Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.
Hans Urs Von BalthasarRead
Not longer loved or fostered by religion, beauty is lifted from its face as a mask, and its absence exposes features on that face which threaten to become incomprehensible to man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that without the influence of religion, beauty loses its significance and reveals unsettling truths about humanity.
Hans Urs Von Balthasar reflects on the idea that beauty, when detached from its religious context, appears hollow and reveals unsettling aspects of our existence. The notion implies that religion has historically provided a profound understanding of beauty, helping to mask the deeper complexities and challenging realities that lie beneath. Without this spiritual lens, beauty may become perplexing and even frightening to humans, as it confronts us with truths about our nature and existence that we may not be prepared to face.
Themes
BeautyReligionTruthExistenceHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the role of beauty in art during a philosophy class.
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.
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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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