theologian of the Catholic church."<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://stpaulcenter.com/14-nv-18-2-oregan/|title=Thomism in Ecstasy: Olivier-Thomas Vernard on the Wording of Theology and the Expropriation of Cultural Discourses|journal=Nova et Vetera| volume=18| issue=2 |year=2020| page=700| access-date =April 1, 2022|oclc=8603189023|issn=1542-7315}}</ref>

====''Theodramatik (Theo-Drama'') ====
''Theodramatik'' is a five-volume work of "theological dramatic theory", examining the [[Philosophy:Ethics|ethics]] and goodness in the action of God and in man's response, especially in the events of [[Religion:Good Friday|Good Friday]], [[Religion:Holy Saturday|Holy Saturday]], and Easter Sunday. Balthasar's [[Religion:Soteriology|soteriology]], christology, and eschatology are here developed.

#''Prolegomena'' ''(Prolegomena'') (1973)
#''Die Personen des Spiels: Der Mensch in Gott'' (Dramatis Personae'': Man in God'') (1976)
#''Die Personen des Spiels: Die Personen in Christus'' (Dramatis Personae'': Persons in Christ'') (1978)
#''Die Handlung'' (''The Action'') (1981)
#''Das Endspiel'' (''The Last Act'') (1983)

====''Theologik'' (''Theo-Logic'') ====
''Theologik'' is a three-volume work on "theological logical theory" describing the [[Truth|truth]] about the relation of the nature of Jesus Christ (christology) to reality itself ([[Philosophy:Ontology|ontology]], or the study of being). Volume 1, ''Wahrheit der Welt'' (''Truth of the World''), originally appeared as a standalone book in 1947, but was released with some revision in 1985 as the first part of ''Theologik''.

#''Wahrheit der Welt'' (''Truth of the World'') (1985)
#''Wahrheit Gottes'' (''Truth of God'') (1985)
#''Der Geist der Wahrheit'' (''The Spirit of Truth'') (1987)

=== ''Apokalypse der deutschen Seele'' ===
Balthasar's first major work, the three-volume ''Apokalypse der deutschen Seele'' (''Apocalypse of the German Soul''), written from 1937 to 1939, was an expansion of his doctoral dissertation and a study in German literature, theology, and philosophy. Published in Germany and Austria during the Third Reich, one scholar has argued that the work contains anti-Semitism.<ref>See "Chapter Seven: The anti-modern anti-Semitic complex" in Paul Silas Peterson, ''The Early Hans Urs von Balthasar: Historical Contexts and Intellectual Formation'' (2015).</ref> Balthasar later remarked on the ''Apokalypse'', "The work was of insufficient maturity—most of the chapters ought to be rewritten—and yet some of it may still be valid."<ref name=":1" />

=== Other works ===
Balthasar also wrote of the lives of saints and [[Religion:Church Fathers|Church Fathers]]. Saints appear as an example of the lived Christian life throughout his writings. Instead of merely systematic analysis of theology, Balthasar described his theology as a "kneeling theology" deeply connected to contemplative prayer and as a "sitting theology" intensely connected to faith seeking understanding guided by the heart and mind of the Catholic Church.<ref name=oakes/>{{rp|265}}

Balthasar was very concerned that his writings address spiritual and practical issues. He insisted that his theology never be divorced from the mystical experiences of his long-time friend and convert, the physician Adrienne von Speyr.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hans Urs von Balthasar
 | title=My Work. In Retrospect
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYhHDwAAQBAJ
 | year=1993
 | orig-date=1990
 | publisher=Ignatius Press
 | location=San Francisco
 | isbn=1-68149347-0
 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iYhHDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+greater+part+of+so+much+of+what+I+have+written+is+a+translation+of+what+is+present+in+more+immediate,+less+technical+fashion+in+the+powerful+work+of+Adrienne+von+Speyr%22&pg=PT51 153]}}</ref>

Balthasar published varied works spanning many decades, fields of study (e.g., literature and literary analysis, lives of the saints, and the Church Fathers), and languages.

