One of Von Balthasar's greatest books is his early monograph on The Theology of Karl Barth. That these two theological opponents were also deeply respectful allies in their search for an articulation of Christian faith more adequate to the mystery and majesty of divine grace, means that to read either or both of them, is to discover theology that is deeply satisfying, if occasionally frustrating, and often congenial if now and then contentious.
Don't laugh. The other night I was reading (in the bath!) Balthasar's small paperback Love Alone is Credible, and so liked the following passage I think it deserves its place as our thought for the day:
no one can resolve this mystery into dry concepts and explain how it is that God no longer sees my guilt in me, but only in his beloved Son, who bears it for me; or how God sees this guilt transformed through the suffering of love and loves me because I am the one for whom his Son has suffered in love. But the way God, the lover, sees us is in fact the way we are in reality – for God, this is the absolute and irrevocable truth. This is why there can be no talk of "merely forensic" justification; the theory is valid only in the sense that, through God's creative and transformative love, we become what he takes us to be in the light of Christ.'
Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Love Alone Is Credible (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 103-4.
That phrase about God's love – that we are "always already seen" as God's beloved children, is an example of why I love reading Von Balthasar. The picture is by Blake, Christ Accepting the Office of Redeemer. As a comment on Von Balthasar's words, it has for me that utter intensity of willing surrender that makes God's love cause for adoration rather than analysis.
On a lighter note, my ecumenical credentials nevertheless remain intact – I also have a paperback copy of Barth's Evangelical Theology, which has also seen better days due to repeated re-readings in the same leisurely locus! I once had a remarkably fun conversation as a student with R E O White, then Principal of the Scottish Baptist College, and afterwards a lifelong friend. Asked if I'd read his notes on John's Gospel for class that morning, I had to be honest and confess that I had read them in the bath the night before! To which he replied – "Waste of time. I read Dickens in the bath, and have waterproof covers to do so!"
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