Citation

Sciglitano JR. Mod. Theolog. 2007; 23(4): 525-559.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-0025.2007.00408.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This essay joins the contemporary debate over the proper theological and philosophical hermeneutic for interpreting the phenomenon of secularism. The first part offers a sustained Balthasar-influenced critique of Gianni Vattimo's secular translation of Christianity. I argue that Vattimo's Heideggerian-Hegelian influenced reading of secularism as Christianity's proper telos is both philosophically and theologically problematic. Part Two of this article reads Balthasar's work as a response to the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Vattimo's thought. Balthasar would argue that it is in a more traditional, yet remarkably daring account of the Trinitarian relations that the “secular” finds both its ground and dignity.