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CONCILIAR, NOT CONCILIATORY: HANS URS VON BALTHASAR'S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS OF VATICAN II
Author(s) -
LÖSEL STEFFEN
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0025.2007.00426.x
Subject(s) - ecclesiology , philosophy , protestantism , revelation , hierarchy , theology , magisterium , conceptualization , interpretation (philosophy) , perspective (graphical) , missiology , epistemology , sociology , law , art , political science , linguistics , visual arts
In this essay, I analyze von Balthasar's ecclesiology against the backdrop of Vatican II and identify its ecumenical challenges. I demonstrate how von Balthasar's ecclesiology reflects the last council particularly in terms of its integration of ecclesiology and mariology, its gendered conceptualization of the church and its hierarchy, and its reaffirmation of papal primacy. From a Protestant perspective, I have, however, a number of critical questions. First, I question von Balthasar's sacred sociology, which ultimately privileges the magisterium as the decisive source of divine revelation. Second, I point out the peculiarities of von Balthasar's typological interpretation of scripture and its consequences for his ecclesiological vision. Finally, I take issue with his outdated binary gender anthropology.