Our lives are saturated with images. They exert an unparalleled power in contemporary culture. Ho... more Our lives are saturated with images. They exert an unparalleled power in contemporary culture. However, the power of images is in fact nothing new. Although texts are often the most important historical sources for academics, the image played an enormous role for those who actually lived in these past societies. Images communicated all manner of concepts and messages to a much wider audience than theological texts. Throughout history, images frequently depicted God, human beings, and their relationship in a manner that was meant to teach theology and inspire awe. Historically speaking, most people who have done theological reflection have done so in intimate conversation with the images seen in sacred spaces.
This volume explores how images themselves are theology, how they influence sacred texts and theological concepts in a way that words cannot on their own. In part one, the book presents five essays investigating the ways in which images have shaped sacred and theological texts. In part two, the book offers five discussions of the sort of theological work that images can perform that words are unable to do. The volume concludes by outlining areas for future research and exploration based on the insights achieved among the chapters. The collection is, in its totality, a celebration of how central the image has been in shaping theology and how it should continue to do so.
The fourth edition of The Christian Theological Tradition provides students with essential theolo... more The fourth edition of The Christian Theological Tradition provides students with essential theological knowledge of key persons and events of the Bible and the Christian faith, and of Christianity’s multifaceted encounter with Western culture.
Historically arranged, the textbook addresses major theological themes such as revelation, God, Jesus Christ, Creation, salvation, and the church. The textbook deals with the entire Christian tradition from an orientation that is both Catholic and ecumenical, with the fourth edition including expanded coverage of modern Protestant Christianity. The Christian Theological Tradition has been thoroughly revised and updated with nine new or rewritten chapters, including:
• A new section on the reception of the Second Vatican Council, including the pontificate of Pope Francis
• A new treatment of contemporary developments in liberation and environmental theology
• A new examination of the relationship between science and Christianity
• An entirely rewritten treatment of Islam that focuses on the ways in which the Christian tradition has historically understood and responded to Islam
• A new discussion of the “New Atheism,” with theological responses to this influential movement.
• New textboxes on aspects of religious life, such as liturgy, prayer, art, moral teaching, and social institutions, appropriate to given chapters.
With the assistance of images and maps, key words, and recommended reading, this textbook outlines the methods for Christian theology and demonstrates the relevance of the Christian theological tradition for our contemporary world.
This is an ideal resource for students of theology, biblical studies, or religious studies, and anyone wanting an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the Christian theological tradition.
In this study, Mark McInroy argues that the ‘spiritual senses’ play a crucial yet previously unap... more In this study, Mark McInroy argues that the ‘spiritual senses’ play a crucial yet previously unappreciated role in the theological aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar. The doctrine of the spiritual senses typically claims that human beings can be made capable of perceiving non-corporeal, ‘spiritual’ realities. After a lengthy period of disuse, Balthasar recovers the doctrine in the mid-twentieth century and articulates it afresh in his theological aesthetics. At the heart of this project stands the task of perceiving the absolute beauty of the divine form through which God is revealed to human beings. Although extensive scholarly attention has focused on Balthasar’s understanding of revelation, beauty, and form, what remains curiously under-studied is his model of the perceptual faculties through which one beholds the form that God reveals. McInroy claims that Balthasar draws upon the tradition of the spiritual senses in order to develop the means through which one perceives the ‘splendour’ of divine revelation.
McInroy further argues that, in playing this role, the spiritual senses function as an indispensable component of Balthasar’s unique, aesthetic resolution to the high-profile debates in modern Catholic theology between Neo-Scholastic theologians and their opponents. As a third option between Neo-Scholastic ‘extrinsicism’, which arguably insists on the authority of revelation to the point of disaffecting the human being, and ‘immanentism’, which reduces God’s revelation to human categories in the name of relevance, McInroy proposes that Balthasar’s model of spiritual perception allows one to be both delighted and astounded by the glory of God’s revelation.
