ABSTRACT
The Swiss Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–88) has a central place among the great Catholic theologians of the last century. He taught for some periods at a number of European universities, but unlike the other theologians who left their mark on contemporary Catholic thinking, Balthasar never held an academic professorship in theology. This gave him both the freedom and the time to produce a very remarkable body of theological writing that in many ways went far beyond the boundaries of the academic theology of that period. Balthasar seeks to open up theology for a conversation both with modern philosophy and with the thinking of the church fathers. On this point, he is closest to Jean Daniélou and especially Henri de Lubac, the main representatives of the so-called “new theology” (la nouvelle théologie). He was also close to Joseph Ratzinger, who belonged to the next generation, and they published several books together. His encounter with Karl Barth also provided important impulses. Balthasar’s most original and creative contribution to twentieth-century theology is his theological aesthetics, which he presents as a challenge to theological methodology.
