The eighth volume of Adrienne von Speyr’s Posthumous Works contains the first part of the diary in which Hans Urs von Balthasar recorded her experiences and statements, Earth and Heaven (1975). Subtitled Preparation, it covers the events from her conversion in the fall of 1940 to the time just before the beginning of her dictations on the Gospel of John in May of 1944. As the sub-title indicates, the central theme of these years is Adrienne’s experiences in the school of incarnate disponibility, the existential attitude she would need in order to carry out her theological mission with the purity demanded by God.

Further Reading

• Hans Urs von Balthasar. “General Introduction to the Posthumous Works.” The Book of All Saints: Part One, Ignatius Press, 2008, pp. 1–24
• Hans Urs von Balthasar. First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr.