The Office Of Peter And The Structure Of The Church

In this theological masterpiece on the ministry of the Pope (the Petrine Office) and the nature of the Church, the great Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar examines what he calls the anti-Roman attitude-a widespread hostility toward the Papacy. Unfortunately, this attitude exists even within the Catholic Church. How should we understand this? More importantly, how should we overcome it? Hans Urs von Balthasar answers these questions by providing a balanced discussion of the Papcy's place in the Church. He shows how the Office of Peter is an essential aspect of the ongoing life and mission of Christ's Church. On the one hand, the Papacy is not "above" the Church, the author insists, nor is the mystery of the Church reducible to the Papacy. On the other hand, writes von Balthasar, the Petrine ministry of the Pope is a crucial element among other indispensable, constitutive principles, which include what von Balthasar calls the Johannine and Pauline dimensions, and above all else on the Marian aspect of the Church. The Postulate: The Word Became Flesh -- The Fact: Anti-rome -- Integration -- The Phenomenon -- Peasant Rebellion -- Provincialization -- Being A Pope Today -- The Refusal -- The Way Back -- The Unity Of Negation -- Unity As A Abstraction -- Forms Of Abstract Unity -- The Quicksand Of Language -- Under The Spell Of Humanitarian Mysticism -- Carried Away By Ecumenism -- The Mysterium Of The Church -- The Real Christ In His Constellation -- Christ As The Concretization Of The Triune God -- The Christological Constellation -- Peter In The Structure -- The Petrine Office As The Concrete Representation Of Christ -- The All-embracing Motherhood Of The Church -- Mother Church: A Fading Image -- Mother Church: The Realsymbol Regained In Mary -- Mary And Peter -- The Historical Peter In His Successors -- The Office Of Peter In Tension -- The Charism Of Leadership -- The Citadel Of Freedom -- Living The Miracle -- Love As Self-transcendence -- The Crucial Test. Hans Urs Von Balthasar ; Translated By Andrée Emery. Includes Bibliographical References. Examines the anti-Roman attitude toward the papacy, as well as the ministry of the Pope and the true nature of the Church