Reviews for Selves and other texts

The average rating for Selves and other texts based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-14 00:00:00 Robert L. Wendt So obviously von Balthasar is a genius, Herrlichkeit is, taken as a whole, probably the most impressive theological work of the twentieth century, etc. etc. But after reading about half of the Trilogy so far (all of Theo-Logic, about half of Theo-Drama, and two volumes of Glory), I have to say . . . Hans needs an editor, badly. The typical reader of von Balthasar may not be aware that these books were originally self-published and hence not edited (Johannes Verlag is basically a vanity press, though obviously von Balthasar could be published anywhere). It's actually similar to Kierkegaard, who was independently wealthy and self-published all of his work, and who also really, truly, seriously needed an editor . . . the final 300 pages of Concluding Unscientific Postscript are such a mess that it's hard to believe Kierkegaard let it go into the world in that state. With Glory, Von Balthasar's basic instinct was correct; he's right that the average theological work is superficial and has to leave too much out, so indeed, why not just include everything, and write a complete 7-volume theological aesthetics without any concessions to length. Sounds great! But my point is that he didn't need 4500 pages; 2500 would have easily done the trick. With Seeing the Form, the introduction to the 7-volume series, he spends the introduction (i.e., the introduction to the introduction) rambling on and on about various Protestant theologians, German Idealist theologians, etc., for no discernible reason; they aren't mentioned again for the rest of the volume, and the figures that he talks about do not even vaguely represent all the possible approaches that could be taken to aesthetics. On pages 58-67, he decides, sure, I'll just include a rambling summary of Gerhard Nebel's Lutheran aesthetics ...? What on earth does this have to do with setting the stage for a theological account of beauty? And why would that be in an introduction, especially when there's literally an entire volume (vol. 3) in the series that will cover these figures? Also, why is the introduction 117 pages long? The intro is one of many examples of von Balthasar's strange emphasis on German theology circa 1750-1900; he can't go twenty pages (even when talking about Anselm or whoever else) without somehow bringing up Hegelian dialectic, or Scheeben, or Schelling, or Barth, or etc. Maybe it's just because he was friends with Barth and always had Protestant-Catholic dialogue somewhere in the back of his mind? I'm not sure why, exactly, but it's certainly distracting, and does nothing to help his arguments. Von Balthasar's early work (on Maximus, Gregory, Origen, etc.) is far more impressive imo; tightly focused and incredibly insightful. With the Trilogy, these moments of insight are somewhat more rare.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-04 00:00:00 Dominic Spinale Although it is properly set within Balthasar's wider work Glory of the Lord and the even broader 'triptych' consisting of the aesthetics, Theo-Drama, and Theo-Logic, Seeing the Form is one of the best single volumes of theology I have ever read. In it, Hans Urs von Balthasar, attempts to reclaim "beauty" as an essential category for theology. On analogy with inner-worldly beauty, God's glory shows itself to the eyes of faith which it itself grants us. This showing itself occurs in a form - a particular concrete and determinate reality - which is the expression of its own mysterious depths. These depths are expressed precisely in the form, which is never simply cast aside to get to the 'real meaning' behind it (e.g., in mere allegory). Jesus Christ is the ultimate form of God's self-expression, and as such is the ultimate organizing principle of any truly theological aesthetic. Christian faith, therefore, is a matter of an ever-deepening vision in which God himself is seen in his self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Balthasar takes us through a breathtaking array of implications of this basic form-principle of theological aesthetics in the fields of fundamental theology, dogmatics, epistemology, ecclesiology, sacramental theology, philosophy and Christian experience.