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, 2021
Modern scholarly efforts at elucidating the meaning of “deification” have tended to advance subje... more Modern scholarly efforts at elucidating the meaning of “deification” have tended to advance subject-centered versions of the doctrine that focus on that which the individual receives from God (e.g., divine attributes such as immortality and incorruptibility), resulting in models that ultimately fixate on the self and its own transformation. This paper, by contrast, retrieves a largely unknown patristic strand of the doctrine in order claim that being “like God” involves not only the reception of divine attributes by the Christian, but also the distribution of God’s gifts to the neighbor by the deified person. According to early church figures, theosis does not stop at the transformation of the individual Christian. Instead, as Athanasius makes clear in his Orations against the Arians, to be deified is “to give assistance freely, impartially, and universally, even as God Himself does.” The transformation effected by deification, then, includes coming to resemble God in God’s hospitality toward the neighbor. The patristic-constructive account of theosis advanced here thus supplements current depictions of the doctrine by developing its long-neglected other-centered dimension.
This article develops an original account of the rise of the modern misperception of deification ... more This article develops an original account of the rise of the modern misperception of deification as an exclusively Eastern Christian doctrine antithetical to Western theology. The study argues that the origins of the misconstruction lie in the distorting influence of German Idealism on the seminal treatment of the doctrine advanced by Ferdinand Christian Baur. With Idealist categories shaping his retrieval, Baur inaccurately portrays ancient Christian figures as advocating an automatic, mechanical deification of humanity as a whole that leaves the individual no role to play in his or her salvation. Such a view of deification as a mechanical, “physical” process is the precise basis on which Baur’s student Albrecht Ritschl and those in his school influentially claim it has no place in Western theology. The antecedent condition for deification coming to be characterized as Eastern, then, is it being understood as “physical,” and it is Baur who is ultimately responsible for Ritschl so viewing the doctrine. Baur’s Idealist-inspired retrieval thus raises a mistaken understanding of deification to prominence in the modern period, resulting in misunderstandings of the doctrine that persist down to the present day.
Beauty and the Good: Recovering the Classical Tradition from Plato to Duns Scotus, 2020
This study argues that Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) advances a distinctive defense of bea... more This study argues that Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) advances a distinctive defense of beauty as a transcendental property of being that both draws from and breaks with key influences on his thought such as Bonaventure. Scholarly assessments of Balthasar frequently portray him as unconcerned with the question of whether beauty should in fact be regarded as a transcendental; however, this chapter demonstrates that Balthasar meticulously enters into medieval debates concerning the so-called ratio pulchri (i.e., the conceptual distinction that beauty adds to being). Resisting those figures who insist that beauty is convertible with only the good, and not with being as such, Balthasar creatively appropriates, systematizes, and extends Bonaventure’s remarks about beauty in order to make the following claim: beauty adds to being in the sense that it makes being manifest to the senses. This formulation does not merely claim that, through beauty, a being appears. Balthasar instead maintains that, through beauty, the depths of being itself are shown to the human observer. Beauty manifests being as a whole. Balthasar’s subtly original position serves his efforts at defending a more metaphysically robust view of beauty than is typically countenanced in the modern period. Additionally, Balthasar notes that, if beauty manifests being as such to the senses, then sense perception must play a crucial role in apprehending being. In response to this consequence of his view of beauty, Balthasar intriguingly develops the notion of a “transcendental sense perception,” as he calls it, which is capable of penetrating surface appearances in order to grasp the depths of being. Balthasar’s distinctive account of beauty thus ultimately elevates sense perception to a position of uncommon importance for contemporary philosophy and theology.
Recent scholarship on Martin Luther has sharply criticized the Finnish interpretation of Luther, ... more Recent scholarship on Martin Luther has sharply criticized the Finnish interpretation of Luther, which claims to have unearthed a notion of theosis, or deification, akin to that found within Eastern Orthodoxy. This article advances a twofold thesis concerning this controversial reading of Luther. On the one hand, it is argued that recent critics appropriately chasten some of the Finns' claims, especially the view that Luther's pre-1520 use of deification language is constitutive of his mature position on the topic. On the other hand, this article argues that these negative appraisals of the Finns go too far in maintaining that deification is unimportant for the mature Luther, and that Luther's use of deification language renders his model of justification incoherent. When one sees that Luther does in fact discuss deification in his late writings, and when one recognizes that Luther substantially reworks the idea of deification, one finds resources with which to reconcile from a systematic perspective forensic justification with Luther's distinctive version of deification.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2018
John Henry Newman spearheaded one of the first modern retrievals of the Christian doctrine of the... more John Henry Newman spearheaded one of the first modern retrievals of the Christian doctrine of the Christian doctrine of deification. This article argues that, precisely because of the early date of Newman’s rehabilitation, his treatment is not tinted by the polemics surrounding theosis that developed in the late nineteenth century between Eastern and Western Christianity. To Newman, deification is not an Eastern doctrine, it is not cause for division between East and West, and it does not supplant justification. Instead, it is arises from a broad patristic consensus, it is a tool for union among the churches, and it provides resources for understanding justification properly.
