Von Balthasar's Subtle Position on Universal Salvation Misrepresented in Logos Write-up

William Baptiste SFO
William Baptiste SFO Member Posts: 21 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

I am concerned that the new Hans Urs Von Balthasar Collection Pre-Pub information does a disservice to him by misleadingly labelling the controversial doctrine he is known for.   

The information reads, "Known for his idea of universal salvation, that all will be saved, Balthasar was nothing but controversial."  That "all will be saved" as a certain doctrine was condemned in the Early Church, and Von Balthasar accepted this.  His seminal book on the topic  (sadly not in the collection) is entitled Dare We HOPE That All Men Be Saved?  In this book Von Balthasar argues that while we cannot hold with certainty that all will be saved, since this doctrine was condemned in the Early Church (and might do harm in the Church by tempting some Christians to not seek to evangelize the whole world), we can indeed dare to HOPE that all men be saved,

since the Bible refers to Jesus as "the savior of ALL men" (among other universal salvation passages); 

since the Church throughout history canonized many as "certainly in heaven" but consigned none at all "certainly in hell;"

and since the Church throughout history in its official liturgical prayers in fact prayed for the salvation of all men - why would the Church consistently pray for something it knew to be absolutely impossible?   

This subtle doctrine of Von Balthasar's keeps a fruitful tension between the extremes of :

1) being certain that all will be saved in the end (a proposition condemned in the Early Church) and

2) being certain that only a few will be saved

-- both of which extremes in fact tempt many Christians to NOT pray for souls and to NOT try very hard to be God's "co-workers" and instruments evangelizing the whole world.  If all men will certainly be saved anyway, why pray and make great effort for this result?  If only a few will be saved anyway, why pray and make great effort to be God's co-workers and instruments evangelizing the ENTIRE world of men?   But if we accept Von Balthasar's subtly but thoroughly argued proposition, we do indeed dare to HOPE that all men be saved, without being absolutely certain of this outcome.  Therefore, we are motivated to confidently pray big prayers for the salvation of all as the Church has prayed in its long liturgical history;  therefore we are motivated to confidently labor for souls to come to know Christ with real HOPE such that we do not lose heart and cease our evangelistic efforts; and therefore we are motivated to labor for souls with a final, "fruitful uncertainty" about the end result so that we do not lose our motivation for evangelism due to a erroneously certain PRESUMPTION that all will be saved with or WITHOUT our cooperative efforts with the empowering Holy Spirit within us. 

You can see how it grossly oversimplifies and misrepresents Von Balthsar's position to write that "Known for his idea of universal salvation, that all will be saved, Balthasar was nothing but controversial."  Thus, I hope that this write-up for the Hans Urs Von Balthasar Collection will be corrected.  Also, I dare to hope that Dare We Hope All Men Be Saved? and Razing the Bastions be added to the collection. 

I even dare to hope that this might be offered as a Community Pricing collection!

May the LORD bless and keep you all

Glory be to Jesus Christ!  Glory be Forever!

-- brotherunity@ymail.com -- http://christian-unity-in-diversity.ourchur.ch/

Comments

  • Milford Charles Murray
    Milford Charles Murray Member Posts: 5,004 ✭✭✭

    Peter!  Peace to you!

                                 and                     Always Joy in the Lord!

    Thank you for your post.  I was encouraged to sign up for the pre-pub; and I hope it makes it.  Community pricing might have been better; and perhaps Logos could still consider that????

    Philippians 4:  4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand..........

  • fgh
    fgh Member Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭

    Thank you. I also reacted.

    I don't think copy-writed works are ever offered on CP.

    Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2

  • Juanita
    Juanita Member Posts: 1,339 ✭✭✭

    It's pricey, too much for me.  I gravitate between purchasing a resource in Logos or on the other hand, just buying the one or two that appeal to me via Kindle, if available, or in print.   [:D]

    Money is tight these days so only what purchases are necessary make sense.  Most of my recent purchases in Logos are from community pricing.

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am excited to see some von Balthasar coming to Logos, and I've signed up for this (even though it seems overly pricey). But I'm disappointed that it doesn't include his books Prayer and Therese of Lisieux which Eugene Peterson gives high praise to in Take & Read: Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List. I'm not familiar enough with von Balthasar to know what others of his books which aren't included in this collection might also be desirable to have, but several of them get 4-5 stars on Amazon.com.

  • fgh
    fgh Member Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭

    though it seems overly pricey

    Agreed. I'm a bit worried that they chose such an expensive item for the first Ignatius offering. Would have preferred the Catechism, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Joseph Ratzinger or Scott Hahn to go first. I do hope this won't linger forever because of the price and make it seem like the interest is Catholic titles is much smaller than it actually is.

    I'm disappointed that it doesn't include (...) Therese of Lisieux

    Doesn't seem to be an Ignatius book. This similar title is, though.

    which Eugene Peterson gives high praise to in Take & Read: Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List

    Thanks for that tip. Seems like a very useful book, and pretty cheap where I usually buy my paper books. Put it in my shopping cart.

    Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2