If asked to name major twentieth century theologians who also wrote on aesthetics, mention would certainly need to be made of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jack Maritain and Paul Tillich, and perhaps also of occasional pieces by Karl Barth and Hans Küng among others. But hitherto not even the latter minimum has been available in the case of Karl Rahner, and that despite the fact that of all theologians of the period he was the most open to the activity of the Spirit in the wider world. Gesa Thiessen has at last rectified this defect in her splendid collection and translation of occasional pieces by Rahner on the subject. While most of the extracts discuss how the words of poets can operate like ‘gates into infinity,’ the other arts are not ignored. Much more than ‘mere illustration,’ they confirm how the arts, like theology, are an experience of grace, opening individuals to the transcendent.