Sacrifice

In a summary of the theology of Matthias Scheeben, von Balthasar notes that he “proposes a Christian theology of sacrifice which strongly rejects the Baroque theory of ‘destruction’ and returns to the wholly personal and spiritual concept of sacrifice of the Fathers, especially of Augustine.” Sacrifice is not essentially “destruction” but “transfiguration through love: the outpouring of the gloria Dei over the whole substance of the creature, which by sacrificing and surrendering itself makes room in itself for the divine fire. Hence we have the genial idea whereby in Christ’s resurrection Scheeben sees God’s descending and consuming fire. By the same token, he posits the Cross and Resurrection (and, therefore, Christ’s whole eternal transfigured existence in heaven) as two phases of the one single and redeeming act of sacrifice.”