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Hans Urs Von Balthasar and the Rehabilitation of St. Anselm's Doctrine of the Atonement1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Glenn W. Olsen
Glenn W. Olsen
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
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Extract

Since 1961 Hans Urs von Balthasar has been publishing a multi-volume study with the somewhat unusual title Herrlichkeit: Eine theologische Ästhetik. Although thus far only a brief section of volume one has been translated into English, a French translation has been appearing shortly after the publication of each German volume, titled La gloire el la croix: Les aspects esthétiques de la révélation. In the second volume of Herrlichkeit, which is devoted to the manner in which a theological esthetic has been achieved in the life and thought of certain distinctive Christians, Balthasar devotes a long chapter to St. Anselm. Although Balthasar has referred to Anselm often elsewhere in his many writings, this chapter contains his most sustained analysis of Anselm. It will lie at the center of my consideration of Anselm's doctrine of the atonement in the present paper. Where appropriate, I will also consider what Balthasar has said elsewhere about Anselm, particularly to show the influence of Anselm's theory on Balthasar's own thought. My goals are twofold, to summarise Balthasar's understanding of Anselm, and to show how Balthasar uses Anselm's thought in his own trinitarian speculation on the atonement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 49 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1981

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References

page 49 note 2 Bd. I: Schau der Gestalt, 2nd ed.; Bd. II; Fächer der Stile, 2nd ed. in two vols.: I. Klerikale Stile, II. Laikale Stile; Bd. III/1: Im Raum der Metaphysik, 2nd ed. in two vols.: I. Altertum, II. Neuzeit; Bd. III/2, 1. Teil: Alter Bund; Bd. III/2,2. Teil: Neuer Bund, Einsiedeln 1961 ff.

page 49 note 3 ‘Pistis and Gnosis’ tr. hEarchaí, Sean O'. Communio: International Catholic Review 5 (1978), 86–95Google Scholar. This journal, which is the English language affiliate of the Internationale Katholische Zeitschrift: Communio, has taken a particular interest publishing articles by and about Balthasar.

page 49 note 4 5 vols. thus far, Théologie 61, 74, 81, 82, 83, Paris 1965 ff.

page 50 note 5 Leiden 1973.

page 50 note 6 ibid., pp. 157–265, treats ‘The Rule of Satan’ in the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the liturgy.

page 50 note 7 ibid., p. 167.

page 50 note 8 ibid., pp. 169–70.

page 50 note 9 ibid., pp. 170–4.

page 51 note 10 ibid., pp. 175, 181–2 (citing the relevant bibliography and texts from the Cur Dens Homo), 183–5 and 223–5 (for possible antecedents and the later influence of Anselm's theory). The best edition of the Cur Deus Homo is by F. S. Schmitt, Sancti Anselmi Opera Omnia, 6 vols., vol. 1 originally published in Seckau 1938, and republished in Edinburgh 1946; vol. 2 published in Rome 1940; vols. 3–6 Edinburgh 1946–69; all vols. reprinted with a new introduction, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1968, vol. II, pp. 37–133.

page 51 note 11 See esp. 11, 6, ed. Schmitt II, p. 101. My summary of Anselm's doctrine of the atonement follows Jasper Hopkins, A Companion to the Study of St. Anselm, Minneapolis 1972, chap. 6. Hopkins discusses what Anselm means by ‘necessary’ on pp. 3, 6, 48, 54–5, 59–61, 64–5, 106–7. See also Williams, George Huntston, Anselm: Communion and Atonement, Saint Louis 1960Google Scholar, and Southern, R. W., Saint Anselm and his Biographer, Cambridge 1963, pp. 77–121Google Scholar. Pp. 85–7, 93–7, and 357–61, of the latter work discuss Anselm's rejection of the rights of the devil.

page 51 note 12 Cur Deus homo 1, 8, ed. Schmitt II, p. 59; tr. Hopkins, Companion, pp. 187–8.

page 51 note 13 Cur Deus Homo II, 19, ed. Schmitt II, p. 131; Hopkins, Companion, pp. 189–90.

page 52 note 14 McIntyre, John, St. Anselm and His Critics: A Re-interpretation of the Cur Deus Homo, Edinburgh and London 1954, p. 81Google Scholar; Hopkins, , Companion, pp. 190–191Google Scholar. Both of these works consider the meaning which Anselm gives to terms like ‘necessary’ and ‘fitting’.

page 52 note 15 Cur Deus Homo 1, 12, ed. Schmitt II, pp. 69–71; Hopkins, , Companion, p. 192.Google Scholar

page 52 note 16 Cur Deus Homo 1, 11, 15 and 23, ed. Schmitt II, pp.68–9, 72–4,91; De concordia praesdentiae et praedestinationis et gratiae Deicum libero arbitrio 111, 7, ed. Schmitt II, pp. 273–4; Hopkins, , Companion, pp. 192–193Google Scholar; Balthasar, , Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 251.Google Scholar

page 52 note 17 Cur Deus Homo 1, 8 and 14; II, 6 and 12, ed. Schmitt II, pp. 59–61, 72, 101, 112; Hopkins, , Companion, pp. 193–195.Google Scholar

page 53 note 18 ‘Christian Prayer’, tr. Emery, Andrée, Communio 5 (1978), 15–22 at 20. SouthernGoogle Scholar, Saint Anselm, pp. 89, 92 nn. 1–2, 100–101, 106–14, discusses Anselm's concept of the honour of God, and his use of feudal imagery, accepting, p. 108, McIntyre's conclusion, St. Anselm and His Critics, that ‘Everything of importance in Anselm's argument can survive the removal of every trace of feudal imagery. …’ McIntyre describes the modern critics in detail.

