Oakes, Edward T.

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Oakes, Edward T.

PERSONAL:

Education: St. Louis University, M.A.; Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, M.Div; Union Theological Seminary, M.Phil, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, 1000 E. Maple Ave., Mundelein, IL 60060.

CAREER:

Writer, editor, translator, theologian, and educator. Entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), 1966; ordained a priest, 1979. University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor of Theology. Regis University, Denver, CO, associate professor of religious studies; New York University, assistant professor of Near Eastern languages and literature and visiting professor.

WRITINGS:

(Translator) Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation, Communio Books (San Francisco, CA), 1992.

(Editor) German Essays on Religion, Continuum (New York, NY), 1994.

Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Continuum (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with David Moss) The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Religion, Theological Studies, Pro Ecclesia, Commonweal, and First Things.

SIDELIGHTS:

Edward T. Oakes is a writer, theologian, and educator at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, where he is the Chester and Margaret Paluch professor of theology. He has also been associate professor of religious studies at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Oakes has been a member of the Jesuits for more than forty years, entering the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) in 1966, then being ordained as a priest in 1979, according to a biographer on Counterbalance.net. He holds a Ph.D. in systematic theology, earned at Union Theological Seminary in 1987. Oakes often writes for theology journals and other publications. He is an authority on twentieth-century Swiss philosopher and theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar, and all of his book-length works have in some way involved this prominent Roman Catholic thinker.

Von Balthasar is one of several influential German authors, theologians, and philosophers featured in German Essays on Religion, edited by Oakes. It remains true that in theology, German writers have been thoroughly represented and have had a profound effect on concepts of religion. "German writers have set the terms and questions" that are pondered and assessed in modern thought, observed a reviewer in First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life. In this volume, Oakes assembles works from twenty-two authors that have had a significant influence on modern-day writing about religion. Oakes's time frame spans the years from the Enlightenment to the present day. Among the prodigious thinkers that Oakes features are Immanuel Kant, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Schweitzer, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Hans Urs Von Balthasar. The FirstThings contributor called the book "a fine introduction to an influential set of German writers."

In Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Oakes offers a much more comprehensive examination of the religious thought and writings of Von Balthasar. He "reliably introduces the themes and shape of Balthasar's work," noted America reviewer John P. Galvin. "For the uninitiated, Balthasar's theology is formidable," Galvin continued. Further, Balthasar's education and career were somewhat unconventional for a theologian. After earning a doctorate in German literature from the University of Zurich, Balthasar entered the Society of Jesus in 1929. Though he continued his studies while a member of the Jesuits, he never earned a doctorate in theology, Galvin reported. From 1940 to 1948, he served as a Catholic chaplain at the University of Basel. During this time, he founded a secular institute with Adrienne von Speyer. "Both were convinced that Von Speyer was the recipient of mystical graces and revelations," and that they were the recipient of a "divine mandate" to collaborate for the good of the church, Galvin stated. Ultimately, Balthasar was forced to choose between remaining a Jesuit or continuing the work he was doing with Speyer and the institute. He departed the Jesuit order in 1950. Thereafter, he joined the diocese at Chur, in Basel, Switzerland, where he lived out his life, writing, publishing, and lecturing, He collaborated closely with Speyer until her death in 1967, and died himself on June 26, 1988, "two days before he was to become a cardinal," Galvin noted.

Oakes discusses Balthasar's work in depth, exploring its many themes and influences. He assesses the writer's powerful systematic trilogy, consisting of The Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, and Theologic, which considers Revelation in terms of the characteristics of beauty, goodness, and truth. Oakes considers Balthasar's interactions between dramatic and human freedom, culminating in the messages found and the symbolism of Christ's crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Oakes "does not merely report or comment, but genuinely interprets and appropriates Balthasar's thought in style respectful and enthusiastic, but not hagiographic," remarked Robert P. Imbelli in a Commonweal review. John K. Riches, writing in the Journal of Theological Studies, found the book to be "a readable, in many ways informative account of Balthasar's life and writings," one that will "help to situate Balthasar within the main stream of European life and letters."

"Clearly sympathetic to his subject but not excessively so, Oakes provides an accurate outline of the major themes and structures of Balthasar's work," Galvin observed. Professional theologians "have much to learn from this book, even as nonprofessionals will be treated to a demanding, if bracing, theological workout," commented Imbelli. "Oakes knows his B[althasar] very well and has a remarkable command over the important secondary literature. This is a very valuable book. I admire its breadth. I think it will prove most helpful … as a more substantive and detailed resource for more advanced students," commented John R. Sachs, writing in Theological Studies. Galvin concluded that Pattern of Redemption is a "useful introduction to an important and complex theologian whose thought warrants careful study and critical appropriation."

Oakes served as the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, with David Moss. "This book bears witness to the growing maturity of Balthasar studies and offers hope for a calmer, less strident reception of his work among the theological community," remarked Gerry O'Hanlon, writing in Theological Studies. "Balthasar, who died at age eighty-three in 1988, is among Catholics probably the most discussed theologian today," reported a reviewer in First Things. In this book, Oakes and Moss assemble seventeen essays on Balthasar by twenty prominent theologians. Oakes and Moss also offer editorial commentary of their own. "All the studies are competent," O'Hanlon noted, and the "best retain a certain sympathetic but critical distance" from Balthasar and his work. Among the topics covered by the contributors and editors are Balthasar's theology, his well-known trilogy (The Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, and Theologic), disciplines in which Balthasar was involved, including literary criticism and metaphysics, and accounts of contemporary encounters with Balthasar and his thinking over the years. In total, the authors and editors formulate a portrait of Balthasar and his unique theology, with considerable cross-reference to other major theologians and influences on Balthasar's thinking. O'Hanlon concluded that the book makes an "effective case in presenting Balthasar as substantive, original, inspiring, and at times flawed."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, July 29, 1995, John P. Galvin, review of Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, p. 35.

Commonweal, April 7, 1995, Robert P. Imbelli, review of Pattern of Redemption, p. 24.

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, October, 1995, review of German Essays on Religion; February, 2005, review of The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, p. 54.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1998, John K. Riches, review of Pattern of Redemption, p. 492.

Theological Studies, December, 1995, John R. Sachs, review of Pattern of Redemption, p. 787; March, 2007, Gerry O'Hanlon, review of The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, p. 193.