The Abstract of the Thesis

‘Mary as Dramatic Person’, A Marian Foundation of Moral Life Based on the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar

Abstract

Catholic moral theology has undergone a renewal during the last
twenty years. A rediscovery of the theological dimensions of the moral
life was the most important consequence of this renewal. The main
emphasis of this theological investigation was in relation to the
anthropological, ecclesial and above all to the Christological roots of
morality. Along with this, the attention to the Marian dimension is a
recent development in Christian moral theology. This aspect was
largely ignored in the pre-conciliar manuals of moral theology. The
missing consideration was regained by the Second Vatican Council.
It presents Mary as the model of virtue and as archetype of the Church
(LG, 53, 63, 65). But even after such positive signs and proposals, the
post-conciliar period proved to be incapable of expressing the real
significance of the figure of Mary in the ecclesial and personal
configuration of Christian morality. Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-
1988), in his account on the theo-dramatic role of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, gives a new impetus to the emergence postulated by the
Council. He presents Marian existence as ‘dramatic’ and her fiat as
‘the paradigm for the faith response of the entire Church’.