REVIEWS 395

The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being as

Communion. By NICHOLAS J. HEALY. Pp. viii 232.
(Oxford Theological Monographs.) Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005. ISBN 0 19 927836 9. 55.
IN his celebrated interpretation of Karl Barths theology,
Hans Urs von Balthasar asserted that Barth shared with patristic
Catholicism a general schema of egress and regress, a pattern
that started with the first great theologian, Origen . . ., continued
on up to Thomas Aquinas and reappears once more in
the Idealists (The Theology of Karl Barth, p. 259). Nicholas J.
Healys The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: Being as
Communion reveals Balthasars own retrieval of this schema,
particularly in light of his utilization of a Thomistic metaphysics
of the gift. Healy argues that the ultimate form of the end,
and thus the measure of all that is meant by eschatology, is given
in Christs eucharistic and pneumatic gift of himselfa gift that
simultaneously lays bare the mystery of Gods trinitarian life and
enables Christ to return to the Father in communion with the
whole of creation (p. 3). Whereas previous uses of the so-called
schema of egress and regress might have devalued creation
and/or God, usually through an implicit support of apokatastasis,
Healy presents a Balthasarian reading of the end respecting
both the abiding otherness of the creature eschatologically
included in the divine life and our ignorance of the final outcome
of the still unfolding drama between God and the world.
This enhanced Oxford doctoral thesis consists of four chapters
and a general conclusion. The substance of Healys argument
appears in chapters 24, with chapter 1 and the conclusion
intended as navigational guides for the reader. In The Idea of
a Christian Eschatology (ch. 1), Healy situates his work in
relation to Balthasariana, distinguishing it from comprehen-
sive studies on eschatology such as Karl Wallmers Gott als
Eschaton (Vienna, 1992). After a precis of modern approaches to
eschatology, he then mentions three constitutive tensions
that must be held together rather than artificially isolated in any
valid eschatology: (a) the tension of realized versus future
eschatology; (b) the relation of unity and diVerence in deification;
and (c) the question of universal salvation (p. 17). Healy next gives
a brief overview of Balthasars writings on eschatology, revealing
that Theodramatik IV, Das Endspiel (1983) is the key text
for this study. Finally, the reader is told that the initial emphasis
upon being as gift is decisive for everything that follows.

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396 REVIEWS
Accordingly, chapter 2, The Analogy of Being, presents
Balthasars Thomistic metaphysics. Created being (ens) is shown
to have an inherently positive character, even in the eschaton
where the beatific vision occurs through the created lumen
gloriae. Aquinass real distinction between esse and essentia
makes this aYrmation of creaturely eschatological integrity
possible. How so? The non-subsistent fullness of esse, interpreted
in terms of gift, implies that receptivity is intrinsic to the
complete meaning of act, whether that act is divine or human.
The actus essendi discloses that receptivity-as-perfection is at the
heart of reality since each individual act of existing is not a
necessary emanation from divine being, but always a free event
uniquely made possible by Gods self-gifting creativity. The
analogia entis is thus one of otherness: the otherness of finite
being in relation to God is analogous to the otherness between
the persons of the Trinity. Healy consequently argues that
Balthasar fleshes out Aquinass understanding of the actus essendi
by interpreting it from the event of Christs incarnation and
passion. As absolute love, writes Healy, Christs self-surrender
unto death interprets anew and reveals for the first time the
unfathomable mystery of the letting be of being, and situates
this mystery within the diVerence between Father, Son, and
Spirit (p. 87). The non-subsistent fullness of esseits poverty in
needing to wait upon the bestowal of the gift of particular
essentiae for its fullness (viz. Ferdinand Ulrich)makes possible
analogical predication to an eternally self-giving God.
Divine self-giving is most definitively expressed in The
Hypostatic Union (ch. 3). Here the Son is presented as the
concrete analogia entis. The overall aim of the chapter is
the rigorous establishment of how creation can be included in
Christs hypostatic union. The key to Christs analogicity is
the Urkenosis of the Father, universalized by the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit . . . manifests the infinite fruitfulness of the Sons
act of self-reception and, so, of being sent, that is the co-source
of the Spirit himself, and does so at the precise point where he
includes others in the particularity of Jesus mission through the
Eucharist (p. 157). One of the most interesting and useful
aspects of this chapter is Healys clear exposition of Balthasars
notion of the trinitarian inversion. Although Healy asserts
that the metaphysics of gift grounds everything that follows,
it is here that one encounters the substance of how creation
participates salvifically in the trinitarian exchange of love.
This how of participative theosis is further extended in
chapter 4, Within the Divine Life. One of Balthasars questions
 REVIEWS 397
forms the horizon of the chapter: How is it possible for creation
to be taken into or embedded within the divine life in such a way
that it attains perfection without losing its creaturely nature
(Theo-Drama 5, 394; p. 161)? Healy compares Aquinas and
Palamass views on the visio Dei, showing that both at least
agree union with God must entail mediation. Along with vision,
eternal blessedness for Balthasar is essentially a communion
of persons inclusive of self-surrender, creativity, receptivity,
mystery, and even surprise (p. 180). The eschaton will
accordingly involve reciprocal revelation where there is always
more of myself and more of God to be revealed. This
reciprocality is an interpersonal exchange that incorporates
the fullness of creaturely nature. We can thus describe
this exchange, Healy asserts, in terms of our becoming a
missionary gift for others; missionary because we are
expropriated and called no longer to live for ourselves, but for
others; gift because the source of life that we bring to
the other is not ourselves but the gift of divine life (p. 199).
Healy then addresses the question of hell in Balthasars
work, presenting his notion of hope as intrinsically related to
the missionary gift to the worlddiscourse on hell aVects how
we comport ourselves with othersrather than the misconceived
view that Balthasar supports apokatastasis.
The conclusion summarizes Healys argument: being
creaturely being and trinitarian beingunveils its final counte-
nance as love in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
(p. 211). While some readers might find the repeated summation
of the arguments too dissertation-like, others will find it
propitious. The elegance of Healys prose is also a welcome aid
to the reader: few texts so eVortlessly sound the bass note of the
Balthasarian fugue.

doi:10.1093/jts/flj083 CYRUS P. OLSEN

Regents Park College, Oxford
cyrus.olsen@regents-park.oxford.ac.uk

The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology.

By MARK C. MATTES. Pp. xviii 198. (Lutheran
Quarterly Books.) Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans, 2004. ISBN 0 8028 2856 6. Paper $25/16.99.
MARK MATTESS starting point is the article by which the
church stands or falls. To put the task he has set himself in the
The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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