EVIL AND THE TRINITARIAN DISTANCE IN GOD ACCORDING TO BALTHASAR: GOD'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVIL?

Abstract

The reality of evil has always been a great enigma for humanity. Balthasar proposes a Trinitarian and soteriological theology that introduces novel elements into the understanding of evil. In particular, evil finds its condition of possibility in the distance of love within the Trinity. This position, which I have described as audacious, is evaluated in this study from three perspectives: the placement of evil within the Theo-drama, a certain phenomenology of evil/sin, and the examination of what could be a certain “responsibility” of God for the reality of evil. Is it possible to affirm something like this?

KEYWORDS: evil, sin, freedom, loving distance, God’s forsaking.