The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, ed. Paul L. Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
This chapter argues that the spiritual senses play an integral role in the theologies of the two ... more This chapter argues that the spiritual senses play an integral role in the theologies of the two leading Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Although Rahner appears to neglect the spiritual senses after his treatments of the doctrine in the early 1930s, this chapter claims that the spiritual senses exert a covert, long-term influence on his theology, particularly his model of the “pre-apprehension of being” (Vorgriff auf esse). Whereas Rahner’s use of the doctrine is difficult to detect, Balthasar’s is openly declared—if under-studied. He prominently deploys the spiritual senses throughout his theological aesthetics in order to develop the perceptual apparatus necessary for “seeing the form” of God’s revelation, specifically its immaterial, "super-sensory" aspect.
In noting the importance of the spiritual senses for Balthasar and Rahner, the chapter provides a lens through which to appreciate their similarities during a time at which their differences are often accentuated. When each figure is viewed through his use of the doctrine, we see that Rahner is much less dictated by philosophical influences than is often thought to be the case (bringing him closer to Balthasar), and we also observe that Balthasar is more concerned with theological anthropology than is typically assumed (bringing him closer to Rahner).
The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, ed. Paul L. Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
This article argues for a reassessment of contemporary academic opinion concerning Origen’s “doct... more This article argues for a reassessment of contemporary academic opinion concerning Origen’s “doctrine of the spiritual senses." By calling attention to portions of Origen’s early works, McInroy shows that Origen’s articulation of the spiritual senses emerges much earlier than has been recently supposed. At a more fundamental level, however, the article exposes a methodological rigidity in twentieth-century examinations of the spiritual senses that is in need of revision.
Page 1. SJT 64(1): 4563 (2011) C o Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2010 doi:10.1017/S0036930610... more Page 1. SJT 64(1): 4563 (2011) C o Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2010 doi:10.1017/S0036930610001055 Karl Barth and personalist philosophy: a critical appropriation Mark J. McInroy Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge ...
Scholars of the ex-Jesuit theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) have long recognized that t... more Scholars of the ex-Jesuit theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) have long recognized that the saints occupy a prominent position in his theology, yet careful studies of this feature of his thought are still acutely needed. In Love Itself Is Understanding, Matthew Rothaus Moser endeavors to fill this lacuna through a meticulous examination of von Balthasar's treatment of the saints, and the result is the most detailed, engaging, and creative discussion of the topic in Balthasar's theology to date. Of greatest interest to Moser is von Balthasar's view of "saintly knowing" (xxi), or the ways in which the saints offer a distinctive and noteworthy religious epistemology. As Moser summarizes this form of knowledge, "[t]he saints know as lovers do, that is, by loving. Love is a disposition of receptivity, surrender, and obedience, an ecstatic charity toward something beyond the self […]. By loving, the saints are conformed or attuned to truth. Their entire existence is adequated to the truth of Being" (xxiii). Moser argues that it is precisely through the saints that von Balthasar seeks to bridge the divide between the "speculative and the affective" and, in so doing, to make spiritually edifying theology academically rigorous, and vice versa. Chapter One, "Balthasar, the Ignatian Theologian," notes the centrality of Ignatius and Ignatian spirituality for von Balthasar, as seen especially in the prominence of receptivity and obedience as themes in von Balthasar's theology. Moser highlights the fact that, for Balthasar, theology is born in the encounter with Christ, and Ignatius is the paragon of the sort of indifferent obedience that allows this encounter to be most fruitful. Chapter Two, "Balthasar on Mission," takes the Ignatian insights from the first chapter and applies them to von Balthasar's missional concerns, which entail both enriching the church and "an interpretation, critique, and redemption of the broader culture" (25). The two tasks converge when the church engages with the culture of which it is a part instead of walling itself off from the world. From this well-known Balthasarian call for the church to raze the bastions, Moser proceeds to treat von Balthasar's critique of modernity with reference to Hegel, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard, among others. A familiar contrast between von Balthasar and the German Jesuit Karl Rahner follows, but Moser adds the salutary point that von Balthasar's emphasis on the distinctively Catholic Denkform over Rahnerian accommodationism takes a "saintly shape." As Moser puts it, "[i]t is the captivating form of saintly lives, especially the splendor of their sanctity, that will enliven, enrich, and guide the church" (65).
body' of our social and political world, although the latter could never be 'truly human' without... more body' of our social and political world, although the latter could never be 'truly human' without this super-addition.