Balthasar used the expression ''Casta Meretrix'' to argue that the term [[Religion:Whore of Babylon|Whore of Babylon]] was acceptable in a certain tradition of the Church, in the writings of Rabanus Maurus for instance.<ref>[http://www.wquercus.com/faith/casta_meretrix.htm Casta Meretrix: The Church as Harlot] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201093241/http://wquercus.com/faith/casta_meretrix.htm |date=2010-02-01}}.</ref>

At Balthasar's funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]], said, speaking of Balthasar's work in general: "What the pope intended to express by this mark of distinction [i.e., elevation to the cardinalate], and of honor, remains valid; no longer only private individuals but the Church itself, in its official responsibility, tells us that he is right in what he teaches of the faith."<ref>{{Cite journal
  | author = John L. Allen Jr.
  | title = The Word From Rome
  | journal = National Catholic Reporter
  | volume = 3
  | issue = 15
  | date =November 28, 2003
  | url = http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word112803.htm}}</ref>

===Debate on Hell, hope, and salvation===
[[File:Edith Stein (ca. 1938-1939).jpg|thumb|Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)]]
In light of the 1987 book ''Was dürfen wir hoffen?'' [English title: ''Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?''], a number of critics have accused Balthasar of implicitly advocating [[Religion:Christian universalism|universalism]] or [[Philosophy:Apocatastasis|apocatastasis]], the teaching that all people will inherit eternal life, often associated with [[Biography:Origen|Origen]].<ref name="Pitstick" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Martin|first=Ralph|title=A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward|publisher=Emmaus Road|year=2020|isbn=978-1645850489|location=Steubenville, OH}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Scanlon|first=Regis|title=The Inflated Reputation of Hans Urs von Balthasar|url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3344|website=Catholic Culture}}</ref><ref name="Oakes 2004 p. 261">Oakes; Moss, eds. (2004). p. 261. Quotation: "Balthasar does not deny the possibility of salvation outside the boundaries of explicit Christianity - in fact he is probably more emphatic than [[Biography:Karl Rahner|Rahner]] in maintaining the legitimacy of Christian hope for universal salvation."</ref> Many, however, reject this criticism as a misreading of the theologian's work.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Healy, Jr.|first=Nicholas J.|date=Spring 2015|title=Vatican II and the Catholicity of Salvation: A Response to Ralph Martin|url=https://www.communio-icr.com/files/healy42-1_rev.pdf|journal=Communio|volume=42|pages=36–60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nichols|first=Aidan|title=Balthasar for Thomists|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2020|location=San Francisco|pages=149–150}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oakes|first=Edward|date=December 2006|title=Balthasar, Hell, and Heresy: An Exchange|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/12/balthasar-hell-and-heresy-an-exchange|journal=First Things}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Brumley|first=Mark|date=January 19, 2015|title=Should We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?|url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2015/01/19/should-we-hope-that-all-men-be-saved/|website=Catholic World Report}}</ref><ref>"It is curious indeed that a text so often characterized as advocating an easy 'universalism' in regard to salvation actually commences with a clear statement that all men stand under the divine judgment. Whatever else Hans Urs von Balthasar says in this book, the one thing he is quite clearly ''not'' saying is that we have certain knowledge that all people will be saved." Barron, Robert (2014). Foreword to ''Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?'', San Francisco: Ignatius Press.</ref> Balthasar himself denounces the doctrine of definite universal salvation and affirms the concrete possibility of being damned,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=von Balthasar|first=Hans Urs|date=1980|title=Gericht|journal=Internationale Katholische Zeitschift Communio|volume=9| issue =  3|pages=227–35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
  | author= Hans Urs von Balthasar
  | title = Dare We Hope "that All Men be Saved"? With a Short Discourse on Hell
  | trans-title = "Was dürfen wir hoffen?" (1986) and "Kleiner Diskurs über die Hölle" (1987)
  | translator = David Kipp and Lothar Krauth
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iqGfwuPIYdwC
  | publisher = Ignatius Press
  | location = San Francisco
  | year = 1988
  | isbn = 0-89870-207-0
  | pages=64–65}}</ref> while insisting on the Christian duty to [[Philosophy:Hope (virtue)|hope]] charitably that each person will be saved: "Thomas Aquinas taught that 'one can hope for eternal life for the other as long as one is united with him through love,' and from which of our brothers would it be permissible to withhold this love?"<ref>Hans Urs von Balthasar (1988), p. 171. Quoting ''Summa Theologiae'' II-II, q. 17, a. 3.</ref> Ralph Martin and James O'Connor<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Ralph| title=Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2012 |isbn=9781467436328 |location=Grand Rapids, MI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=O'Connor|first=James|date=July 1989|title=Von Balthasar and Salvation|url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=565|journal=Homiletic and Pastoral Review}}</ref> hold that Balthasar's denial of universalism is incomplete, given his prominent use of a quote by Discalced Carmelite saint [[Biography:Edith Stein|Edith Stein]] in his book-length essay ''Kleiner Diskurs über die Hölle'' (''A Short Discourse on Hell'', included in the English translation of ''Dare We Hope''), which references an "infinitely improbable" resistance to grace. Stein writes:<blockquote>All-merciful love can thus descend to everyone. We believe that it does so. And now, can we assume that there are souls that remain perpetually closed to such love? As a possibility in principle, this cannot be rejected. ''In reality'', it can become infinitely improbable—precisely through what preparatory grace is capable of effecting in the soul. It can do no more than knock at the door, and there are souls that already open themselves to it upon hearing this unobtrusive call. Others allow it to go unheeded. Then it can steal its way into souls and begin to spread itself out there more and more.... If all the impulses opposed to the spirit have been expelled from the soul, then any free decision against this has become infinitely improbable.<ref>[[Biography:Edith Stein|Stein, Edith]] (1962). ''Welt und Person''. Freiburg. Quoted in Hans Urs von Balthasar (1988), p. 175–76.</ref></blockquote>

