In this major work, Hans Urs von Balthasar has set out to provide a 'theological anthropology' that is, a study of man as open to the transcendent God. He rejects the easy alternatives of a sacralised society or a secularized Christianity, and argues for a narrow path between pretensions for the path of the Lamb. Drawing on contemporary philosopher and the Father, on Scripture and the ancient Greek writer, he deals with such unusual and illuminating themes as Christ and mas as the language of God, the Church as human wholeness, and the problem of power in human society and in nature.