Stephen M. Garrett – författare

Hans Urs von Balthasar's work has had an increasingly significant impact on theology of 20th century. This anthology of Balthasar’s writings seeks to encourage readers to take the tour of the 'Balthasarian Cathedral' by employing an architectural metaphor, which is based on Balthasar’s own depiction of his thinking. The cathedral trope enables readers to locate and engage his works and key themes without losing a sense of the whole. It also provides a blueprint for the structure of Balthasar’s thought as a tool to position his writings in order to grasp the breadth and depth of his thinking. So, while the anthology only serves as an introduction by laying out the cathedral floor plan, glancing momentarily at several prominent features, and suggesting extended tours and excursions that require more time and contemplation, it is hoped that patrons will turn these into longer, more sustained gazes of Balthasar’s theology. This book is enhanced by the inclusion of original source texts and summaries of key ideas, designed to engage with the reader as they survey Balthasar's work. Perhaps, then, the seeds of this anthology will bear the fruit of sustained, critical engagement at a depth indicative of the man himself. Welcome to the tour!

Hans Urs von Balthasar's work has had an increasingly significant impact on theology of 20th century. This anthology of Balthasar’s writings seeks to encourage readers to take the tour of the 'Balthasarian Cathedral' by employing an architectural metaphor, which is based on Balthasar’s own depiction of his thinking. The cathedral trope enables readers to locate and engage his works and key themes without losing a sense of the whole. It also provides a blueprint for the structure of Balthasar’s thought as a tool to position his writings in order to grasp the breadth and depth of his thinking. So, while the anthology only serves as an introduction by laying out the cathedral floor plan, glancing momentarily at several prominent features, and suggesting extended tours and excursions that require more time and contemplation, it is hoped that patrons will turn these into longer, more sustained gazes of Balthasar’s theology. This book is enhanced by the inclusion of original source texts and summaries of key ideas, designed to engage with the reader as they survey Balthasar's work. Perhaps, then, the seeds of this anthology will bear the fruit of sustained, critical engagement at a depth indicative of the man himself. Welcome to the tour!

This volume presents the theology-arts conversation from a distinctly Christian perspective, as a witness of the Gospel of Christ to the world. A widespread interest in the historical, socio-cultural and political embeddedness of theology and the arts permeates it. This theme of embeddedness tracks through several overarching and interlocking concerns: the relationship between form and content (in both art and theology), the intensification of the metaphysical and the theological (contra materialist and positivist reductionisms), the expansion of the epistemological possibilities of the theology-art conversation, and a robust understanding of the world as the theatre of God's glory. Several chapters have been co-written by theologians and artists as part of demonstrating the kind of conversation that this book commends. A thorough-going commitment to Scripture is also woven into the many different habits of thought represented in this volume.Part I surveys different approaches to the theology-arts conversation. Part II focuses on how particular art forms bring theological issues to the surface and how theological and denominational traditions shape the making and receiving of the arts. Part III delves into key topics in the current theology-arts scene and asks how artistic and theological performance can both speak to theological and artistic knowing, and help to celebrate and interrogate embodied, lived reality.

This volume presents the theology-arts conversation from a distinctly Christian perspective, as a witness of the Gospel of Christ to the world. A widespread interest in the historical, socio-cultural and political embeddedness of theology and the arts permeates it. This theme of embeddedness tracks through several overarching and interlocking concerns: the relationship between form and content (in both art and theology), the intensification of the metaphysical and the theological (contra materialist and positivist reductionisms), the expansion of the epistemological possibilities of the theology-art conversation, and a robust understanding of the world as the theatre of God''s glory. Several chapters have been co-written by theologians and artists as part of demonstrating the kind of conversation that this book commends. A thorough-going commitment to Scripture is also woven into the many different habits of thought represented in this volume.Part I surveys different approaches to the theology-arts conversation. Part II focuses on how particular art forms bring theological issues to the surface and how theological and denominational traditions shape the making and receiving of the arts. Part III delves into key topics in the current theology-arts scene and asks how artistic and theological performance can both speak to theological and artistic knowing, and help to celebrate and interrogate embodied, lived reality.

This volume presents the theology-arts conversation from a distinctly Christian perspective, as a witness of the Gospel of Christ to the world. A widespread interest in the historical, socio-cultural and political embeddedness of theology and the arts permeates it. This theme of embeddedness tracks through several overarching and interlocking concerns: the relationship between form and content (in both art and theology), the intensification of the metaphysical and the theological (contra materialist and positivist reductionisms), the expansion of the epistemological possibilities of the theology-art conversation, and a robust understanding of the world as the theatre of God''s glory. Several chapters have been co-written by theologians and artists as part of demonstrating the kind of conversation that this book commends. A thorough-going commitment to Scripture is also woven into the many different habits of thought represented in this volume.Part I surveys different approaches to the theology-arts conversation. Part II focuses on how particular art forms bring theological issues to the surface and how theological and denominational traditions shape the making and receiving of the arts. Part III delves into key topics in the current theology-arts scene and asks how artistic and theological performance can both speak to theological and artistic knowing, and help to celebrate and interrogate embodied, lived reality.

Jurgen Moltmann and others contend that Christian theology and the church face a dual crisis--one of relevance and the other of identity. Despite making this pronouncement nearly forty years ago, the church in the West continues to struggle with this crisis. Several proposals have been espoused, from the way of wisdom to the way of ecclesial praxis. Yet, little attention is given in Protestant theological discourse to the role God''s beauty plays in bringing theology and ethics together. By neglecting God''s beauty for theological discourse, we risk diminishing Christian worship, witness, and wisdom.God''s Beauty-in-Act addresses these issues, in part, by arguing that the redemptive-creative suffering and glorious resurrection of Christ are the nexus of God''s being, beauty, and Christian living. God''s beauty, understood as the fittingness of the incarnate Son''s actions in the Spirit to the Father''s will, radiates God''s glory and draws perceivers into the dramatic movements of God''s triune life. These movements serve as the patterns that shape the imagination, enabling participants to perform their parts creatively and fittingly in God''s drama of redemption. In doing so, human beings flourish as they jettison false identities and realities of their own making that are incommensurate with God''s purpose found in Christ by the Spirit.