With the risen Lord: Francois-Xavier Durrwell CSsR (1912-2005): A tribute

Prior to Francois-Xavier Durrwell's ground-breaking work on the resurrection, the understanding of redemption or salvation had been almost entirely centred on the incarnation and death of Jesus and, following Anselm, had been expressed in juridical terms. By sharply contrasting this prevailing classical teaching against the scriptural witness to the faith and understanding of the early Church, Durrwell effectively rendered such juridically-fashioned theologies of redemption unsustainable. Secondly, his unfailing instinct for the properly theological significance of the resurrection precipitated a renewed appreciation in systematic theology of the paschal mystery, per se, that was to bear two remarkable fruits: the recognition, firstly, of the paschal mystery of death and resurrection as positively constitutive of the mystery of salvation, and, secondly, as profoundly and indeed preeminently revelatory of the trinitarian mystery of God. Thirdly, his insistence that theology return to the biblical sources as its wellsprings remains a most significant contribution.