Such objections in no way undermine Partridge's achievement. He has opened a field, and done so i... more Such objections in no way undermine Partridge's achievement. He has opened a field, and done so in a way that ought to prompt serious attention from both musicologists and historians of popular culture. I suspect, however, that the book will gain little traction within the musical or religious-studies fraternities. There is too much here with which to quibble if so motivated. More significantly, Partridge relies on Durkheim and Turner to demonstrate that "music and the sacred" is not limited to "religious music," and here he runs up against deeply held (and unsupportable) convictions. Those able to accept the intersection of religion and music without insisting on "religious music" or score-analysis, however, will find in Christopher Partridge's The Lyre of Orpheus a fascinating excursion through the musico-sacred worlds that surround us every time we put on headphones.
Our lives are saturated with images. They exert an unparalleled power in contemporary culture. Ho... more Our lives are saturated with images. They exert an unparalleled power in contemporary culture. However, the power of images is in fact nothing new. Although texts are often the most important historical sources for academics, the image played an enormous role for those who actually lived in these past societies. Images communicated all manner of concepts and messages to a much wider audience than theological texts. Throughout history, images frequently depicted God, human beings, and their relationship in a manner that was meant to teach theology and inspire awe. Historically speaking, most people who have done theological reflection have done so in intimate conversation with the images seen in sacred spaces.
This volume explores how images themselves are theology, how they influence sacred texts and theological concepts in a way that words cannot on their own. In part one, the book presents five essays investigating the ways in which images have shaped sacred and theological texts. In part two, the book offers five discussions of the sort of theological work that images can perform that words are unable to do. The volume concludes by outlining areas for future research and exploration based on the insights achieved among the chapters. The collection is, in its totality, a celebration of how central the image has been in shaping theology and how it should continue to do so.
The fourth edition of The Christian Theological Tradition provides students with essential theolo... more The fourth edition of The Christian Theological Tradition provides students with essential theological knowledge of key persons and events of the Bible and the Christian faith, and of Christianity’s multifaceted encounter with Western culture.
Historically arranged, the textbook addresses major theological themes such as revelation, God, Jesus Christ, Creation, salvation, and the church. The textbook deals with the entire Christian tradition from an orientation that is both Catholic and ecumenical, with the fourth edition including expanded coverage of modern Protestant Christianity. The Christian Theological Tradition has been thoroughly revised and updated with nine new or rewritten chapters, including:
• A new section on the reception of the Second Vatican Council, including the pontificate of Pope Francis
• A new treatment of contemporary developments in liberation and environmental theology
• A new examination of the relationship between science and Christianity
• An entirely rewritten treatment of Islam that focuses on the ways in which the Christian tradition has historically understood and responded to Islam
• A new discussion of the “New Atheism,” with theological responses to this influential movement.
• New textboxes on aspects of religious life, such as liturgy, prayer, art, moral teaching, and social institutions, appropriate to given chapters.
With the assistance of images and maps, key words, and recommended reading, this textbook outlines the methods for Christian theology and demonstrates the relevance of the Christian theological tradition for our contemporary world.
This is an ideal resource for students of theology, biblical studies, or religious studies, and anyone wanting an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the Christian theological tradition.
In this study, Mark McInroy argues that the ‘spiritual senses’ play a crucial yet previously unap... more In this study, Mark McInroy argues that the ‘spiritual senses’ play a crucial yet previously unappreciated role in the theological aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar. The doctrine of the spiritual senses typically claims that human beings can be made capable of perceiving non-corporeal, ‘spiritual’ realities. After a lengthy period of disuse, Balthasar recovers the doctrine in the mid-twentieth century and articulates it afresh in his theological aesthetics. At the heart of this project stands the task of perceiving the absolute beauty of the divine form through which God is revealed to human beings. Although extensive scholarly attention has focused on Balthasar’s understanding of revelation, beauty, and form, what remains curiously under-studied is his model of the perceptual faculties through which one beholds the form that God reveals. McInroy claims that Balthasar draws upon the tradition of the spiritual senses in order to develop the means through which one perceives the ‘splendour’ of divine revelation.
