LLooyyoollaa UUnniivveerrssiittyy CChhiiccaaggoo LLooyyoollaa eeCCoommmmoonnss Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2013 HHiiddddeenn TTrreeaassuurree:: TThhee EEppiisstteemmoollooggyy ooff LLoovvee AAccccoorrddiinngg ttoo HHaannss UUrrss oonn BBaalltthhaassaarr Timothy John Squier Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Squier, Timothy John, "Hidden Treasure: The Epistemology of Love According to Hans Urs on Balthasar" (2013). Dissertations. 691. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/691 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2013 Timothy John Squier LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO HIDDEN TREASURE: THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF LOVE ACCORDING TO HANS URS VON BALTHASAR A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY TIMOTHY J. SQUIER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2013 Copyright by Timothy J. Squier, 2013 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While many people thank their life partner at the end of acknowledgements, I must begin by thanking my wife Kris. I am indebted and deeply grateful to her for the love, support and encouragement she has provided throughout this process. Without her strength and guidance I would not have finished this project. I am also profoundly thankful for my children Elizabeth and Aidan who both endured a lot of times when dad was busy researching and writing. Their hugs, kisses and “daddy you’re home” moments continually inspired me to get this thing done. My entire family-at-large continually cheered me on and encouraged me to stay the course. They have been my village and their abiding love has helped raise me to this moment. Certainly I must thank the parishioners of Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church where I am blessed to serve as their priest. Their abiding support, prayers, encouragement and patience persistently reminded me why I love theological education. To God be the glory for all your support for me and my family on this doctoral pilgrimage. Of course, I must express a special word of thanks to my dissertation committee. Mark Bosco, my director, guided me through this process with insightful care. His pastoral support especially in those times of despair gave me remarkably spiritual nourishment. He, indeed, embodies the gift of theological aesthetics as he cares for students. I also want to thank Dennis Martin and Mark McIntosh for their sagaciously ii i advice as my readers. Their constant support and counsel always opened my eyes to new ways of seeing. Thank you to Catherine Wolf and Marianne Wolfe whose practical and administrative support are what get students (and faculty) through all the “requirements.” I am grateful for their support throughout this whole doctoral program. And, thank you to the entire theology department for being a place of powerful and thought-filled academic engagement. My time spent here was fulfilling. Finally, I must thank all my theology colleagues. Our time together as community was invaluable to my growth as human being. I am especially grateful for Brock Bingaman, Tim Yoder and Charles Allen. Brock, your prayers and support were a constant. Tim, agonizing together over Balthasar made me a better theologian. Charles, as my mentor you have walked with me through good times and difficult times. My life is blessed because of your care. God blessed my life by putting the three of you in it. Thank you! iv To Kris But we have the mind of Christ. Apostle Paul God wants to be recognized; he must be known. Hans Urs von Balthasar TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii CHAPTER ONE: WHY A BALTHASARIAN EPISTEMOLOGY 1 Chapter Two: Difference as the Foundation for a Balthasarian Ontological Structure 10 Chapter Three: Unveiling the Ontological Structure of the Human Creature 11 Chapter Four: The Hidden is Revealed: Jesus is the Form of the Divine 17 Elizabeth of the Trinity: A Living Embodiment of an Epistemological Encounter 21 CHAPTER TWO: DIFFERENCE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR A BALTHASARIAN ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 28 Historical Influence 31 The Patristic Period 35 The Scholastic Period 38 The Modern Period 42 The Analogy of Being 46 CHAPTER THREE: UNVEILING THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BEING 60 Meta-Anthropology 64 Subjects, Objects and the Transcendental Truth 70 Distinctive Qualities of being: subjectivity and objectivity 74 Subject/Object Interrelationality 87 Begetting the Form: The Object’s Image as the Revelation of Truth 90 CHAPTER FOUR: UNVEILING THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE TRINITY THROUGH THE FORM OF JESUS CHRIST 95 The Depth of Form: God’s Being as Act 100 Incarnation: Jesus Christ is the Form of the Divine 107 The Form of Jesus Christ: His Mission is Our Mission 119 CHAPTER FIVE: ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY: A LIVING EMBODIMENT OF AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ENCOUNTER 127 The Holy Spirit as Person 132 Gift, Freedom and Testimony: The Unselfing Power of the Holy Spirit 137 The Holy Spirit: Unselfing Power within Finite Being 142 The Communion of Saints: Unity, Obedience and Fruitfulness 145 Elizabeth’s Life: Setting the Stage 147 Elizabeth’s Life: Predestined by Love for Unity with God 150 Elizabeth’s Life: Obedience as an Epistemological Act of Adoration and Praise 157 Elizabeth’s Life: An Epistemological Act of Fruitful Service 161 vii EPILOGUE 165 BIBLIOGRAPHY 170 VITA 179 viii ! CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: WHY A BALTHASARIAN EPISTEMOLOGY In the following chapters, I attempt to construct a theological analysis of an epistemological structure implicit in the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar. The larger framework is a consideration of metaphysics, contemplation and theological task embodied in a doctrine of revelation. Within such a framework I will consider the following question, what does it mean for a human person to know? Specifically, this dissertation will investigate what is actually involved in the human ability to know something, where knowing comes from and how it is influenced. I will reflect on this basic epistemological question from the perspective of a Balthasarian philosophical theology. In other words, I intend to seek responses to this question by way of Balthasar’s teaching on the subject matter. In fact, I will argue that Balthasar not only gives us some important insight into questions of knowing, but that he gives us radically life shaping answers. Why a Balthasarian epistemology? Lately, certain contemporary theologians have challenged modern philosophy’s dislike of metaphysics. Juxtaposed to this critique is a renewed focus on, a reclaiming of, contemplation as significant for the Christian life. Lewis Ayres states, Claims about the metaphysical bondage of Christian thought are not simply part of modernity’s dislike of metaphysics per se: they are also closely related to post-Enlightenment thought’s suspicion of the idea that contemplation of the divine might be the goal and root of theology, wanting instead to focus ! 1!