I just read the notice of the recent death of Edward T Oakes. I was sad to read this, just because I only encountered him in his books, but I liked him! The picture we construct of an author we don't know except through their writing is entirely subjective, impressionistic but not without evidence, reliant on our literary tastes, temperament and the way our own minds work - but nevertheless intriguing. Oakes wrote with discernible passion in his theology, generous in his fairness to other views, and as obvious from the above poster, was himself a fine writer.
His book, Infinity Dwindled to Infancy is beautifully written, and is one of the best systematic Christologies around. The title is from Hopkins' poem "The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe". I've read other books by Oakes, including The Cambridge Companion to Hans urs Von Balthasar, which he edited, and his highly prized study of Von Balthasar's theology, Pattern of Redemption.
It's one of the great mysteries of the faith, what our greatest theological thinkers make of the realities of which they wrote, when finally faced with the beatific vision, and still only having words as descriptors. As Barth's jaw drops, so will his pipe; Jonathan Edwards will have to learn to swim in 'the great ocean of love' of which he rhapsodised; Julian of Norwich will think this time she really has died and gone to heaven, and shout without decorum of her sourteous God, "My God, I was right! And all shall be well, and all manner of thing is well! O You Beauty!".
Pax Christi Father Oakes.
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