Unbroken Communion: The Place and Meaning of Suffering in the Theology of Edward Schillebeeckx

The reality of suffering is the greatest challenge to faith in the goodness of creation and the possibility of salvation. Edward Schillebeeckx not only takes this into account, but dialectically incorporates the reality of suffering into a theology generally defined by its focus on the interrelated themes of creation, salvation, and eschatological hope. In Unbroken Communion, Kathleen Anne McManus, O.P., traces the origins of Schillebeeckx's thought, its development, and its consequences. Schillebeeckx grounds his entire theological project in the promise of a divine/human future made visible in creation and entrusted to human freedom. Because suffering is so tangibly present in human experience, it provides the means, dialectically, of imaging the horizon of our hope. It is thus that Schillebeeckx turns suffering into hope.