New book presents Hans urs von Balthasar’s insights about discernment and vocation

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) was a major and influential figure in the Church in the 20th century. He was a prolific author, a theologian whose thought has been admired and commended by St. Pope John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Bishop Robert Barron, and many others.

Jonathan Ciraulo is the editor of a new volume entitled Distributed like Bread: Hans Urs von Balthasar on Discernment, Vocation, and the Priesthood (Ignatius Press, 2026). This concise book presents some of von Balthasar’s reflections on discernment, which respond to current questions regarding the viability of priestly and religious vocations today. It aims to help readers understand how personal freedom and vocation are related, and how it is through the reception of a mission that we become truly ecclesial and open to God and others.

Dr. Ciraulo is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America, and is the editor of the journal The New Ressourcement, and author of The Eucharistic Form of God: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Sacramental Theology.

He recently spoke to Catholic World Report about his new book, the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar, and the importance of discernment for priests and laypeople.

Catholic World Report: How did the book come about?

Jonathan Ciraulo: Deacon Jim Keating, who was the editor of the Institute for Priestly Formation Publications, asked me to write a little book to introduce the thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar to seminarians in particular. As I was then teaching at a seminary, and in fact teaching an elective on Balthasar to the seminarians, I knew that Balthasar was a much-needed voice in the Church today, particularly for seminarians and priests.

Thus, the first edition of this book was written with seminarians and priests in mind as the intended audience. The newer Ignatius Press edition allowed me to broaden the focus. In general, I envisioned this book as a sort of introduction to Balthasar, who continues to fascinate and at times perplex many in the Church today.

This introduction to Balthasar occurs through the lens of those themes announced in the book’s subtitle: discernment, vocation, and the priesthood.

Catholic World Report: For those unfamiliar with him, can you give us an introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar?

Ciraulo: Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) is now widely recognized as one of the most important theologians of the 20th century. On the one hand, he was somewhat of a theological outsider: his PhD was in Germanistik (German Studies), not in theology, he was never a professor of theology, he was not involved with the Second Vatican Council, as were many other theologians of his generation, and his interests were somewhat outside of the theological mainstream.

On the other hand, his work on the Church Fathers makes him representative of the ressourcement movement (a recovery of the insights of the Patristic period), he helped found the influential journal Communio, and he was a major influence on generations of theologians, priests, bishops, and even popes (particularly Benedict XVI).

Although he lived and studied in Austria, France, and Germany, Balthasar was born and spent most of his life in Switzerland. In addition to his writings (which, including his articles, books, and translation, are counted in the hundreds), his main work included his priestly ministry to students, his collaboration with the mystic Adrienne von Speyr, the creation and administration of his own publishing house (Johannes Verlag), and the founding, with von Speyr, of a secular institute with three branches (lay women, lay men, and priests), the Johannesgemeinschaft (the Community of Saint John).

Pope Paul VI appointed him to the International Theological Commission in 1969, and John Paul II named him a cardinal in 1988, although he died only a few days before the consistory.

CWR: What is most notable or unique about him and his work?

Ciraulo: Arguably, no other recent theologian provides as synthetic a vision of the breadth of the Catholic tradition. Without homogenizing the diversity of the Church’s tradition, in Balthasar one can hear the voice of the Church Fathers, the great medieval scholastics, the mystics, as well as the breadth of the philosophical and literary tradition. The metaphor he liked to use was that of a symphony of distinct voices.

Like Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, Balthasar had an unswerving dedication, indeed reverence, for the Church’s tradition, while also recognizing the imperative of thinking with that tradition to address contemporary concerns. Balthasar shows the confidence with which Christianity can dialogue with modern philosophers (whether Hegel and Kant or Nietzsche and Heidegger) and address contemporary questions with confidence (whether moral, historical, or scientific). In Balthasar, one can see that the Church is equal to the task set before it in our time.

Balthasar is also well-known for his attempt to reunite theology and spirituality. If he proposed a “kneeling theology” and not only a “desk theology,” this is because he understood the damage done to both theology when it is divorced from the spiritual life and the spiritual life when unmoored from theology. To get a sense of his spiritual vision, I would recommend his book Heart of the World.

