The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being As Communion (Oxford Theological Monographs)

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The unifying centre of Nicholas J. Healy's book is an analysis, in dialogue with the metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas, of Balthasar's understanding of the analogy of being. This discussion of analogy is framed by an interpretation of Balthasar's trinitarian eschatology. Healy shows that the ultimate form of the end, and thus the measure of all that is meant by eschatology, is given in Christ's eucharistic and pneumatic gift of himself - a gift that simultaneously lays bare the mystery of God's trinitarian life and enables Christ to 'return' to the Father in communion with the whole of creation.

The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being As Communion (Oxford Theological Monographs) Review

This first half of this book particularly concerning Von Balthasar's contribution to the Thomistic "esse"/"essence" dichotomy is very difficult indeed. I am glad however, even though I did not understand much of it, that I struggled on because the book contains some very rewarding insights, as follows:

The goodness of creation

One of the most memorable quotes in the book is not from von Balthasar but from Schmemann:

"We need water and oil, bread and wine in order to be in communion with God and to know Him. Yet conversely, it is this communion with God by means of "matter" that reveals the true meaning of "matter", i.e. of the world itself. We can only worship in time, yet it is worship that ultimately not only reveals the meaning of time, but truly "renews" time itself"...Thus the term "sacramental" means that for the world to be means of worship and means of grace is not accidental, but the revelation of its meaning, the restoration of its essence, the fulfilment of its destiny"

So, the original goodness of the creation as recounted in Genesis is the means through which God chooses to communicate his grace.

Hypostatic union anticipating the eschaton

One of Von Baltahasar's most valuable insights is that he sees the two natures of Christ as the means by which the otherness of the creature vis a vis God is guaranteed at the eschaton. Our deification does not mean a Buddhist-like assimilation into God. And, as man capitulates creation, the hypostatic union becomes the means through which the whole cosmos can be taken into the Trinitarian divine life.

Seeing God

An analysis of the debate between east and west on the seeing of God i.e. the classic western position being that in heaven we do see God to be contrasted with the eastern position that we see the energies of God but not God himself. This is summed up Lossky:

"We find ourselves", comments Lossky, "confronted by two formulae neatly opposed, the first of which resolutely denies the possibility of knowing the essence of God (my insert: Gregory Palamas and the eastern tradition: we see the energies of God ), while the second explicitly insists on the fact that it is the actual vision of God which must be the object of the beatific vision

Von Balthasar's contribution is "that the medium of bridge that accomplishes the deification of the creature is both fully divine and fully human....Christological mediation is essentially the structure and fruit of a nuptial communion and thus a relation of the greatest possible intimacy simultaneous with the otherness (and temporality) required for genuine freedom and reciprocal self-disclosure. This simultaneity of identity and difference is possible only on the basis of a mediating principle that is essentially the fruit of a (asymmetrically) human and divine gift of reciprocal self-communication, thus allowing the creature and God to be genuinely immanent to one another without collapsing the difference."

Von Balthasar goes on to see the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit as that bridge.

Christ's death and the death of every man

"Balthasar claims that it is Christ's death which determines the eschatological significance of every human death...Christ "undergirds" and ultimately includes every other death within his person...death itself is a Christological reality".

Eternal life

The following is a wonderful quote from Von Balthasar giving us an insight into eternal life:

"However we try to portray the unimaginable eternal life in the communion of saints, one element of it is constant: we shall be filled with astonished joy, constantly being given new and unexpected gifts through the creative freedom of others; and we for our part shall delight to invent other, new gifts and bestow them in return".

The Eucharist: the bridge between created and the divine

"The form of the Son's return to the Father is a total-gift-of-himself to the world; and the form of the Son's total- gift-of-himself to the Father is an abiding "return" to the world in the Eucharist. He has given himself so totally and irrevocably that he has become a flowing space within his wounded body for the inclusion of others within his body and thus within his historical life"; and

"the "liquefaction" of the earthly substance of Jesus into a Eucharistic substance is irreversible. It does not continue only to the "end" of world time - like some "means" - but is the radiant core of the cosmos....Consequently, there is no fundamental difference between his heavenly and Eucharistic condition"; and

"Taken in their unity, the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist represent both a divine self communication to mankind and a human self-communication to God. Grace is essentially the life and body of Jesus Christ assumed by the son and universalised by the Holy Spirit." And

"It is the unveiling of God in the Eucharistic exchange - in the wordly realities of bread and wine - that allows all of creaturely being to unveil its final countenance as a gift from God, and as a gift for God" ;and

"The Eucharist is eschatological because it is "a Trinitarian gift": it is the Father who gives his Son's Body for the world through the unitive mediation of the Spirit. As a Trinitarian gift, the Eucharist extends to the furthest reaches of space and time. There is not created reality into which the "liquefied" reality of Christ does not enter".

I am conscious that my review is perhaps overladen with quotes and not a great deal of analysis. I would simply confirm what I said at the beginning that this is a difficult book which probably needs a number of reads to be half digested. Further, some basic study of Thomistic philopsophy should also be done in preparation. But, even assuming that one does not have the basic philosophical background, one can still begin to get a feel for the vision of Von balthasar thorugh this erudite piece of work. As Healy says Von Balthasar' seeing the hypostatic union (allied with the Eucharist) as key to eschatology is a wonderful insight - otherness of creation is thereby preserved per omnia secula seculorum!

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