McInroy further argues that, in playing this role, the spiritual senses function as an indispensable component of Balthasar’s unique, aesthetic resolution to the high-profile debates in modern Catholic theology between Neo-Scholastic theologians and their opponents. As a third option between Neo-Scholastic ‘extrinsicism’, which arguably insists on the authority of revelation to the point of disaffecting the human being, and ‘immanentism’, which reduces God’s revelation to human categories in the name of relevance, McInroy proposes that Balthasar’s model of spiritual perception allows one to be both delighted and astounded by the glory of God’s revelation.
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, 2021
Modern scholarly efforts at elucidating the meaning of “deification” have tended to advance subje... more Modern scholarly efforts at elucidating the meaning of “deification” have tended to advance subject-centered versions of the doctrine that focus on that which the individual receives from God (e.g., divine attributes such as immortality and incorruptibility), resulting in models that ultimately fixate on the self and its own transformation. This paper, by contrast, retrieves a largely unknown patristic strand of the doctrine in order claim that being “like God” involves not only the reception of divine attributes by the Christian, but also the distribution of God’s gifts to the neighbor by the deified person. According to early church figures, theosis does not stop at the transformation of the individual Christian. Instead, as Athanasius makes clear in his Orations against the Arians, to be deified is “to give assistance freely, impartially, and universally, even as God Himself does.” The transformation effected by deification, then, includes coming to resemble God in God’s hospitality toward the neighbor. The patristic-constructive account of theosis advanced here thus supplements current depictions of the doctrine by developing its long-neglected other-centered dimension.
This article develops an original account of the rise of the modern misperception of deification ... more This article develops an original account of the rise of the modern misperception of deification as an exclusively Eastern Christian doctrine antithetical to Western theology. The study argues that the origins of the misconstruction lie in the distorting influence of German Idealism on the seminal treatment of the doctrine advanced by Ferdinand Christian Baur. With Idealist categories shaping his retrieval, Baur inaccurately portrays ancient Christian figures as advocating an automatic, mechanical deification of humanity as a whole that leaves the individual no role to play in his or her salvation. Such a view of deification as a mechanical, “physical” process is the precise basis on which Baur’s student Albrecht Ritschl and those in his school influentially claim it has no place in Western theology. The antecedent condition for deification coming to be characterized as Eastern, then, is it being understood as “physical,” and it is Baur who is ultimately responsible for Ritschl so viewing the doctrine. Baur’s Idealist-inspired retrieval thus raises a mistaken understanding of deification to prominence in the modern period, resulting in misunderstandings of the doctrine that persist down to the present day.
Beauty and the Good: Recovering the Classical Tradition from Plato to Duns Scotus, 2020
This study argues that Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) advances a distinctive defense of bea... more This study argues that Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) advances a distinctive defense of beauty as a transcendental property of being that both draws from and breaks with key influences on his thought such as Bonaventure. Scholarly assessments of Balthasar frequently portray him as unconcerned with the question of whether beauty should in fact be regarded as a transcendental; however, this chapter demonstrates that Balthasar meticulously enters into medieval debates concerning the so-called ratio pulchri (i.e., the conceptual distinction that beauty adds to being). Resisting those figures who insist that beauty is convertible with only the good, and not with being as such, Balthasar creatively appropriates, systematizes, and extends Bonaventure’s remarks about beauty in order to make the following claim: beauty adds to being in the sense that it makes being manifest to the senses. This formulation does not merely claim that, through beauty, a being appears. Balthasar instead maintains that, through beauty, the depths of being itself are shown to the human observer. Beauty manifests being as a whole. Balthasar’s subtly original position serves his efforts at defending a more metaphysically robust view of beauty than is typically countenanced in the modern period. Additionally, Balthasar notes that, if beauty manifests being as such to the senses, then sense perception must play a crucial role in apprehending being. In response to this consequence of his view of beauty, Balthasar intriguingly develops the notion of a “transcendental sense perception,” as he calls it, which is capable of penetrating surface appearances in order to grasp the depths of being. Balthasar’s distinctive account of beauty thus ultimately elevates sense perception to a position of uncommon importance for contemporary philosophy and theology.
