The Glory of the Lord

	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 1: Seeing the Form Ignatius Press (June 1982) The work opens with a critical review of developments in Protestant and Catholic Theology since the Reformation which have led to the steady neglect of aesthetics in Christian theology. From here, von Balthasar turns to the central theme of the volume: the question of theological knowledge. He re-examines the nature of Christian believing (here he quickly draws widely on such theological figures as Anselm, Pascal and Newman) which gives due place to the particular kind of 'knowing' which develops within the personal relationship to the believer to the God mediated through the revelation-form of Jesus Christ.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 2: Clerical Styles Ignatius Press (December 1984) Henri de Lubac has described von Balthasar as 'probably the most cultured man in Europe'. In volumes II and III von Balthasar shows the extraordinary range of his knowledge and expertise in a series of essays designed to illustrate different ways in which theologians have shared their work. What he offers is 'a typology of the relationship between beauty and revelation' which shows 'that there neither has been nor could be any true great and historically fruitful theology which was not expressly conceived and born under the constellation of beauty and grace'. Volume II offers a series of studies of representative figures from the earlier period of Christian theology - Irenaeus, Augustine, Denys, Anselm and Bonventura.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 3: Lay Styles Ignatius Press (April 1986) Volume III contains studies of Dante, John of the Cross, Pascal, Hamann, Soloviev, Hopkins and Peguy.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 4: The Realm of Metaphysics in Antiquity Ignatius Press (October 1989) In this fourth volume of his magnum opus, von Balthasar considers the metaphysical tradition of the contemplation of Being. He provides major studies of Homer, the Greek Tragedians, Plato and Plotinus and the development of this tradition in the Middle Ages. He then explores the analogy between the metaphysical vision of the Being and the Christian vision of the divine glory of the Trinity. The book is a remarkable attempt to rediscover the ancient vision of Being in all its awesomeness as the context within which the specifically Christian vision, rooted in God's gracious self-revelation, took form and was expressed.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 5: The Realm of Metaphysics in The Modern Age Ignatius Press (November 1990) In this second volume on the metaphysical traditions of the West, von Balthasar presents a series of studies of representative mystics, theologians, philosophers and poets and explores the three main streams of metaphysics which have developed since the 'catastrophe' of Nominalism. The way of self-abandonment to the divine glory is traced through figures like Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Ignatius, de Sales; the attempt to relocate theology in a recovery of antiquity's sense of being and beauty through figures like Nicholas of Cusa, Holderlin, Goethe, Heidegger; the metaphysics of spirit through Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Idealists. The strengths and weaknesses of these ways are relentlessly exposed. The volume ends with the search for the Christian contribution to metaphysics.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 6: Theology: The Old Covenant Ignatius Press (April 1991) This volume initiates von Balthasar's study of the biblical vision and understanding of God's glory. Starting with the theophanies of the Patriarchal period, it shows how such glory is most fully expressed in the graciousness of the Covenant relationship between and Israel. But the breaking of that relationship by Israel means that in the later books of the Old Testament, the divine glory is seen in God's willingness to bear with his people in the dark side of their history. There is no final version of God's glory in the Old Testament. In the 500 years before Christ the Covenant relation is mofe idea than reality. The vision of the transcendent glory of God which is developed in the later writings, is only fragmentary. It will find its strange and unexpected fulfillment in the new Covenant.
	The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 7: Theology: The New Covenant Ignatius Press (June 1990) In this final volume of his great work, von Balthasar reflects on the New Testament vision of God's revelation of his glory in Christ. This divine 'appearing' is grounded in the self-emptying of the eternal logos in the incarnation, cross and descent into hell. Christ is the man who represents God and is also God; he is a symbol of the worls and is also the world. he dies, but in dying rises into the eternal life of God. It is in Christ's incarnatin and resurrection that the Christian vision is truly expressed and the joining of God and the world in the new and eternal convenant is realised.