Abstract
Through his widely celebrated theological aesthetics, Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88) has sparked considerable interest in the beauty of God. In this lecture, Mark McInroy argues that the “spiritual senses” tradition plays a crucial role in Balthasar’s understanding of the way God’s beauty is perceived. The lecture is based on McInroy’s book, Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses: Perceiving Splendour (Oxford University Press, 2014), for which he received the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise in 2015. Mark McInroy, received his doctorate in theology from Harvard Divinity School in 2009, and is currently Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Thomas. He has published academic examinations of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, John Henry Newman, Martin Luther, and Origen of Alexandria. His interests lie in modern Christian thought, patristic theology, theological aesthetics, religious epistemology, Christian mysticism, and ecumenical theology.