What we have in front of us, then, is a salvation event that is essentially governed by the vertical but which also comprehends an historical, horizontal breadth. In its unrepeatable uniqueness (on the basis of the vertical), it develops a structure that gives it two ways of imprinting its normative character on its surroundings: it can put its mark on the historical dimension (that is, where this structure is, Jesus, with his unique history, will be present) and on the eschatological and supertemporal dimension; for this structure will join with Jesus in judging the people destined for salvation (which now can be the whole of mankind).
—Hans Urs von Balthasar,
Theo-Drama II, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 66.
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