page 53 note 19 Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 217. Hopkins, Companion, p. 3, begins his analysis of the systematic character of Anselm's works by noting, ‘the systematic unfolding and almost total internal consistency of the writings of Anselm of Canterbury have long evoked amazement’, and writes of a ‘perfect harmony’ of the early and late writings.

page 53 note 20 Cur Deus Homo I, 1, ed. Schmitt II, p. 48.

page 54 note 21 De veritate II, ed. Schmitt I, p. 191: Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 218. I am in places almost translating Balthasar's text.

page 54 note 22 Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 218.

page 54 note 23 ibid., pp. 218–20.

page 54 note 24 ibid., p. 226.

page 54 note 25 ibid., pp. 228–31, citing at p. 228 (but with some misquotation) among other texts Epistolae de incarnalione Verbi, Prior recensio, 4, ed. Schmitt I, p. 285: ‘In eorum quippe animabus ratio … sic est in imaginationibus corporeis obvoluta, ut ex eis se non possit evolvere nec … ea quae ipsa sola et pura contemplari debet, valeat discernere.’ On this work see Southern, Saint Anselm, pp. 77–82.

page 54 note 26 Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 232. See the important comments by Southern, Saint Anselm, pp. 56–7, 120–1, on the sense in which all theological explanation is provisional for Anselm. Cf. Hernandez, Miguel Cruz, ‘Les caractères fondamentaux de la philosophie de Saint Anselme’, Spicilegium Beccense I: Congrès International du IX centenaire de l'arrivée d'Anselme au Bec, Paris 1959, pp. 9–18.Google Scholar

page 55 note 27 Herrlichkeit II, I, pp. 234–6.

page 55 note 28 Meditatio redemptionis humanae, 137–48, ed. Schmitt III, p. 89, tr. Ward, Benedicta, Anselm of Canterbury, The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm, Harmondsworth 1973, p. 235.Google Scholar

page 55 note 29 Herrlichkeit II, I, pp. 238–41.

page 55 note 30 Meditatio redemptionis humanae, 109–21, ed. Schmitt III, p. 88; tr. Ward, p. 234. Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 250. The biblical references or possible allusions are to Phil. 2: 8, and John 14: 31 and 18: 11. Cf. Hopkins, , Companion, pp. 161–167.Google Scholar

page 56 note 31 One of Balthasar's chief interests has been a continuing dialogue with the tradition of theological reflection represented by Karl Barth, evidenced above all by Balthasar's, Karl Barth, Darstellung und Deutung seiner Theologie, 2nd ed., Cologne 1962; tr. and abridged by Drury, John, The Theology of Karl Barth, New York 1971.Google Scholar

page 56 note 32 Cur Deus Homo I, 10, ed. Schmitt II, p. 66; tr. Hopkins, Jasper and Richardson, Herbert, Anselm of Canterbury, 4 vols., vol. 1; 2nd ed.; vols. 2–4, 1st ed.; Toronto and New York 1975–1976, III, p. 66Google Scholar; Balthasar, , Herlichkeit II, I, p. 253.Google Scholar

page 57 note 33 Cur Deus Homo I, 19, ed. Schmitt II, p. 85; Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 253. Hopkins, Companion, p. 211, in discussing the examples of the monastic penitential system used by Anselm writes, ‘These examples should not be understood as depicting the atonement in a purely calculating way. At no time does Anselm lose sight of the fact that God seeks not only to repair His honor, but also to lift man from the mire of sin in order that he may be truly blessed.’ Cf. the analysis of Anselm's ‘legalism’ in Southern, Saint Anselm, pp. 103–7. Nédoncelle, Maurice, ‘La notion de personne dans l'oeuvre de saint Anselme’, Spicilegium Beccense I, pp. 31–43Google Scholar, at 35, remarks ‘La drame du salut est religieux et non pas commercial’.

page 57 note 34 Again I am following Herrlichkeit II, I, pp. 253–4, very closely.

page 58 note 35 ibid., pp. 254–7.

page 58 note 36 ibid., pp. 257–8.

page 58 note 37 ibid., pp. 258–61.

page 58 note 38 Eadmer, Vita II, 32, PL 158.95; Herrlichkeit II, I, p. 263. In the latter work, pp. 262–3, Balthasar sees Anselm's defence of the liberty of the Church as congruent with his idea of liberty, rather than as ‘disruptive’ (Hopkins' viewpoint, Companion, p. 212).

page 59 note 39 ‘Christian Prayer’, Communio 5 (1978), 18.

page 59 note 40 ibid., 19.

page 60 note 41 Perhaps the best study of Balthasar's Christology is by Giovanni Marchesi, La Cristologia di Hans Urs von Balthasar: La Figura di Gesù Crislo Espressione Visibile di Dio, prefazione di Hans Urs von Balthasar, Analecta Gregoriana, vol. 207, Series Facultatis Theologiae: Sectio B, n. 66, Rome 1977, on which see my review in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review 78, No. 8 (May 1978), 76–8. Cf. for Anselm himself, Southern, Saint Anselm, p. 100. Anselm's idea of the relation of christ to the human race is in part an expression of his understanding of general concepts, in which ‘many men are one man in species’: Epistola de Incarnalione Verbi, 1, ed. Schmitt II, p. 10; tr. and discussion Southern, op. cit., p. 351.

page 60 note 42 ‘Christian Prayer’, Communio 5 (1978), 20.

page 60 note 43 ibid.

page 60 note 44 ibid., 21.

page 61 note 45 ibid., 22.