After witnessing the horrors of Nazism, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross later appeared to have come around to this more pessimistic view, saying that "The possibility of some final loss appears more real and pressing than one which would seem infinitely improbable."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kimel|first=Aidan|date=15 May 2021|title=The "Heresy" of Hopeful Universalism: Kallistos Ware, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Ralph Martin|url=https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2021/05/15/the-heresy-of-hopeful-universalism-kallistos-ware-hans-urs-von-balthasar-ralph-martin/=Eclectic Orthodoxy}}</ref> Defending Balthasar, Cardinal Avery Dulles interprets this passage as an "orthodox" expression of "hope" rather than a systematic [[Religion:Soteriology|soteriological]] doctrine.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dulles|first=Avery Cardinal|date=May 2003|title=The Population of Hell|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/05/the-population-of-hell|journal=First Things}}</ref> Other scholars have similarly recognized this distinction in the theologian's work more generally.<ref name="Nyssa' p. 5">Morwenna Ludlow (2000). ''Universal salvation: eschatology in the thought of Gregory of Nyssa'' p. 5. "Von Balthasar hopes for universal salvation and warns against asserting it outright (e.g. ''Mysterium Paschale'', 177–8, 262–6; ''Dare We Hope'', pp. 148–57, 236–54)</ref> Balthasar responded to allegations of heresy after the publication of ''Was dürfen wir hoffen?'' by asking, "How can anyone equate hoping with knowing? I hope that my friend will recover from his serious illness—do I therefore know this?"<ref>Hans Urs von Balthasar (1988), p. 131.</ref> The position has been described as the result of a sort of conflict among the [[Philosophy:Theological virtues|theological virtues]]: since "Love believes all things, [but also] hopes all things" (1 Corinthians {{bibleref2-nb|1Cor|13:7|ESV}}), what for ''[[Philosophy:Faith in Christianity|fides]]'' must be rejected, for ''[[Philosophy:Hope (virtue)|spes]]'' must be accepted, in order to recover with the theology of hope what in 553 the [[Religion:Dogmatic theology|dogmatic theology]] had condemned with the [[Religion:Anathema|anathema]] of the fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople against the possibility of apocatastasis or universal salvation.<ref>Hans Urs von Balthasar (1988) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=iqGfwuPIYdwC&dq=%22Epilogue:+Apokatastasis:+Universal+reconciliation%22&pg=PT137 Epilogue. Apokatastasis: Universal reconciliation (pp. 137ff.)]''.</ref><ref name="Oakes 2004 p. 261"/><ref name="Nyssa' p. 5"/> As Alyssa Pitstick phrases it, universal salvation, if it happens, would be the result of the "utter abandonment the Son undergoes".<ref>{{cite book
  | author=Alyssa Lyra Pitstick
  | title=Light in darkness. Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent Into Hell
  | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EiMomNgI7sC
  | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  | location = Grand Rapids, Michigan
  | year=2007
  | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4EiMomNgI7sC&dq=%22As+Balthasar+sees+it,+universal+salvation+(if+ac-+tual)+will+be+the+result+of+the+utter+abandonment+the+Son+undergoes%22&pg=PA264 264]
  | isbn = 978-0-80284-039-4
  }}
</ref> In ''A Short Discourse on Hell'', Balthasar lists Erich Przywara, Henri de Lubac, [[Biography:Gaston Fessard|Gaston Fessard]], [[Biography:Maurice Blondel|Maurice Blondel]], [[Biography:Charles Péguy|Charles Péguy]], Paul Claudel, [[Biography:Gabriel Marcel|Gabriel Marcel]], Léon Bloy, [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Joseph Ratzinger]], Walter Kasper, [[Biography:Romano Guardini|Romano Guardini]], and [[Biography:Karl Rahner|Karl Rahner]] as Catholic thinkers who share his perspective on hope—"''In'' ''summa:'' a company in which one can feel quite comfortable".<ref>Balthasar, ''Dare We Hope'', p. 133.</ref>

