Hans Urs von Balthasar’s discourse on the descent of Christ into hell and its implications for the Triune God have been disputed for half a century. One of the Trinity has Suffered evaluates and revises von Balthasar’s theology of divine suffering in a way that interacts with and significantly enriches contemporary Catholic theology. In this book, Joshua R. Brotherton engages twentieth-century Thomistic theology, as well as the thought of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) and Pope St. John Paul II. Drawing from the vast secondary literature on von Balthasar, Brotherton offers a balanced assessment of his work on the topic of divine suffering, both critical and appreciative. Recognizing von Balthasar’s laudable attempt to integrate mystical spirituality and systematic theology, Brotherton seeks to distinguish valid insights from confused mixtures of metaphorical, meta-symbolic, and philosophical (metaphysical) discourse on God, particularly with respect to the classical problem of how the Creator who willed to become incarnate may be said to suffer. Truly, “One of the Trinity has suffered,” and yet this mystery of faith must be carefully explained and understood in conformity with sustained Catholic reflection on divine immutability and simplicity, the dual nature and unique personhood of Christ, the Trinity of divine subsistent relations, the freedom of God in creating and becoming man, the analogy of being, the problem of evil, and the immensity and infinite value of Christ’s redemptive suffering.

Alyssa Lyra Pitstick's 'Light in Darkness' - the comprehensive treatment of Balthasar's theology of Holy Saturday - draws on the multiple yet unified resource of authoritative Catholic teaching on Christ's descent to challenge Balthasar's conclusions.

Why does God permit the great suffering and evil that we see in our world? This basic question of human existence receives a fresh answer in this book as the mystery of evil is explored in the context of the mystery of the Trinity. God's permission of evil and the way in which suffering can lead human persons into the life of the Trinity are discussed in dialogue with the great Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. In the light of Balthasar's model of the Trinity as divine self-giving love, we gain a profound grasp of the nature of suffering in human life by placing our suffering in the context of the divine life of the Triune God.

This study shows how the trinitarian theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar opens up an aproach to the controverted question of God's immutability and impassibility which succeeds in respecting both the transcendence and the immanence of God. Contrary to both Process thought and the classical Thomist position, von Balthasar's scattered treatment is here presented thematically, in a way which makes it clear that his idea of an analogous event in the trinitarian God (in which we participate) is a radical reinterpretation of the traditional Christian axiom of divine immutability. In the course of outlining the distinctiveness of von Balthasar's approach, O'Hanlon introduces the reader to some of the fundamental themes of one of the major Roman Catholic theologians of this century, who is still relatively unknown in the English-speaking world.

Although scholarship has long recognized the centrality of the Trinity in the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, no sustained treatment of this theme has been published until now. In this insightful new book, The Trinitarian Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Brendan McInerny fills this gap, situating Balthasar's trinitarian theology in conversation with both the wider Christian theological tradition and his non-Christian intellectual contemporaries. Drawing from across Balthasar's extensive body of works, McInerny argues that Balthasar's vivid description of the immanent Trinity provides a way to speak of how "God is love" in himself, beyond his relationship to creatures. He then shows how Balthasar's speculation into the immanent Trinity serves as the substructure of his theology of deification. For Balthasar, what we say about the inner life of God matters because we are called to share in that very life through Christ and the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Finally, responding to the criticisms that Balthasar's speculations into the inner life of God are without warrant, McInerny argues that Balthasar's bold trinitarian claims are actually a vehicle for apophatic theology. Balthasar's vivid description of the triune God does not transgress the boundaries of theological discourse. Rather, it manifests God's ever-greater incomprehensibility through verbal excess, oxymoron, and paradox.

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) sets out to reunite Truth and holiness by returning the saints to their proper place at the heart of philosophy, theology, and metaphysics. Love Itself is Understanding is one of the first systematic treatments of Balthasar’s theology of the saints. Matthew Rothaus Moser presents Balthasar as an alternative to Idealist philosophy, a thinker who develops a religious metaphysics in which the saints’ practices of prayer and contemplation are the chief mode of knowing that the Truth of Being is divine love. Love Itself is Understanding casts new light on dominant themes in Balthasar’s thought and invites a renewed vision of the theological and metaphysical significance of the spiritual practices of prayer, obedience, and charity.

In response to the recent critiques made against Balthasar’s interpretation of Christ’s descent into hell on Holy Saturday, this book argues that Balthasar does not intend to present a radical reinterpretation of the doctrine in contrast to the traditional teachings but rather intends to fully appreciate the in-betweenness of Holy Saturday as the day of transition from the cross to the resurrection, from the old aeon to the new. The book further argues that this awareness of the “in-betweenness” can be detected throughout Balthasar’s theological corpus and provides a clue to interpret his thoughts on Christian discipleship and suffering. After all, the Christian existence is also characterized by the transition from the old aeon to the new, from suffering to victory. The Christian believes that their victory is already here and not here yet. In this sense, the Christian still lives in Holy Saturday. Eventually, we can deepen our understanding of Christian discipleship and suffering in the light of Holy Saturday. In short, we could patiently endure our Holy Saturday because of Christ’s Holy Saturday in hell.