Developmental Expectations of Theological Aesthetics

Real and imaginary horizons

Abstract

Of the two aspects that make up the consciousness of the Logos in the Christian tradition the modern rationalist paradigm unilaterally considers only one of them; the moment of the pure concept, outlawing that of the eidos or imaginal form. The response that Balthasar suggests to restore the form, and in particular the forma Christi, is not to fight in vain against the consummation of historical events that have reduced the Logos in this way, but to conceive a new alternative that is not properly a Theology but rather an Aesthetics that is theological. In relation to the novel by Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game, I postulate that this project of Theological Aesthetics displays useful elements not only for theological reflection, but also for the ecclesiological one.