{{anchor|Theology of Holy Saturday}}The debate on Balthasar's "Theology of [[Religion:Holy Saturday|Holy Saturday]]" and "[[Religion:Harrowing of Hell|Christ's descent into Hell]]", particularly as outlined in the last volume of the book ''Theo-Drama'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Levering|first=Matthew|title=The Achievement of Hans Urs von Balthasar|publisher=Catholic University of America Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-81323-175-4|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=213–14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kilby|first=Karen|title=Balthasar: A (Very) Critical Introduction|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2012|isbn=978-0802827388|location=Grand Rapids, MI}}</ref> is still very heated. Following the magisterial principle expressed by the Fathers of the Church according to which "that what has not been taken up by Christ is not made whole"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.vatican.va%2Farchive%2Fhist_councils%2Fii_vatican_council%2Fdocuments%2Fvat-ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html+%22The+Fathers+of+the+Church+proclaim+without+hesitation+that+what+has+not+been+taken+up+by+Christ+is+not+made+whole%22 |title=Ad Gentes |author=Pope Paul VI |website=vatican.va |date=7 December 1965 |access-date=28 April 2022 |archive-date=28 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428075019/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.vatican.va%2Farchive%2Fhist_councils%2Fii_vatican_council%2Fdocuments%2Fvat-ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html+%22The+Fathers+of+the+Church+proclaim+without+hesitation+that+what+has+not+been+taken+up+by+Christ+is+not+made+whole%22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ([[Biography:Gregory of Nazianzus|Gregory of Nazianzus]] in Epistle 101: "For that which He has not assumed He has not healed",<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |others=Translated by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow. Revised and edited for [[New Advent]] by Kevin Knight |orig-year=1894 |inline=1 |url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3103a.htm+%22For+that+which+He+has+not+assumed+He+has+not+healed%22%22 |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 7. To Cledonius the Priest Against Apollinarius. (Ep. CI.)}}</ref> Latin: ''quod non est assumptum non est sanatum''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.totus2us.co.uk/teaching/jpii-catechesis-on-god-the-son-jesus/conciliar-definitions-about-christ/ |title=Catechesis by Pope John Paul II on Jesus Christ - General Audience, Wednesday 9 March 1988 [English translation] |author=[[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] |publisher=totus2us.co.uk |date=9 March 1988 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> or ''quod non assumpsit, non redemit''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.um.edu.mt%2Flibrary%2Foar%2Fbitstream%2F123456789%2F31787%2F1%2FGod_and_the_trinity_in_the_fathers%25E2%2580%2593II_2001.pdf+%22Gregory+of+Nazianzus%3A+quod%3A%22%22non+assumpsit%2C+non+redemit%22 |title=God and the trinity in the fathers – II |author=Joseph Lupi |publisher=[[Organization:University of Malta|University of Malta]] |date=2001 |access-date=28 April 2022 |pages=84–85 |archive-date=28 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428075019/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.um.edu.mt%2Flibrary%2Foar%2Fbitstream%2F123456789%2F31787%2F1%2FGod_and_the_trinity_in_the_fathers%25E2%2580%2593II_2001.pdf+%22Gregory+of+Nazianzus%3A+quod%3A%22%22non+assumpsit%2C+non+redemit%22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>), then the redemption would be complete not with his death on the cross but only with the [[Social:Katabasis|katabasis]] of his ''descensio ad inferos''.<ref name="Pitstick">{{Cite book |author=Alyssa Lyra Pitstick |title=Christ's Descent into Hell. John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger, and Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Theology of Holy Saturday |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnHGCwAAQBAJ |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-80286-905-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cnHGCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Christ's+Descent,+Not+His+Cross,+Completes+the+Redemption%22&pg=PA1 1]}}</ref> Joseph Ratzinger called ''Theo-Drama'' a "profound analysis of the essence of Christian hope" and a "foundational contribution" to the theological field of [[Unsolved:Eschatology|eschatology]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ratzinger |first=Joseph |title=Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-81321-516-7 |edition=2nd |location=Washington, D.C.|pages=262}}</ref> This theme is also explored in Balthasar's 1969 book ''Theologie der drei Tage'' (''Mysterium Paschale'').

