November, month of the "last things" (death, judgment, heaven, hell), is the perfect time to talk about hell and specifically Ralph Martin's fierce attack on Balthasar's teaching on it.
Full disclosure: for about 45 years I have been a huge fan, follower and contributor to Ralph Martin and his outstanding synthesis of traditional Catholic spirituality and the charismatic renewal with a strong influence of St. John Paul II. For about 45 years I have been a bigger fan of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, for me one of the very greatest Catholic theologians (only Thomas and Augustine surpass him in depth, breath and authenticity.) So: I have two dogs in this fight. And the one (Martin) is tearing the other apart. What do I make of this?
I think they are both right! And they are both a little off as well. They need each other's voices to maintain a balanced, solid Catholic position. The issue of a populated hell is not binary: not yes or no. Because we simply do not know about the population of hell. That there is a hell is certain. That it is populated by demons is certain. But the Church has never taught definitively on the population of hell nor do we know with certainty that any particular person, not Judas and not Hitler, is in hell.
In a typically magisterial piece in First Things many years ago Avery Dulles summarized the history of Catholic thought on the issue: he stressed that earlier generations were convinced of a heavily populated hell as our age is certain of a sparsely populated one. He allowed that it was an open question for Catholic theology. Sagely, he opined that God in his wisdom purposefully did not reveal the answer to this question: if we knew that most go to hell, we might despair; if we knew that most go to heaven, we might presume.
Presumption is the target of Martin's attack. He is spot on: our culture believes in "cheap mercy" and assumes that God is merciful and that, excepting the usual suspects like Hitler and Stalin, he will forgive all our sins. To the degree that Balthasar can be interpreted to validate that presumption Martin is correct. Our world and Church have lost all sense of evil, holiness, spiritual warfare, the demonic, repentance, and the finality of heaven and hell. Martin's clear, constant voice is deeply prophetic and desperately needed.
His treatment of Balthasar is persuasive, but not entirely fair. I see him as a balance, not a contradiction. Martin favorably quotes Balthasar on the two contrasting streams that run throughout Scripture: God's inclusive, passionate desire that all be saved; and the immense danger that in our freedom we choose against God and for hell. Martin agrees with the great Swiss that both truths need to be held in tension but finds that he exaggerates mercy and underestimates judgement, wrath and evil. He is right, but...
Balthasar quotes Edith Stein (St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross) who stated that we cannot rule out the possibility that a soul would reject God, if face to face with his mercy and love, but that it was "infinitely improbable." She suggested that God's love would finally "outwit" our freedom. Her language here is dazzlingly suggestive and provocative. She allows for hell, the possibility of human damnation. But she presses so powerfully on God's mercy that she seems to virtually erase the tension, the unpredictability, the drama (a favorite term for Balthasar).
Martin raises the question: to the ordinary lay mind: how does "infinite improbability" differ from certainty or at least virtual certainty? That is an excellent question. Balthasar is the quintessential theologian; but Martin is a fine catechist. I fancy myself a catechist and here my sympathy is with Martin. I instinctively question any theological view: how is this translated to catechesis of an ordinary, lay, low-to-moderately intelligent adult. Balthasar's speculations on hell are problematic in this regard. They too easily are misunderstood as: "Don't worry about sin. God is merciful." Presumption!
And yet, Balthasar properly understood has an exceptionally strong doctrine of hell. Hell is all too real for him as he observed his intimate companion descend into that experience every Holy Saturday. Hell as complete separation from God, what Jesus experienced on the cross, is at the very heart of his theology. Serious study of Balthasar will bring hell most powerfully into ones mind and heart. His speculations, his urgency that we all hope that all be saved, his trust in Adrienne's mysticism are all, in my view, profound enrichments for our Church. But he does go a little too far in the one direction so that the "gamble" nature, the "drama" of God's choice is dimmed.
I lean in the direction of exaggerating God's mercy, but I appreciate Martin as a corrective, a balance, a tonic especially needed at this time. Remember: Hans came of age theologically at a time when the "presumption" was of widespread damnation and the Mercy of Christ obscured by residues of populist Jansenism. Yet there is a negative edge to Martin's style that I cannot entirely emulate. I am comfortable at my mediating position because I read John Paul and Benedict that way: both revered the brilliant theologian but neither went so far in entertaining the speculation of an unpopulated hell.
The best defense of Balthasar against Martin came from Nicholas Healy Jr. in Communio (2014) where he emphasized the communal nature of salvation: that we are saved, not as discrete, autonomous souls, but always as a people, a community, even as a cosmos. Mind experiment: Imagine I learn that my wife, myself and five of my seven children will make heaven; two will go to hell. How would I receive word of my salvation? I would be devastated! Inconsolable! Furious! I would bargain fiercely: How about if all nine of us go to the deepest pit of purgatory for a billion to the billionth power milennia but we all make it at the end? My personal salvation is useless to me if it does not bring with it all I love.
Gil Baile's brilliant "God's Gamble" is a development of Balthasar that manages to maintain the risk, the uncertainty, the tension. He argues that every person faces Christ, in all his woundedness and love, at death and has a final choice for or against. This assures hope for each person, but not presumption, since the possibility of damnation is maintained. In reflecting upon this, my own response was not to relax about sin and await my final "Dismas moment," but to sober up and become vigilant and prepare diligently for victory at that final moment.
I just read in Heather King's "Fools for Christ: Fifty Divine Eccentric Artists Martyrs Stigmatists and Unsung Saints" about Maria Yudina, the brilliant pianist, wacky and holy and wonderful woman whose music touched the heart of Stalin in his last, darkest days when he heard her perform on the radio. He gratuitously sent her 20,000 rubles. She wrote back (I paraphrase): "Thank you for your aid to me...I will pray for you every day and night that God will forgive you for your many sins. He will forgive you because He is merciful." When Stalin read the note, his aides were shocked that he not raise his eyebrow, his casual manner of ordering an assassination. I read elsewhere that he died listening to her music.
Scripture, Tradition and all the saints believe in hell but much more in mercy: think Fatima, St. Therese, St. Maria Gioretti, St. Faustina. My own favorite passage about hell is when Jesus says: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church." My traditional Catholic imagination had always misunderstood this saying as "the storms of hell shall not prevail against the Church whose gates are strong." But Jesus actually said the opposite: Hell is on defense sequestered behind its gates, Christ and the Church are on offence, and the defense will not hold. The best defense is a strong offense. Hell is real. Hell is present here and now and so many are entrapped. Perhaps speculation about the "population of hell" is not so helpful since we are in the middle of the fray. We need courage, trust, confidence, assertiveness, fierceness, fearlessness, recklessness...like Maria Yudina...to storm the gates of hell and rescue those entrapped, even Stalin.
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