Karl Rahner's Theology Research Articles

'Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you' (James 4:8): The Development of Karl Rahner's Theological Thinking in Its First Period

'Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you' (James 4:8): The Development of Karl Rahner's Theological Thinking in Its First Period

Romanticism and transcendence: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the religious imagination

Grounded in the thought of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this text explores the religious dimensions of imagination in the Romantic tradition, both theoretically and in the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge. J. Barth suggests that we may look to Coleridge for the theoretical grounding of the view of religious imagination proposed in this book, but that it is in Wordsworth above all that we see this imagination at work. Barth first discusses the relationship between and religion, arguing that the Romantic imagination - with the symbolic import of its very nature - has religious implications. He studies the role of religious experience in Wordsworth, using Prelude as a privileged source. After comparing the conception of humanity and God in Wordsworth and Coleridge, Barth considers the role of religious experience and imagery in two of Coleridge's central poetic texts, Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. Barth examines the continuing role of the Romantic idea of the religious imagination today and concludes this book by linking it with the thought of theologian Karl Rahner and literary critic George Steiner. Romanticism and Transcendence brings together literary theory, poetry and religious experience, areas that are inter-related but are not often seen in relationship. By exploring levels of Wordsworth and Coleridge's poetry that are often ignored, Barth provides a poignant understanding of how and why the imagination was so important to their sense of poetry. He also demonstrates how rich with religious value and meaning poetry itself can be. The interdisciplinary nature of this study should make it useful not only to Wordsworth and Coleridge scholars and other romantic specialists, but also to anyone concerned with the intellectual history of the 19th century and to theologians in general.

Receiving and Responding to God's Grace

Christians have traditionally claimed a kind of invulnerability to harm that would render them incapable of responding to God's grace. This claim to invulnerability will be examined in light of trauma theory's insistence that, in situations of overwhelming violence, a person's capacity for responsive agency can be severely disabled. Drawing from incest survivors' experiences of recovery, I argue that a critical re-examination of the human capacity to receive God's grace must include greater appreciation for how God's love is mediated, at least in part, through loving interpersonal relations. Ethical implications resulting from this insight should challenge our communities in profound ways. The Christian tradition has long affirmed that a person's capacity to receive and respond to God's grace by loving both God and neighbor is not entirely vulnerable to earthly contingencies. How tenable is this, however, in light of recent social scientific research on interpersonal harm? Is it not possible to harm one another to such an extent that our capacity to respond to God's grace is severely diminished, if not altogether destroyed? In this paper, I explore these questions by placing Karl Rahner's theology of the fundamental option in conversation with the insights of contemporary trauma theory as they relate to the experiences of incest victims. Research on incest victims consistently finds that persons' capacities for healthy forms of relationality and agency can be both severely disabled by abusive interpersonal relations and fostered by supportive ones; interpersonal

Philosophy, theology and foundationalism in the thought of Karl Rahner

This paper argues for the possibility of a non-foundationalist reading of Karl Rahner's theology, one which treats it as logically independent of his philosophy. It argues that there is a greater degree of discontinuity between Rahner's early philosophical writings and his later theology than is usually recognized, and focusing on the Vorgriff auf esse, that the same claim may function differently in his theology than it does in his philosophy. Through an analysis of a line of tension running through much of Rahner's later thought, it shows that his insistence on the inescapability of pluralism, if taken fully seriously, has significant consequences for one's understanding of the ‘transcendental’ aspect of Rahner's theology.

Philosophy, theology and foundationalism in the thought of Karl Rahner

This paper argues for the possibility of a non-foundationalist reading of Karl Rahner's theology, one which treats it as logically independent of his philosophy. It argues that there is a greater degree of discontinuity between Rahner's early philosophical writings and his later theology than is usually recognized, and focusing on the Vorgriff auf esse, that the same claim may function differently in his theology than it does in his philosophy. Through an analysis of a line of tension running through much of Rahner's later thought, it shows that his insistence on the inescapability of pluralism, if taken fully seriously, has significant consequences for one's understanding of the ‘transcendental’ aspect of Rahner's theology.

Religion: A Contested Site in Theology and the Study of Religion

I first became acquainted with Richard Niebuhr's scholarship and thought in a German graduate seminar on Friedrich Schleiermacher and Ernst Troeltsch. Niebuhr's book,Schleiermacher on Christ and Religion, was a required text for the course and was regarded as the most significant study on Schleiermacher. My interest in Karl Rahner's theology had led me to go to Germany for doctoral studies. Once there, I discovered that much of what I had admired in Rahner had already been anticipated a century and a half earlier in Schleiermacher's work. Professor Niebuhr's study on Schleiermacher was the source of this insight. It influenced my decision later to translate into English Schleiermacher'sOn the Glaubenslehre: Two Letters to Dr. Lücke. My topic for this article, the theological retrieval of the category of religion, is obviously suggested by Niebuhr's study of Schleiermacher, which sought to overcome the dichotomies associated with the category of religion by the then-dominant Neo-orthodoxy. This topic is also a theme of Niebuhr's ensuing book,Experiential Religion, in which he elaborated his own constructive account of religion and experience. In addition, this topic appropriately relates to Niebuhr's activity at Harvard University, where he helped establish a program of studies in religion within the Committee on the Study of Religion.