==Reception==
[[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]] described Balthasar and Henri de Lubac as the two theologians he appreciated the most. In a 2016 interview, he claimed he shared an "inward intention" and "vision" with Balthasar, remarking positively, "It is unbelievable what this person has written and done."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Benedict |title=Last Testament: In His Own Words |last2=Seewald |first2=Peter |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2016 |isbn=9781472944634 |location=New York}}</ref>

Balthasar's dramatic theory in ''Theo-Drama'' influenced the work of Raymund Schwager.<ref>The influence is reflected in some of Schwager's titles, i.e.: ''Jesus in the Drama of Salvation. Toward a Biblical Doctrine of Redemption'' (German: Jesus im Heilsdrama. Entwurf einer biblischen Erlösungslehre), New York: Crossroad 1999, and: ''Banished from Eden: Original Sin and Evolutionary Theory in the Drama of Salvation'' (Duits: Erbsünde und Heilsdrama: Im Kontext von Evolution, Gentechnik und Apokalyptik), Londen: Gracewing 2006.</ref>

Balthasar's major writings have been translated into English, and the journal he co-founded with Henri de Lubac, Karl Lehmann, and Joseph Ratzinger, ''[[Religion:Communio|Communio]]'', currently appears in 12 languages. In delivering his eulogy, Ratzinger, quoting de Lubac, called Balthasar "perhaps the most cultured man of our time".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/757/Hans_Urs_von_Balthasar_Eulogy_de_Lubac.html|title=Hans Urs von Balthasar Eulogy - Cardinal Henri de Lubac -A Witness of Christ in the Church -Welcome to The Crossroads Initiative}}</ref>

Balthasar has also been highly influential in the work of Bishop [[Biography:Robert Barron|Robert Barron]], who has been an ardent advocate of Balthasar's soteriology.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/article/is-hell-crowded-or-empty-a-catholic-perspective/ |title=Is Hell Crowded or Empty? A Catholic Perspective |publisher=Word on Fire |date=30 March 2011 |access-date=27 September 2019|author=Robert Barron }}</ref>