Recent scholarship on Martin Luther has sharply criticized the Finnish interpretation of Luther, ... more Recent scholarship on Martin Luther has sharply criticized the Finnish interpretation of Luther, which claims to have unearthed a notion of theosis, or deification, akin to that found within Eastern Orthodoxy. This article advances a twofold thesis concerning this controversial reading of Luther. On the one hand, it is argued that recent critics appropriately chasten some of the Finns' claims, especially the view that Luther's pre-1520 use of deification language is constitutive of his mature position on the topic. On the other hand, this article argues that these negative appraisals of the Finns go too far in maintaining that deification is unimportant for the mature Luther, and that Luther's use of deification language renders his model of justification incoherent. When one sees that Luther does in fact discuss deification in his late writings, and when one recognizes that Luther substantially reworks the idea of deification, one finds resources with which to reconcile from a systematic perspective forensic justification with Luther's distinctive version of deification.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2018
John Henry Newman spearheaded one of the first modern retrievals of the Christian doctrine of the... more John Henry Newman spearheaded one of the first modern retrievals of the Christian doctrine of the Christian doctrine of deification. This article argues that, precisely because of the early date of Newman’s rehabilitation, his treatment is not tinted by the polemics surrounding theosis that developed in the late nineteenth century between Eastern and Western Christianity. To Newman, deification is not an Eastern doctrine, it is not cause for division between East and West, and it does not supplant justification. Instead, it is arises from a broad patristic consensus, it is a tool for union among the churches, and it provides resources for understanding justification properly.
The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, ed. Paul L. Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
This chapter argues that the spiritual senses play an integral role in the theologies of the two ... more This chapter argues that the spiritual senses play an integral role in the theologies of the two leading Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Although Rahner appears to neglect the spiritual senses after his treatments of the doctrine in the early 1930s, this chapter claims that the spiritual senses exert a covert, long-term influence on his theology, particularly his model of the “pre-apprehension of being” (Vorgriff auf esse). Whereas Rahner’s use of the doctrine is difficult to detect, Balthasar’s is openly declared—if under-studied. He prominently deploys the spiritual senses throughout his theological aesthetics in order to develop the perceptual apparatus necessary for “seeing the form” of God’s revelation, specifically its immaterial, "super-sensory" aspect.
In noting the importance of the spiritual senses for Balthasar and Rahner, the chapter provides a lens through which to appreciate their similarities during a time at which their differences are often accentuated. When each figure is viewed through his use of the doctrine, we see that Rahner is much less dictated by philosophical influences than is often thought to be the case (bringing him closer to Balthasar), and we also observe that Balthasar is more concerned with theological anthropology than is typically assumed (bringing him closer to Rahner).
The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, ed. Paul L. Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
This article argues for a reassessment of contemporary academic opinion concerning Origen’s “doct... more This article argues for a reassessment of contemporary academic opinion concerning Origen’s “doctrine of the spiritual senses." By calling attention to portions of Origen’s early works, McInroy shows that Origen’s articulation of the spiritual senses emerges much earlier than has been recently supposed. At a more fundamental level, however, the article exposes a methodological rigidity in twentieth-century examinations of the spiritual senses that is in need of revision.
Page 1. SJT 64(1): 4563 (2011) C o Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2010 doi:10.1017/S0036930610... more Page 1. SJT 64(1): 4563 (2011) C o Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2010 doi:10.1017/S0036930610001055 Karl Barth and personalist philosophy: a critical appropriation Mark J. McInroy Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge ...
