Some interesting and startling changes are currently afoot in the Catholic
tradition. Recently, a commission set up by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope
Benedict XVI) announced that the limbo of infants is not a de¿ ned doctrine
of the church. Limbo is traditionally the place on the border of hell for infants
who died unbaptized, who are not punished but also cannot merit the beati¿ c
vision because they still have original sin. The commission did not abolish
limbo (as some news reports said) but did note that it was never a de¿ ned
doctrine of the church. Hence limbo is still a viable theological opinion, but
so is the hope that unbaptized infants will come to enjoy the beati¿ c vision.
Behind the elimination of the doctrine of limbo is the hope of universal
salvation. John Paul II spoke frequently of the inclusion of all human beings
in the salvi¿ c work of Christ, who is the Redeemer of all. His hope for
universal salvation owed something to Protestant theologian Karl Barth, but
perhaps more to Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.
The hope of universal salvation has been raised by von Balthasar’s deep
re-examination of the story of Christ. Von Balthasar’s theology rejects the
Liberal turn to experience in favor of a turn to beauty. The most beautiful
of all things is Christ cruci¿ ed, dead, and raised. Von Balthasar focuses
on Christ in hell on Holy Saturday, forsaken by the Father, dead among
the dead. Von Balthasar’s theology draws on the visionary theology of his
friend, the mystic Dr. Adrienne von Speyr. Von Balthasar proposes for our
meditation the thought that no hellbound sinner, turning away from God,
may be more deeply forsaken by God as was Christ. This idea will be argued
about at great length, but I think it is exactly the kind of argument in which
the Christian tradition should be engaged. Ŷ
Balthasar, Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved”?
———, First Look at Adrienne von Speyr.
Noll and Nystrom, Is the Reformation Over?
Spong, Why Christianity Must Change or Die.
Wills, Papal Sin.
Suggested Reading