This essay examines Lévinas and Ricoeur’s criticisms of the project of theodicy and analyzes their attempts to figure an approach to God that survives the end of theodicy in terms of ethics (Lévinas) or hope (Ricoeur). In conclusion, it is argued that while both thinkers engage in the important task of disassociating God from the justificatory practices of theodicy, Ricoeur’s hope in the God of the future offers more ample resources for theological appropriation than Lévinas’s approach to God within the (...) limits of ethics alone. (shrink)

This article contends that Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological focus on seeing the form of God's glory in creation constitutes a critical resource for elaborating a contemporary Christian theology responsive to the crisis of environmental degradation. In particular, in this article Martin Heidegger's reflections on the environmental dangers present in modern technology provide the framework for analyzing the ecological significance of Balthasar's retrieval of a Christian sacramental ontology.