Entering into Otherness: The Postmodern Critique of the Subject and Karl Rahner's Theological Anthropology

AbstractThe critique of the subject and subjectivity in postmodern theory serves also as as critique of the modern turn to the subject in theology. After reviewing that critique in contemporary literary and rhetorical theory, this article examines the concept of the subject in Karl Rahner's theological anthropology. This article argues that both postmodern theory and Rahner's anthropology suggest alternatives to the autonomous subject, and that Rahner's view can provide a description of an authentic, semi-permeable, and historically mediated subject.

Book Review: III. Christian Life and Thought Studies: The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings

Book Review: III. Christian Life and Thought Studies: The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings

Book Review: Karl Rahner. The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings. Eds. Karl Lehmann, Albert Raffelt and Harvey D. Egan, S.J. NY: Crossroad, 1993. Translation, Editor's Preface, by Harvey D. Egan; Introduction by Karl Lehmann. Pp. 669. $42.50

Book Review: Karl Rahner. The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings. Eds. Karl Lehmann, Albert Raffelt and Harvey D. Egan, S.J. NY: Crossroad, 1993. Translation, Editor's Preface, by Harvey D. Egan; Introduction by Karl Lehmann. Pp. 669. $42.50

The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings. By Karl Rahner. Edited by Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt. Translation edited by Harvey D. EganS.J., New York: Crossroad, 1992. xiii + 668 pages. $42.00.

The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner's Theological Writings. By Karl Rahner. Edited by Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt. Translation edited by Harvey D. EganS.J., New York: Crossroad, 1992. xiii + 668 pages. $42.00. - Volume 21 Issue 1

The Evolution of the Soul from Matter and the Role of Science in Karl Rahner's Theology

AbstractThe relation between science and religion can be difficult for Christian theologians. Some like Whitehead and Teilhard seek full integration of the two; others prefer to keep them at arm's length. Karl Rahner recommends separating them into distinct spheres, yet in practice the general conclusions of science have had a significant influence on his thought. This appears explicitly on the topic of the evolution of the soul from matter. The human soul is part of the order of creation. That order is part of the proper area of study of the natural sciences, according to Rahner. So he listens carefully to what evolutionary scientists say, and maintains an openness to the conclusions of evolutionary and cognitive sciences, in forming his ideas about the origin of the human soul. In doing this he is also implicitly relying on other conclusions developed by science over the last 400 years.

A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology. Leo J. O'Donovan

A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology. Leo J. O'Donovan

Implicit Faith, General Revelation and the State of Non-Christians

IMPLICIT FAITH, GENERAL REVELATION AND THE STATE OF NON-CHRISTIANS CHRISTIANS HAVE generally taught that membership in the Christian community is necessary for salvation.1 This teaching is not so odd as it is sometimes made to seem. Other religious communities have analogous doctrines. Theravada Buddhism, for example, teaches that Nirvana can be attained only by the following of the Excellent Eightfold Path. Religious traditions which propose specific ultimate goals for human life-as Christianity, Theravada and other major traditions clearly do-have generally not shown themselves to be indifferent about the means by which these goals are achieved. The capacities to attain and enjoy certain kinds of ends of life depend in large measure on courses of life shaped by the particular practices, values and beliefs commended by religious communities in their central doctrines. It is not from arrogance that a religious community teaches that a certain course of life is necessary for the attainment of the true aim of life, or that other courses of life can delay, divert or impede human beings who might otherwise be set on the right track. One way of making this point in Christianity has been to say that membership in the Christian community is necessary for salvation. Since Christians have also fairly consistently taught that salvation is the true aim of life for all human beings without exception and that this is willed by God, Christian theologians 1 This paper is a slightly revised version of one delivered at a University of Dallas convocation honoring St. Thomas Aquinas in 198!!. I have benefited from several clarifications offered in two papers by Dallas faculty respondents on that occasion, Mark D. Jordan of the Department of Philosophy and Peter C. Phan of the Department of Theology. 209 uo J. A. DINOIA, O.P. have historically devoted considerable intellectual energy to establishing the possibility of a hidden or virtual association with the Christian community on the part of persons who are the members of other religious communities or who profess no religious allegiances at all but nonetheless appear to be on the right track. In arguing for the possibility of a hidden affiliation of this kind, theologians ha.ve commonly relied on the presumption that the morally upright and altruistic lives of nonChristians , and perhaps even some of their communities' doctrines , express their possession of an implicit Christian faith activated by some general, extra-Christian revelation. In much the same way that explicit faith makes human beings openly confessing members of the Christian community, the disposition of implicit faith is said to constitute non-Christian persons as hidden members of the Christian community. Perhaps no more comprehensive and elaborate a version of this view has ever been offered in Christianity than the proposal advanced in our own day in Karl Rahner's theology of religions (under the tag of " anonymous Christianity ") . Such a view of the state of non-Christians has certain definite advantages. It permits Christians a measure of optimism about the prospects for salvation of countless good people who are not explicit, practicing members of the Christian community. Generally speaking, it can be claimed, such a view fosters the development of attitudes of respect for the upright lives of nonChristians and esteem for their religious traditions. But, as I shall argue in this paper, the concept of implicit faith, which is crucial to the elaboration of views of this kind, in fact poses intractable philosophical and theological difficulties when used as the basis for general descriptions of the religious (and moral) states and dispositions of non-Christian persons . These difficulties seem all the more acute in circumstances -such as those prevailing in the Catholic Church today -in which a Christian community has adopted an official policy of interreligious dialogue. Participation in interreligious dialogue demands (among other things) a readiness on the part IMPLICIT FAITH ~11 of Christians to entertain distinctive religious proposals on the part of the members of other religious communities. The idea that a non-Christian can be covertly Christian tends to lead inevitably to an inappropriate underestimation of the distinctiveness and integrity of the patterns of life fostered by other religious communities in their particular teachings. My object in...