==Works==

* ''The Christian and Anxiety'' (1951)
* ''Christian Meditation'' (1984)
* ''The Christian State of Life'' (1977)
* ''Convergences'' (1969)
* ''Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According to Maximus the Confessor'' (1941)
* ''Credo'' (1988)
* ''Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"? with a Short Discourse on Hell'' (1986/1987)
* ''Does Jesus Know Us? Do We Know Him?'' (1980)
* ''Elucidations'' (1971)
* ''Engagement with God'' (1971)
* ''Epilogue'' (1987)
* ''Explorations in Theology, Vol. 1: The Word Made Flesh'' (1960)
* ''Explorations in Theology, Vol. 2: Spouse of the Word'' (1961)
* ''Explorations in Theology, Vol. 3: Creator Spirit'' (1967)
* ''Explorations in Theology, Vol. 4: Spirit and Institution'' (1974)
* ''Explorations in Theology, Vol. 5: Man Is Created'' (1986)
* ''A First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr'' (1968)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 1: Seeing the Form'' (1961)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 2: Studies in Theological Style: Clerical Styles'' (1962)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 3: Studies in Theological Style: Lay Styles'' (1962)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 4: The Realm of Metaphysics in Antiquity'' (1965)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 5: The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age'' (1965)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 6: The Old Covenant'' (1967)
* ''The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Vol. 7: The New Covenant'' (1969)
* ''The Grain of Wheat: Aphorisms'' (1944)
* ''Heart of the World'' (1944)
* ''In the Fullness of the Faith: On the Distinctively Catholic'' (1975)
* ''The Laity in the Life of the Counsels'' (1993)
* ''Life Out of Death: Meditations on the Paschal Mystery'' (1984)
* ''Light of the Word'' (1987)
* ''Love Alone is Credible'' (1963)
* ''Mary for Today'' (1987)
* ''The Moment of Christian Witness'' (1966)
* ''My Work in Retrospect'' (1990)
* ''Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter'' (1969, second edition in 1983)
* ''The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church'' (1974)
* ''Our Task'' (1984)
* ''Paul Struggles with His Congregation'' (1988)
* ''Prayer'' (1955) (German title: ''Das Betrachtende Gebet'' "Contemplative Prayer")
* ''Priestly Spirituality'' (2007)
* ''Razing the Bastions'' (1952)
* ''Romano Guardini: Reform from the Source'' (1970)
* ''A Short Primer for the Unsettled Layman'' (1980)
* ''Theo-Drama-Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 1; Prologomena'' (1973)
* ''Theo-Drama-Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 2: Dramatis Personae: Man in God'' (1976)
* ''Theo-Drama-Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 3: Dramatis Personae: Persons in Christ'' (1978)
* ''Theo-Drama-Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 4: The Performance'' (1980)
* ''Theo-Drama-Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 5: The Last Act'' (1983)
* ''The Theology of Henri de Lubac: An Overview'' (1976)
* ''A Theology of History'' (1959)
* ''The Theology of Karl Barth'' (1951)
* ''Theo-Logic, Vol. 1: Truth of the World'' (1985)
* ''Theo-Logic, Vol. 2: Truth of God'' (1986)
* ''Theo-Logic, Vol. 3: The Spirit of Truth'' (1987)
* ''The Threefold Garland'' (1977)
* ''To the Heart of the Mystery of Redemption'' (1980)
* ''Truth is Symphonic: Aspects of Christian Pluralism'' (1972)
* ''Two Sisters in the Spirit'' (1970)
* ''Unless You Become Like This Child'' (1988)
* ''Who is a Christian?'' (1965)

The most comprehensive printed bibliography (223 pages, including translations up to 2005) now available of all of Balthasar's writings is {{cite book|title=Hans Urs von Balthasar: Bibliographie 1925-2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8nyswEACAAJ|editor-last1=Capol|editor-first1=Cornelia|editor-last2=Müller|editor-first2=Claudia|year=2005|publisher=Johannes Verlag|location=Einsiedeln|isbn=978-3894110291}}

