Premium
RULE‐GOVERNED CHRISTIAN GNOSIS: HANS URS VON BALTHASAR ON VALENTIN TOMBERG'S MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT
Author(s) -
MONGRAIN KEVIN
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.1468-0025.2008.01520.x
Subject(s) - gnosticism , philosophy , faith , humility , metaphysics , theology , prayer , spirituality , ecclesiology , religious studies , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
The essay examines Hans Urs von Balthasar's little‐known Foreword to the Christian esoteric text, Meditations on the Tarot by Valentin Tomberg. It argues that von Balthasar respected and advocated this ostensibly occult text because he found its capacious understanding of Christian faith as true gnosis similar to his own. The essay explains that both Tomberg and von Balthasar practice a rule‐governed Christian esotericism whose goal is support for a fruitful ecclesial spirituality and resistance to non‐ecclesial esoteric Gnosticism. Both Tomberg and von Balthasar believe that esotericism without prayer and institutional grounding can become narcissistic and self‐righteous to the point of megalomania, and consequently it tends to become manipulative and coercive to the point of violence. Both authors maintain that authentic esotericism, by contrast, is marked by radical humility and non‐violence; it is biblical, ecclesial, and committed to the unity of metaphysical reason and prayerful faith. The essay also draws attention to Tomberg's innovatively irenic approach to Christian anti‐Gnosticism.