Salvation, hell and women mystics : Hans Urs Balthasar on hope

Abstract

In this essay, the author focuses on Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved”? (DWH), a volume which includes A Short Discourse on Hell (SDH) and an Epilogue entitled “Apokatastasis: Universal Reconciliation” (AUR), containing the translation of a lecture that von Balthasar gave in Trier in 1988. She then discusses the issue of hope for universal salvation and identifies the three sources for his argument, namely, the biblical, the theological and the mystical. She argues that Balthasar is not a universalist with regards to salvation, but that he is a universalist with regards to hope. She also claims that Balthasar gives priority to the mystical, and that he bestows authority on women to season the entire argument of hope for universal salvation. She argues that the inter-saintly debate on universal salvation that Balthasar includes in this work manifests (a) remarkable sensitivity on the part of Balthasar to the theology of the mystics, (b) a special effort on the part of Balthasar to make the voice of women mystics heard, and (c) an attempt by Balthasar to bestow authority on women on the subject of universal salvation. He does this by emphasizing the solidarity with the damned that these mystics express.