Scholars of the ex-Jesuit theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) have long recognized that t... more Scholars of the ex-Jesuit theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) have long recognized that the saints occupy a prominent position in his theology, yet careful studies of this feature of his thought are still acutely needed. In Love Itself Is Understanding, Matthew Rothaus Moser endeavors to fill this lacuna through a meticulous examination of von Balthasar's treatment of the saints, and the result is the most detailed, engaging, and creative discussion of the topic in Balthasar's theology to date. Of greatest interest to Moser is von Balthasar's view of "saintly knowing" (xxi), or the ways in which the saints offer a distinctive and noteworthy religious epistemology. As Moser summarizes this form of knowledge, "[t]he saints know as lovers do, that is, by loving. Love is a disposition of receptivity, surrender, and obedience, an ecstatic charity toward something beyond the self […]. By loving, the saints are conformed or attuned to truth. Their entire existence is adequated to the truth of Being" (xxiii). Moser argues that it is precisely through the saints that von Balthasar seeks to bridge the divide between the "speculative and the affective" and, in so doing, to make spiritually edifying theology academically rigorous, and vice versa. Chapter One, "Balthasar, the Ignatian Theologian," notes the centrality of Ignatius and Ignatian spirituality for von Balthasar, as seen especially in the prominence of receptivity and obedience as themes in von Balthasar's theology. Moser highlights the fact that, for Balthasar, theology is born in the encounter with Christ, and Ignatius is the paragon of the sort of indifferent obedience that allows this encounter to be most fruitful. Chapter Two, "Balthasar on Mission," takes the Ignatian insights from the first chapter and applies them to von Balthasar's missional concerns, which entail both enriching the church and "an interpretation, critique, and redemption of the broader culture" (25). The two tasks converge when the church engages with the culture of which it is a part instead of walling itself off from the world. From this well-known Balthasarian call for the church to raze the bastions, Moser proceeds to treat von Balthasar's critique of modernity with reference to Hegel, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard, among others. A familiar contrast between von Balthasar and the German Jesuit Karl Rahner follows, but Moser adds the salutary point that von Balthasar's emphasis on the distinctively Catholic Denkform over Rahnerian accommodationism takes a "saintly shape." As Moser puts it, "[i]t is the captivating form of saintly lives, especially the splendor of their sanctity, that will enliven, enrich, and guide the church" (65).
body' of our social and political world, although the latter could never be 'truly human' without... more body' of our social and political world, although the latter could never be 'truly human' without this super-addition.
Such objections in no way undermine Partridge's achievement. He has opened a field, and done so i... more Such objections in no way undermine Partridge's achievement. He has opened a field, and done so in a way that ought to prompt serious attention from both musicologists and historians of popular culture. I suspect, however, that the book will gain little traction within the musical or religious-studies fraternities. There is too much here with which to quibble if so motivated. More significantly, Partridge relies on Durkheim and Turner to demonstrate that "music and the sacred" is not limited to "religious music," and here he runs up against deeply held (and unsupportable) convictions. Those able to accept the intersection of religion and music without insisting on "religious music" or score-analysis, however, will find in Christopher Partridge's The Lyre of Orpheus a fascinating excursion through the musico-sacred worlds that surround us every time we put on headphones.
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Books by Mark McInroy
This volume explores how images themselves are theology, how they influence sacred texts and theological concepts in a way that words cannot on their own. In part one, the book presents five essays investigating the ways in which images have shaped sacred and theological texts. In part two, the book offers five discussions of the sort of theological work that images can perform that words are unable to do. The volume concludes by outlining areas for future research and exploration based on the insights achieved among the chapters. The collection is, in its totality, a celebration of how central the image has been in shaping theology and how it should continue to do so.
Historically arranged, the textbook addresses major theological themes such as revelation, God, Jesus Christ, Creation, salvation, and the church. The textbook deals with the entire Christian tradition from an orientation that is both Catholic and ecumenical, with the fourth edition including expanded coverage of modern Protestant Christianity. The Christian Theological Tradition has been thoroughly revised and updated with nine new or rewritten chapters, including:
• A new section on the reception of the Second Vatican Council, including the pontificate of Pope Francis
• A new treatment of contemporary developments in liberation and environmental theology
• A new examination of the relationship between science and Christianity
• An entirely rewritten treatment of Islam that focuses on the ways in which the Christian tradition has historically understood and responded to Islam
• A new discussion of the “New Atheism,” with theological responses to this influential movement.
• New textboxes on aspects of religious life, such as liturgy, prayer, art, moral teaching, and social institutions, appropriate to given chapters.
With the assistance of images and maps, key words, and recommended reading, this textbook outlines the methods for Christian theology and demonstrates the relevance of the Christian theological tradition for our contemporary world.
This is an ideal resource for students of theology, biblical studies, or religious studies, and anyone wanting an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the Christian theological tradition.
McInroy further argues that, in playing this role, the spiritual senses function as an indispensable component of Balthasar’s unique, aesthetic resolution to the high-profile debates in modern Catholic theology between Neo-Scholastic theologians and their opponents. As a third option between Neo-Scholastic ‘extrinsicism’, which arguably insists on the authority of revelation to the point of disaffecting the human being, and ‘immanentism’, which reduces God’s revelation to human categories in the name of relevance, McInroy proposes that Balthasar’s model of spiritual perception allows one to be both delighted and astounded by the glory of God’s revelation.
