Investigates Balthasar's early explorations of music and the other arts, before launching into a ramifying but controlled survey of his interpretations of major philosophers and literary figures in the European tradition from the early modern period until the 1930s.

The theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, whose genius is now generally recognized, has its origins in his early investigations of philosophy and the arts, which this book lays out in full for the first time. This book will enable English-speaking readers for the first time to come to terms with Balthasar's relation to European - especially German - philosophy and literature. It is the only way readers can gain a comprehensive overview of a huge and complex output crucial to his later work. Aidan Nichols is a Dominican of Blackfriars Cambridge who has published some thirty books in various areas of historical and dogmatic theology.

"This is a masterly work that will be read by all Balthasar scholars, but also by scholars interested in the intersection of theology and literature. Nichols's book is so good, it makes unnecessary another book on this topic!"-Cyril O'Regan, University of Notre Dame