Aesthetic Revelation: Reading Ancient and Medieval Texts after Hans Urs von Balthasar

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), long considered one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, is a central figure in the field of theological aesthetics. His poetic reading of ancient and medieval texts was intended to retrieve the role of the aesthetic in discerning the Divine in a modern, technological world. Aesthetic Revelation reexamines von Balthasar’s study of ancient and medieval theological aesthetics in his Glory of the Lord and confirms and critiques certain aspects of his analysis of traditional texts. Oleg Bychkov begins with a methodological introduction on the hermeneutics of traditional texts and addresses the question of whether it is feasible to examine ancient and medieval texts in contemporary terms. He then presents a critical outline of the history of the discipline of aesthetics, von Balthasar’s idea of theological aesthetics, and a unique analysis of von Balthasar’s hermeneutics of ancient and medieval texts. The second part of the book offers a groundbreaking study of several ancient and medieval authors and the traditions they inspired-Platonic, Stoic, Augustinian, and late medieval-with a view to confirming von Balthasar’s insights in aesthetics and correcting his approaches to textual criticism. Besides contributing to a wide range of disciplines and areas, the book clarifies certain methodological issues concerning the hermeneutics of ancient and medieval texts-a theoretical area often neglected by classicists and medievalists. Oleg Bychkov’s masterly exposition also shows how the texts analyzed have significantly influenced the development of Western theological thought.