Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-209) and index.

Exemplariity and expression: rejection of the pure difference thesis -- The positivity of the other: rejection of the identity thesis -- Analogy: a theological and philosophical via media -- Personhood and von Balthasar's two metaphysics -- Analogy of being in Trinitarian and Christological keys -- Participation, love, and kenosis -- Epilogue.

As one of the pillars of the nouvelle théologie movement, a main influence upon the Second Vatican Council, and one of the few thinkers to complete a full-scale multi-volume systematics, Hans Urs von Balthasar is undoubtedly one of the towering figures of twentieth-century theology. Until now, the structural undergirding of von Balthasar's main contribution, a weighty fifteen-volume, three-part 'triptych' dogmatics, has not been assessed. In this volume, Junius Johnson presents an analysis of von Balthasar's work in dogmatics and provides the structural linchpin for understanding the whole of this massive (and massively important) systematic theology. Taking the person of Jesus Christ as the metaphysical starting point, the project highlights the fundamental connections to key doctrinal, historical, and philosophical issues. --Book cover.