2008 Hans Urs von Balthasar Blog Conference: Introduction
Tomorrow is the beginning of the first annual 2008 Hans Urs von Balthasar Blog Conference on the theme of “Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theological Exegesis.” Over the next week, we will read and discuss nine short essays that investigate different aspects of how von Balthasar read and interpreted Holy Scripture. These essays range from discussions of hermeneutics (Nielsen) to an analysis of how he read the Old Testament (Doerge) to an essay on how von Balthasar understood the name of the Lord in Exodus 3 (Murphy) to a survey of von Balthasar’s exegesis of the New Testament texts on the resurrection (Drury). Along the way, I will post official responses which will help frame our discussion of the material.
While a new essay and response will be posted each day, from March 17-25, I encourage every one to continue the conversations beyond the one day. This is the advantage of holding a “blog” conference: our conversations with the presenters are not limited to a fifteen minute block of time. We can engage the issues for days and even weeks.
Let me offer a word of thanks to everyone who is participating in this exciting project. I am grateful for the hard work each person has put into this. Many thanks to those who wrote the plenary posts as well as to those who wrote responses.
In a world where we are bombarded by seemingly endless amounts of information, I trust this conference will offer something distinct and interesting. While blogs have been disparaged (often rightly) by academics, I hope this experiment demonstrates that theo-blogging can be a place for academically rigorous and theologically sophisticated work. More importantly, in a conference examining the interrelation between theology and exegesis, I hope most of all that these essays provoke us to return to the text anew for a fresh hearing of God’s Word. May we gain a greater appreciation for what von Balthasar accomplished, and, following his example, learn to cultivate a faith that always seeks understanding.
While a new essay and response will be posted each day, from March 17-25, I encourage every one to continue the conversations beyond the one day. This is the advantage of holding a “blog” conference: our conversations with the presenters are not limited to a fifteen minute block of time. We can engage the issues for days and even weeks.
Let me offer a word of thanks to everyone who is participating in this exciting project. I am grateful for the hard work each person has put into this. Many thanks to those who wrote the plenary posts as well as to those who wrote responses.
In a world where we are bombarded by seemingly endless amounts of information, I trust this conference will offer something distinct and interesting. While blogs have been disparaged (often rightly) by academics, I hope this experiment demonstrates that theo-blogging can be a place for academically rigorous and theologically sophisticated work. More importantly, in a conference examining the interrelation between theology and exegesis, I hope most of all that these essays provoke us to return to the text anew for a fresh hearing of God’s Word. May we gain a greater appreciation for what von Balthasar accomplished, and, following his example, learn to cultivate a faith that always seeks understanding.
Comments
Well said, David. Thanks for your hard work on this.