Research Paper on:
Hans Urs von Balthasar and Bernard Lonergan on Liberation and Transcendental Theologies

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the Catholic Church and both can be seen to be culturally and historically based. Traditional teachings in the Catholic Church tended to have "onesidedness" in which man was "allowed" to  partake of Gods glory and Gods truth and goodness were seen as the purpose for following Him. In light of recent historical and cultural events, this onesidedness was becoming more  and more difficult to understand because of the horrific treatment of individuals. Liberation theology was developed in Latin America and the ideas of sin and grace were understood more on  a social level where God did not place individual sins and grace on those less fortunate but instead provided empathy. Transcendental theology was developed more as a study not on  Gods effect on man but more so based on mans development of religion working on an understanding of "man towards God" and not on the traditional "God towards man".  Catholic theologians Bernard Lonergan and Hans Urs von Balthasar are considered two of the most influential theologians in the 20th century and as well  in the history of Roman Catholic theology. The fact that Lonergan and Balthasar are highly influential in the 20th century remains significant in the expansion and the changes which have  occurred in theological understanding in the last one hundred years (Doran, 1997; Ormerod, 1996). What was once a relative uniform area of study has now been replaced with a pluriformity  of approaches and methods - "personalist, historical-critical, liberationist, neo-Thomist, feminist, transcendental, and political, to name a few" especially in the study of Roman Catholic theology (Ormerod, 1996, p. 707).  In regards to two different definitions of theology mentioned in Ormerods "Introducing Contemporary Theologies" (1997) such as the "classical" definition that theology is "faith