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Response to Alyssa Lyra Pitstick, Light in Darkness1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

David Lauber
David Lauber*
Affiliation:
Wheaton College, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187, USAdavid.e.lauber@wheaon.edu
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Extract

In her remarkably forceful and learned book, Light in Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell, Alyssa Lyra Pitstick offers a comprehensive critique of Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of the descent into hell. Pitstick contributes to a sharpening of readings of Balthasar and forces one to make precise interpretative judgements. Clearly, she has produced a work with which anyone interested in Balthasar must engage, and the conversation and debate the book has started will, to be sure, continue for many years ahead. This said, I am afraid that Dr Pitstick's unrelenting and totalising prosecution of Balthasar's theology leads her to disallow any charitable reading and critical appropriation of Balthasar's creative and, at times, sublime theology. Although not necessarily the final evaluative word on Balthasar, or on the doctrine of the descent into hell, Pitstick's book provides a tremendous spark for those interested in Balthasar's theology and for much needed reflection on the significance of the church's confession that Jesus Christ descended into hell.

Type
Article Review
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , May 2009 , pp. 195 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2009

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References

2 von Balthasar, Hans Urs, You Crown the Year with Your Goodness: Radio Sermons, trans. Harrison, Graham (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), pp. 78–9Google Scholar.

3 Pitstick, Light in Darkness, p. 304.

4 See Hunsinger, George, ‘Baptized into Christ's Death: Karl Barth and the Future of Roman Catholic Theology’, in Disruptive Grace: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 253–78Google Scholar.

5 Weinandy, Thomas, In the Likeness of Sinful Flesh: An Essay on the Humanity of Christ (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993), pp. 51–3, 64–70Google Scholar.

6 ST IIIa 52 a 1.

7 See Weinandy, Thomas, Does God Suffer? (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000), p. 216Google Scholar.

8 von Balthasar, Hans Urs, ‘The Descent into Hell’, in Explorations in Theology, vol. 4, Spirit and Institution, trans. Oakes, Edward T. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995), p. 408Google Scholar.

9 Pitstick, Light in Darkness, p. 176.

10 von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, vol. 4, The Action, trans. Harrison, Graham (San Francisco: Ignatius Press 1994), pp. 336–7Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., p. 336.

12 Pitstick, Light in Darkness, p. 132.

13 Ibid.

14 Weinandy, Does God Suffer?, p. 200.

15 Pitstick, Light in Darkness, p. 23.

16 Ibid.

17 von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter, trans. Nichols, Aidan (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990), p. 180Google Scholar.

18 The Church's Confession of Faith: A Catholic Catechism for Adults, ed. Mark Jordan, trans. Stephen Wentworth Arndt (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), p. 162.

19 Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, II, The Doctrine of God, part 2, trans. G. W. Bromiley et al. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1957), p. 496.