Not longer loved or fostered by religion, beauty is lifted from its face as a mask, and its absence exposes features on that face which threaten to become incomprehensible to man.
Hans Urs von BalthasarA truth that is merely handed on, without being thought anew from its very foundations, has lost its vital power.
Hans Urs von BalthasarHell is to be contemplated strictly as a matter which concerns me alone. As part of the spiritual life it belongs behind the 'closed door' of my own room. From the standpoint of living faith, I cannot fundamentally believe in anyone's damnation but my own; as far as my neighbor is concerned, the light of resurrection can never be so obscured that I would be allowed or obliged to stop hoping for him.
Hans Urs von BalthasarThus it is necessary to commence from an inescapable duality: the finite is not the infinite.
Hans Urs von Balthasar