Blind obedience
According to Balthasar, the Father’s abandonment of Jesus on the cross leaves him without any knowledge - he enters a state of absolute unknowing, and in this state remains faithful and obedient to the Father. As Levering explains it, “Jesus only moves to the pinnacle of obedience (the pinnacle of union with the Father’s will) by simultaneously entering the abyss of not-knowing. The highest obedience - the highest charity - is that which obeys without (conscious) knowledge or hope.”
Levering appropriately has a footnote to Kant’s Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitte , for Balthasar’s is a thoroughly Kantian account of the Cross.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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