How can theology think and talk about history? Building on the work of the major twentieth-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar as well as entering into sharp critical debate with him, this book sets out to examine the value and the potential of a ‘theodramatic’ conception of history. By engaging in dialogue not only with theologians and philosophers like von Balthasar, Hegel and Barth, but with poets and dramatists such as the Greek tragedians, Shakespeare and Gerard Manley Hopkins, the book makes its theological principles open and indebted to literary forms, and seeks to show how such a theology might be applied to a world intrinsically and thoroughly historical. By contrast with theologies that stand back from the contingencies of history and so fight shy of the uncertainties and openness of Christian existence, this book’s theology is committed to taking seriously the God who works in time.

• Ben Quash deals with a core human concern - the historicality of existence • This book offers a rare combination of theological, literary and philosophical sensitivity • Quash challenges the reception of von Balthasar's thought to rise to a new level of critical reflection and application

Contents

Introduction; 1. Dramatizing theology; 2. Freedom and indifference; 3. Epic history and the question of tragedy; 4. Eschatology and the existential register; 5. Analogy’s unaccountable scaffolding; 6. Theodramatics, history and the holy spirit; Postscript.

Reviews

From the hardback review: 'This book is, throughout, an invigorating and challenging read.' Church Times

From the hardback review: '… scholars interested in the relationships between nature, grace and history, will find this work very stimulating and illuminating. It is also beautifully written, it contains valuable bibliographical references, and it is not scared to be interdisciplinary.' International Journal of Systematic Theology