Fr. Hardon on Those who Promote von Balthasar’s “Empty Hell”
Given the recent hype again on the idea that we might “hope that hell might be empty” (an idea from von Balthasar), here’s Father Hardon speaking on that very point, and notice he’s commenting (back in the 80’s) about the sheer volume of writing trying to convince people that Hell doesn’t exist:
This article, Fr. Hardon on Those who Promote von Balthasar’s “Empty Hell” is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/fr-hardon-on-those-who-promote-von-balthasars-empty-hell/
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Great to see more Hardon on here. Regarding Balthasar, if you want to understand his theology of the Church in relation to the world after Vatican II, you can begin with his cryptic work ‘Razing the Bastion’s’ (1952). The article below gives an overview of the book with notations of the page numbers for particular passages of interest. Grab a glass of scotch before beginning!
https://dominicantrad.blogspot.com/2020/08/razing-bastions-notes-quick-tour-of.html
Matthew, good stuff! I hate recommending people to actually read the mess of Von Balthasar …. Perhaps as a forensic analysis of a train wreck, it is a worthy endeavor — sort of like Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is like a play-by-play of how he went insane.