Saving Finite Freedom
Hope, Freedom, and Salvation in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology of Redemption
- Theology
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Hans Urs von Balthasar has left a lasting mark on twentieth- and twenty-first-century theology. However, many who engage with Balthasar’s texts realize right away that learning what he thinks about something requires a great deal more investment than bargained for. As a result, he is often both misread and under-engaged, despite the notoriety surrounding his work. This is particularly true of his teaching on Christ’s descent into hell on Holy Saturday. This book acts as an apologia for Balthasar’s theology, arguing that he gives compelling and orthodox answers to questions such as: Who will be saved, and for what may believers hope? Does Christ’s paschal mystery condition or transform in any way what people mean by salvation, or does what they mean by salvation condition Christ and his revelation of the Father’s glory in advance? What is hell, and why and how does Christ go there? Do Thomists and universalists have better answers to these questions? This book argues that Christ’s descent into hell reveals the glorious freedom of God in and as the glorious freedom of the Son, and that Balthasar uniquely sees and explains the beauty of Holy Saturday.
Endorsements (3)
“At issue in the question of universal salvation is not only the goodness of the divine nature and the freedom of humanity, but the free and dramatic relationship between God and creation, which Hans Urs von Balthasar calls an analogy of freedom (analogia libertatis). Daniel Drain brings Balthasar’s theology of salvation, indeed his hope for universal salvation, into a spirited and fruitful dialogue with the contemporary debate.”
“In Saving Finite Freedom, Daniel Drain masterfully engages contemporary critics to elucidate Balthasar’s theology of Holy Saturday. By anchoring Christ’s descent into hell within the infinite freedom of the Trinity, Drain explains how this descent unveils a new depth to the meaning of human freedom and places the whole of Christian eschatology under the sign of hope. This study is an indispensable guide to Balthasar’s profound understanding of the way in which finite freedom is saved.”
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