Von Balthasar is one of those rare theologians who eskews specialization in favor of an inter-disciplinary approach which seamlessly combines Scripture, systematic theology, spirituality, aesthetics, and philosophy. Balthasar has been described (by de Lubac, himself a theological genius) as the most cultured man of the 20th century, and with good reason. But the distinguishing feature of his work, as this slim but powerful volume attests, is his unwavering focus on the heart of the Christian Faith: death to self and life to God through Jesus Christ.

While this work contains a very dense and difficult treatment of modern philosophy and how it has shaped our own era and culture, it was the reflections on martrydom and self-denial that really gripped me. It is in those sections that Balthasar the Poet emerges; at one point he writes that "Everything that I am (insofar as I am anything more on this earth than a fugitive figure without hope, all of whose illusions are rendered worthless by death), I am solely by virtue of Christ's death, which opens up to me the possibility of fulfillment in God. I blossom on the grave of God who died for me. I sink my roots deep into the nourishing soil of his flesh and blood. The love that I draw in faith from this soil can be of no other kind than the love of one who is buried." This is not, suffice to say, something one would read in the writings of a Kung, Curran, or Rahner.

Speaking of Rahner, Balthasar gives a rare glimpse into his dry and rather caustic sense of humor towards the end of the book, with Rahner's controversial notion of the "anonymous Christian" being the recipient of some sharp jabs. Using a fictional dialogue between a "well-disposed commissar" and "The Christian," Balthasar shows, in biting fashion, how desperately so many Christians have sought to become relevant and accepted by society at large, having lost sight of their true calling in Christ. At the end of the hilarious, but somewhat chilling dialogue, the Christian naively exclaims: "You are a decent fellow. You are an anonymous Christian," to which the commissar replies disdainfully: "Don't be stupid, my friend....You've liquidated yourselves and spared us the trouble of persecuting you. Dismissed!"

For those looking to be challenged both spiritually and intellectually by the call of Christ, and made more aware of the difficulties Christians face in a hostile world, this is a good place to start. While never easy and occasionally disturbing, Balthasar's holiness, rich knowledge, deep spirituality, and solid Biblical exegesis are unique and refreshing in an age of spiritual fads and self-centered feel-goodism.

The late Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar was, without a doubt, one of the most important Catholic systematic theologians of the 20th century. This is the first book (of seven) of the first part of his "trilogy" which outlines and describes his systematic theology. As an introduction to his systematics, it is an essential read. To those not familiar with von Balthasar, it's a wonderful place to start.

Unsatisfied with Rahner's "transcendental Thomism" and his method of "doing theology from below", von Balthasar begins with the revelation of God. The entire systematic theology is structured around the ancient philosophical transcendentals "Beauty, Truth, and Goodness". In this first volume (and throughout the first part of the trilogy) von Balthasar discusses the Revelation of God to humanity through form and beauty.

Truly a remarkable book, and a good introduction to a remarkable man.

On of the mainissues of the Work of Balthasar is the desire to liberate the theology from its narrow constructed house. He was of the opinion that the greek philosophy does not give the sufficient categories to understand in depth the salvation mystery as made trough the living God. Therefore he tried to retell the whole drama of salvation, the drama of Gods encarnation, the drama of the relation between God and every single person, with the help of the theatral categories.

This first volume of the five volume work "Theodrama" is an introduccion to understand and know the categories. Balthasar works trough the whole history of dramaturgia since the very beginning more than 2500 years ago and passes trough an amount of authors uptil the midst of the 20th century. As always Balthasar normally read all the written work of an author. He analieses their works in their usability to offer categories for the development of the "Theodrama".

It is important to be beware that for the theologican Balthasar is to find and develop an analogy from the categories of the dramatic world to get the possiblity to explain better the drama of God with the world. There are no identity between this categories and the drama of God.

"Theodramatic" is maybe the most important contribution Balthasars to the theology and it is highly recommended to read the five volumes.

This is an excellent book for those Christians who wish to gain a deeper understanding of Jesus's teaching "unless you become like this child...". This book also provides a helpfull resource to Catholics who may be constantly challenged by fundamentalist Christians to be born again. Cardinal Von Balthazar very clearly explains what is involved in being like a child unto the Lord and gives his readers many insights into the mystery of life with God, the Father.

It is a short book in terms of pages, but each page is packed with reflections. This book is best read as part of a meditation regime or one's "lectio divina" (prayerful study of religious texts).

I think readers who are looking for a substantive theological exposition will appreciate this book with its balance between deep theology and careful reasoning.

In his book Mary for Today, von Balthasar describes Mary's status and relevance in the Catholic Church by gathering quotes from scripture and theological tradition. Mary is referred to in both prophecies and figures in the Old and New Testaments. Mary is a very important icon of the Catholic Church. She is regarded as one of the most important beings in the Catholic Church. She represents motherhood, marriage, faith, mercy, purity, and has been venerated for many centuries. She is known as the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of God. Mary is special because she is a human person who is chosen by God to bear his son. She represents the perfection and elevation of a human being by grace.

It seems like that most readers who try to understand Balthasar might want to have a structural grasp of his aesthetic-dramatic-logic trilogy in his own words. However, the selections are presented in traditional Catholic categories of God, Jesus, Church etc. which usually cannot easily convey the main thrust of the theologian's project. I bought this book together with Edward Oakes' and I found myself spending all my time reading Oakes' intro rather than this reader. This book is a complete disappointment for me.

In its original German, this book filled an essential need among the reading public. Unfortunately, the English version hobbled itself with a clumsy translation, one that a general reader unfamiliar with the Tuetonic style of the translators will have trouble deciphering. Moreover, the translators also decided to drop several of the essays, under the pretext (in the 1980's!) that some of those essays would "soon" be appearing in English. But by now, that is true of almost all of the selections chosen in the Reader. And yet, the presence of essays and selections scattered all over the place is precisely the readon for a Reader in the first place! Now the publishers have brought out the book again, unchanged and still truncated and abridged. The introductory essay is worth reading, but the the reading public would be better advised to read some of Balthasar's own shorter works that summarize his thought rather than trying to make sense of this densely and woodenly translated Reader.