Book Review: Aidan Nichols, Balthasar for Thomists

Abstract

Students of theology are sometimes encouraged to choose between great theologians in an “either/or” fashion. This is contrary to the theological method both of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Balthasar writes in My Work: In Retrospect that his mission in the Church is to be in constant dialogue with multiple notable thinkers from all the stages of the long history of the Church. He avoids theological polarizations. These are often “arbitrary rigid lines” in the greater scheme of the constellation of the communion of saints. Bearing this in mind, the reader of Balthasar cannot interpret it as a condemnation when Balthasar does not grant Aquinas the exclusivity that Catholic theology tends to give him. Even though Balthasar considers High Scholasticism a rationalization of theology, he accepts it as a necessary phase in the development of doctrine. For example, when comparing Dante to Aquinas, Balthasar says of the latter that he was more of a philosopher than a theologian. This cannot overshadow Balthasar’s praise of Aquinas for his clear and intelligible ordering of the created world in relation to God. Balthasar considers the doctrine of the real distinction to be the culmination of all Christian philosophy. As Nichols shows in this book, Balthasar is incomprehensible without the Angelic Doctor. Similarly, the reader of Aquinas should remain open to other theological voices. Nichols encourages all of us to “test everything” and “hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). The term “Thomist” has carried many different meanings. Perhaps those scholars who define the term as a style of thinking in light of a sacred tradition are the closest to achieving the compatibility and complementarity of two great thinkers. To perform this synthesis, Nichols divides the book into two large sections. The first is a combination of three chapters that correspond to the three volumes of Balthasar’s Trilogy. The second deals with several topics in dogmatic and pastoral theology. The seven chapters are preceded by an introduction and 1016245 PRE0010.1177/10638512211016245Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical TheologyBook Review book-review2021