CWR: Balthasar can be intimidating to many readers because he was so educated and brilliant (he was once described as “the most cultured man in Europe). But is he accessible to the average reader?

Ciraulo: Indeed, Balthasar is principally known for his towering intellect, and the great majority of his writings demand of his readers a familiarity with philosophical, theological, and literary history that relatively few possess. This is true especially of his major trilogy, The Glory of the Lord (seven volumes), the Theo-Drama (five volumes), and the Theo-Logic (three volumes).

Nevertheless, he also wrote many smaller, more accessible books that will be of great aid to anyone. I would especially recommend In The Fullness of Faith, New Elucidations, and the collection of his homilies, You Crown the Year with Your Goodness, for anyone looking to read Balthasar for the first time.

What is remarkable about Balthasar, in fact, is that one can easily discern the same theological vision in both his dense theological tomes and in his shorter works of spirituality.

In this book, I am drawing on the entirety of his corpus in order to distill some of the more salient points that touch on perennial Christian questions of discerning the will of God. The first chapter in particular is intended to be a quick introduction to the life and thought of Balthasar.

Although he came from a patrician family (hence, the “von”) and was indeed an intellectual giant, in no way was Balthasar an “elitist,” at least as that term is commonly used. In fact, he had a lively concern for the poor, for the little ones, and knew quite well that the mysteries of God are often “hidden from the wise” and instead “revealed to the childlike” (Matthew 11:25).

The last book he wrote is very telling in this regard: Unless You Become Like This Child. He himself attempted to make his theology accessible, and I hope this small book will contribute something to that same end.

CWR: The book is in three sections, all of which are explicitly related to the priesthood. But there are many insights for laypeople as well.

Ciraulo: Materially, much of the book is indeed concerned with the priesthood and with issues that relate particularly to the priestly state. Formally, though, the goal of the book is to elucidate themes that are central to every Christian’s life. Balthasar’s own experience of experiencing a call to the priesthood and to religious life is instructive here. He was first struck by the need to be unreservedly available to God, to utter with Mary “fiat mihi.”

That is to say, prior to a calling for a particular vocation—for instance, to the priesthood or religious life—there is a shared Christian demand to present oneself as available to God. Saint Ignatius would call this indifference. This is true both before pursuing a definite state in life (whether priestly, religious, or lay) as well as after. Balthasar wanted to expand our sense of “discernment” to include the whole of Christian life. Discernment is thus part of the basic Christian disposition to God. This is, to be sure, just as relevant for the layperson as it is for the priest.

Many of the other themes, even if they are concerned directly with issues touching the priesthood (e.g., celibacy, the question of the holiness of the minister, the labor of a pastor), have resonances for similar issues facing all Christians, and I tried to indicate that throughout the book. But also, I do believe all Catholics, clerical or lay, have a major interest in understanding how Christ continues his work through his priests in a special way.

CWR: Vocational discernment can be approached in different ways, and there are some varied understandings of just what we mean when we talk about vocation. How does Balthasar help us in this?

Ciraulo: For Balthasar, vocation is tied to the idea of mission. You can see here his background in the Society of Jesus and St. Ignatius’ Exercises. And, importantly, Balthasar says very clearly that an individual becomes a person in the fullest sense insofar as he has taken on a definite mission. Simon is much more himself when Christ establishes him as Peter, and the same can be said for Abraham (Abram) and Israel (Jacob). In this sense, then, all people have a vocation, have a mission that God has entrusted to them uniquely.

CWR: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

Ciraulo: I tried to communicate something of Balthasar’s insistence on an unswervingly theological sense of vocation. This is not to say that personal considerations (one’s own talents and dispositions) or even sociological ones are irrelevant. Nevertheless, if (consciously or not) the priesthood or another state in life is pursued without a lively sense of mission, without a disposition of utter availability to be used by God, then one may have missed what is most central, the “one thing necessary.”

If there is a crisis in the priesthood, it may be that we have exchanged a robustly theo-centric understanding of the priesthood for much thinner gruel. Balthasar reminds us that God can and does call us to great missions of self-sacrifice.

CWR: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Ciraulo: Writing the book was an act of gratitude to the many good priests I have known, and I hope readers will share that sense of gratitude for the gift of the priesthood.