Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)
Having just dipped my feet into the first volume of The Glory of the Lord (the first seven volumes in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological trilogy), I am keen to continue reading into the second and third volumes, both of which are “studies in theological style.” On a cursory review of these two volumes, I suspect that Balthasar’s division of theological “style” into “clerical” and “lay” has tremendous possibility for Wesleyan/Methodist ecclesiology.
The United Methodist Church goes to great lengths to ensure that the governance of its ministry is shared between laity and ordained clergy. Representation at conferences, as well as on boards and agencies, is typically 50% clergy, 50% laity. Of course this has effects at all levels of polity (one of which being the quadrennial “lay address,” which has yet to be interesting in the least!), yet the historical/theological foundations of this are problematic. Not that the end result is problematic; as a layperson myself I appreciate the opportunity to participate at all levels of ecclesial governance. But the Wesleyan-Methodist tradition must admit that its historical-theological identity, particularly in relation to issues of authority and governance, is rather ambivalent. In the words of Charles Wesley (quoted on this blog not so long ago),
Wesley put his hands on Coke
But who put hands on him?
For this reason I find Balthasar’s distinction between theological “styles” of clergy and laity to be ripe with possibility. Of course any Methodist claim on Balthasar would be tenuous at best…as a lapsed Jesuit (I say that tongue-in-cheek), he certainly has very little connection to the Methodist tradition. But the fact is that hardly any theological attention has ever been paid to the clergy-laity distinction, something desperately needed within Methodism (not to mention the Church universal).
Thus I suspect I will attend to this in my upcoming paper for a course on Barth and Balthasar. Though I should figure out some way to include Barth as well. Hmm….
~~(to be continued)~~