==See also==
* Eternal super-kenosis

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
'''Introductory studies'''
* Peter Henrici, "Hans Urs von Balthasar: a Sketch of His Life", ''Communio: International Catholic Review'' 16/3 (fall, 1989): 306–50
* Rodney Howsare, ''Balthasar: a guide for the perplexed'', (2009)
* [[Biography:Karen Kilby|Karen Kilby]], ''Balthasar: A (Very) Critical Introduction'', (2012)
* Aidan Nichols, ''Balthasar for Thomists'' (2020)
* Aidan Nichols, ''The word has been abroad: a guide through Balthasar's aesthetics'', Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar 1, (1998)
* Aidan Nichols, ''No bloodless myth: a guide through Balthasar's dramatics'', Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar, (2000)'' ''
* Aidan Nichols, ''Say it is Pentecost: a guide through Balthasar's logic'', Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar (2001)
* Aidan Nichols, ''Scattering the seed: a guide through Balthasar's early writings on philosophy and the arts", Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar, (2006)
* Aidan Nichols, ''Divine fruitfulness: a guide through Balthasar's theology beyond the trilogy'', Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar, (2007) 
* John O’Donnell, ''Hans Urs von Balthasar'', Outstanding Christian Thinkers, (2000) 
* Ben Quash, "Hans Urs von Balthasar", in David F. Ford, ''The Modern Theologians'', (3rd edn, 2005)
* David L. Schindler (ed), ''Hans Urs von Balthasar: His Life and Work'' (1991)
'''In-depth studies'''
* Lucy Gardner et al., ''Balthasar at the end of modernity'', (1999) 
* Mark A McIntosh, ''Christology from within: spirituality and the incarnation in Hans Urs von Balthasar'', Studies in spirituality and theology; 3, (2000) 
* Aidan Nichols, ''A key to Balthasar: Hans Urs von Balthasar on beauty, goodness and truth'', (2011) 
* Paul Silas Peterson, ''The Early Hans Urs von Balthasar: Historical Contexts and Intellectual Formation'' (2015) 
* J. Riches, ed, ''The Analogy of Beauty: The theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar ''(Edinburgh, 1986)
* Gordon, James. 2016. ''A holy one in our midst.'' Minneapolis: Fortress Press
* Denny, Christopher. 2016. ''A generous symphony''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press
* [[Biography:Cyril O'Regan|O'Regan, Cyril]]. 2014. ''The Anatomy of Misremembering: Von Balthasar’s Response to Philosophical Modernity, Volume 1: Hegel.'' Chestnut Ridge: Crossroad Publishing 
* [[Biography:Cyril O'Regan|O'Regan, Cyril]]. Forthcoming. ''The Anatomy of Misremembering: Von Balthasar's Response to Philosophical Modernity, Volume 2: Heidegger.'' Chestnut Ridge: Crossroad Publishing

== External links ==
*[http://www.balthasar-stiftung.org/ Hans Urs von Balthasar Stiftung]
*[http://www.johannes-verlag.de/ Johannes Verlag], a publishing house founded by Hans Urs von Balthasar
*[http://www.casabalthasar.org/ Casa Balthasar], a house of vocational discernment, study, and formation in Rome, Italy, and home of the Accademia Balthasar
*[https://www.vonbalthasar.com/ Balthasar: Beauty, Goodness, Truth], an audio library on the thought and legacy of von Balthasar

'''Additional bibliographical and biographical information'''
*{{Helveticat}}
*[http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/Balthasar/ Hans Urs von Balthasar: An Internet Archive]
*{{DNB-Portal|118506323}}
*[http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/vonbalthasar.asp Hans Urs von Balthasar's Author Page on IgnatiusInsight.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817193432/http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/vonbalthasar.asp |date=2018-08-17 }}, including a biography and a list of Balthasar's book's available in English

'''Criticisms and commentaries'''
*[http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=3344 The Inflated Reputation of Hans Urs von Balthasar], by Regis Scanlon
*{{YouTube|uT1Bg0YI6QE|Karen Kilby on Balthasar 1}} {{YouTube|j9KIlfWtG08|and 2}}
*[http://www.opwest.org/uploads/archive/2003/blankenhorn%5B1%5D.pdf "Balthasar's Method of Divine Naming," Nova et Vetera 1 (2003): 245-68, available online]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, article by Bernhard Blankenhorn
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060908054413/http://www.quod-est-dicendum.de/Theologie_und_Glaube/Balthasar_Einfuehrung_26_08_05_me.htm ''Hans Urs von Balthasar,''] an introduction by Mark Elliot
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051018070012/http://www.kirchensite.de/?myELEMENT=97718 ''Hans Urs von Balthasar. Der Theodramatiker,''] short portrait by Katharina Klöcker
* [http://theol.uibk.ac.at/leseraum/artikel/470.html Werner Löser: ''Herausforderungen, Begegnungen, Weichenstellungen.''] (Rahner – Balthasar)

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{{s-bef|before=Ignazio Silone}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Gottfried-Keller-Preis}}|years=1975}}
{{s-aft|after=Elias Canetti}}
{{s-new|award}}
{{s-ttl|title=Paul VI Prize|years=1983}}
{{s-aft|after=Olivier Messiaen}}
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{{Aesthetics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balthasar, Hans Urs von}}
[[Category:Systematic theologians]]

{{Sourceattribution|Hans Urs von Balthasar}}