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THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS: RETHINKING THE ROLE OF SEXUAL DIFFERENCE IN THE THEOLOGY OF HANS URS VON BALTHASAR
Author(s) -
SAIN BARBARA K.
Publication year - 2009
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.1468-0025.2008.01499.x
Subject(s) - analogy , philosophy , relation (database) , theology , sexual difference , femininity , masculinity , epistemology , psychology , psychoanalysis , computer science , database
Sexual difference plays a pivotal role in Balthasar's thought, as an analogy for the Trinity and as an analogy for the relation between Christ and the church. This essay examines the influence of the analogy of being on his interpretations of these analogies, his understanding of created masculinity, and his use of the language of sexual difference for the Holy Spirit. Ultimately many of Balthasar's best insights about human love as an analogy for divine love can be retained without connecting femininity uniquely with creation, and his trinitarian theology provides the best interpretive key for doing so.