Papers by Mark McInroy
Balthasar’s subtly original position serves his efforts at defending a more metaphysically robust view of beauty than is typically countenanced in the modern period. Additionally, Balthasar notes that, if beauty manifests being as such to the senses, then sense perception must play a crucial role in apprehending being. In response to this consequence of his view of beauty, Balthasar intriguingly develops the notion of a “transcendental sense perception,” as he calls it, which is capable of penetrating surface appearances in order to grasp the depths of being. Balthasar’s distinctive account of beauty thus ultimately elevates sense perception to a position of uncommon importance for contemporary philosophy and theology.
In noting the importance of the spiritual senses for Balthasar and Rahner, the chapter provides a lens through which to appreciate their similarities during a time at which their differences are often accentuated. When each figure is viewed through his use of the doctrine, we see that Rahner is much less dictated by philosophical influences than is often thought to be the case (bringing him closer to Balthasar), and we also observe that Balthasar is more concerned with theological anthropology than is typically assumed (bringing him closer to Rahner).
Reviews by Mark McInroy
This volume explores how images themselves are theology, how they influence sacred texts and theological concepts in a way that words cannot on their own. In part one, the book presents five essays investigating the ways in which images have shaped sacred and theological texts. In part two, the book offers five discussions of the sort of theological work that images can perform that words are unable to do. The volume concludes by outlining areas for future research and exploration based on the insights achieved among the chapters. The collection is, in its totality, a celebration of how central the image has been in shaping theology and how it should continue to do so.
Historically arranged, the textbook addresses major theological themes such as revelation, God, Jesus Christ, Creation, salvation, and the church. The textbook deals with the entire Christian tradition from an orientation that is both Catholic and ecumenical, with the fourth edition including expanded coverage of modern Protestant Christianity. The Christian Theological Tradition has been thoroughly revised and updated with nine new or rewritten chapters, including:
• A new section on the reception of the Second Vatican Council, including the pontificate of Pope Francis
• A new treatment of contemporary developments in liberation and environmental theology
• A new examination of the relationship between science and Christianity
• An entirely rewritten treatment of Islam that focuses on the ways in which the Christian tradition has historically understood and responded to Islam
• A new discussion of the “New Atheism,” with theological responses to this influential movement.
• New textboxes on aspects of religious life, such as liturgy, prayer, art, moral teaching, and social institutions, appropriate to given chapters.
With the assistance of images and maps, key words, and recommended reading, this textbook outlines the methods for Christian theology and demonstrates the relevance of the Christian theological tradition for our contemporary world.
This is an ideal resource for students of theology, biblical studies, or religious studies, and anyone wanting an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the Christian theological tradition.
McInroy further argues that, in playing this role, the spiritual senses function as an indispensable component of Balthasar’s unique, aesthetic resolution to the high-profile debates in modern Catholic theology between Neo-Scholastic theologians and their opponents. As a third option between Neo-Scholastic ‘extrinsicism’, which arguably insists on the authority of revelation to the point of disaffecting the human being, and ‘immanentism’, which reduces God’s revelation to human categories in the name of relevance, McInroy proposes that Balthasar’s model of spiritual perception allows one to be both delighted and astounded by the glory of God’s revelation.
Balthasar’s subtly original position serves his efforts at defending a more metaphysically robust view of beauty than is typically countenanced in the modern period. Additionally, Balthasar notes that, if beauty manifests being as such to the senses, then sense perception must play a crucial role in apprehending being. In response to this consequence of his view of beauty, Balthasar intriguingly develops the notion of a “transcendental sense perception,” as he calls it, which is capable of penetrating surface appearances in order to grasp the depths of being. Balthasar’s distinctive account of beauty thus ultimately elevates sense perception to a position of uncommon importance for contemporary philosophy and theology.
In noting the importance of the spiritual senses for Balthasar and Rahner, the chapter provides a lens through which to appreciate their similarities during a time at which their differences are often accentuated. When each figure is viewed through his use of the doctrine, we see that Rahner is much less dictated by philosophical influences than is often thought to be the case (bringing him closer to Balthasar), and we also observe that Balthasar is more concerned with theological anthropology than is typically assumed (bringing him closer to Rahner).