Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
If one does away with the fact of the Resurrection, one also does away with the Cross, for both stand and fall together, and one would then have to find a new center for the whole message of the gospel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The resurrection and the cross are fundamentally connected in Christian theology; dismissing one undermines the other.
Hans Urs Von Balthasar emphasizes the integral relationship between the Resurrection of Jesus and His crucifixion within Christian doctrine. He suggests that if one were to reject the truth of the Resurrection, it would inevitably lead to a rejection of the Cross, as both events hold a central place in the message of the Gospel. This reflection underscores the idea that the core of Christian faith is intertwined with these pivotal events, and removing one necessitates the search for an alternative foundation for the entire belief system.
Themes
ResurrectionCrossGospelFaithTheology
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the meaning of sacrifice, one could illustrate the connection between the cross and resurrection with this quote.
More from Hans Urs Von Balthasar
All quotes →It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
A truth that is merely handed on, without being thought anew from its very foundations, has lost its vital power.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
The Holy Spirit knows what a particular age's most pressing need is far better than men with their programs.
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The first attempt at a response: there must have been a fall, a decline, and the road to salvation can only be the return of the sensible finite into the intelligible infinite.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
But the saints are never the kind of killjoy spinster aunts who go in for faultfinding and lack all sense of humor. (Nor should the Karl Barth who so loved and understood Mozart be regarded as such.)For humor is a mysterious but unmistakable charism inseparable from Catholic faith, and neither the "progressives" nor the "integralists" seem to possess it - the latter even less than the former.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
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