Christ's Descent into Hell: John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger, and Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Theology of Holy Saturday Paperback – Import, 14 May 2016

Holy Saturday is usually overshadowed by other holy days of the Holy Triduum. Professor Pitstick returns Holy Saturday to its rightful status as one of the highest holy days of the liturgical year. It's unfortunate that the integrity of Holy Saturday is restored as a theological controversy among some of the greatest contemporary Theologians in the Church.

While I deeply disagreed with Pitstick's last book on Balthasar, I also found the argument of many of her critics, that "Balthasar must be right because of papal approval", far too weak of a theological defense. Therefore, I welcomed this new book, which promised to answer that criticism ... But this was a disappointing and frustrating read.Using the same tortured logic she accuses of her subject, the author attempts to turn very clear declarations of support for the person (and work) of Balthasar, by St. JP II, "then" Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and Cardinal Schonborn, into what she sees as secret and subtle critiques. Her reading of the latter's explanation for the exclusion of Balthasar's theology of Holy Saturday from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is particularly odd.Pitstick is an excellent researcher with a clear mastery of neo-Scholasticism. At times, she sounds like Garrigou-Lagrange ... but like that great Dominican, one senses an absolute unwillingness (inability) to dialogue with the theology of the Ressourcement and, by default, 75-100 years of crucial Catholic thought.