Karl Rahner's Theology of Symbol: Basis for his Theology of the Church and the Sacraments

Karl Rahner's Theology of Symbol: Basis for his Theology of the Church and the Sacraments

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article: The Structure of Time. By W.H. Newton‐Smith. Towards a Transformation of Philosophy. By Karl‐Otto Apel. Actions. By Jennifer Hornsby. The Will: A Dual Aspect Theory. By Brian O'Shaughnessy. 2 vols., Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1980, £25 and £27.50. The Problem of Self‐Love in St Augustine. By Oliver O'Donovan. Conscience: Development and Self‐transcendence. By Walter E. Conn. Psychology and Moral Theology: Lines of Convergence. By B. Kiely. Race, IQ, and Jensen. By James R. Flynn. Intelligence: The Battle for the Mind. H.J. Eysenck versus Leon Kamin. Apologetics and the Eclipse of Mystery: Mystagogy According to Karl Rahner. By J.J. Bacik. Karl Rahner: An Introduction to his Theology. By Karl‐Heinz Weiger. A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology. Edited by L.J. O'Donovan. The Lonergan Enterprise. By Frederick E. Crowe. A Passion for Truth, Hans Küing, a Biography. By Robert Nowell. The Roots of a Radical. By John A.T. Robinson. The Problems of Theology. By B.L. Hebblethwaite. Death. Edited by John Prickett. Thou Shalt not Kill. By Augustine Regan. Killing and Letting Die. Edited by Bonnie Steinbock. Where Do We Stand? An Examination of the Christian's Position in the Modern World. By Harry Blamires. The Secularist Heresy. By Harry Blamires. La Sfida del Femminismo alla Teologia. Edited by Mary Hunt and Rosino Gibellini. Christian Religious Education. By T.H. Groome. The Way to Peace. By L. John Topel. Kirche. Festschrift für Günther Bornkamm zum 75. Geburtstag. Edited by Dieter Lührmann und Georg Strecker. History and Criticism of the Marcan Hypothesis. By Hans‐Herbert Stoldt. The Son of Man in the Teaching of Jesus. By A.J.B. Higgins. Le Mirage de ľEschatologie. By Jean Carmignac. Jesus and the End of the World. By T.F. Glasson. Clio Unbound: Perception of the Social and Cultural Past in Renaissance England. By Arthur B. Ferguson. The Origins of History. By Herbert Butterfield, edited by Adam Watson. The Unholy Crusade. By John Godfrey. Authority and Power. Edited by Brian Tierney and Peter Linehan. The Writing of History in the Middle Ages. Edited by R.H.C. Davis and J.M. Wallace‐Hadrill. The Fool of God. By George T. Peck. Luther and Staupitz: An Essay in the Intellectual Origins of the Protestant Reformation. By David C. Steinmetz. The Family of Love. By Alastair Hamilton. The History of Christianity in West Africa. Edited by O.U. Kalu. Religion and Public Doctrine in England. By Maurice Cowling. Vatican Diplomacy: The Jews during the Holocaust. By John F. Morley. Papal Power. By Jean Guy Vaillancourt. Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione. Edited by Guerrino Pelliccia (1962–68) and Giancarlo Rocca (1969‐). Vol. VI, Monachesimo urbano‐Pinzoni. Presence, Power, Praise: Documents on the Charismatic Renewal. Edited by Kilian McDonnell. 3 Vols. Collegeville (Minn.), Liturgical Press, 1980, no price given. Someone, No One: An Essay un Individuality. By Kenelm Burridge. The Formation of Social Policy in the Catholic and Jewish Traditions. Edited by E.J. Fisher and D.F. Polish. Les Revues de Sciences Religieuses. By Otto Lankhorst. The New Oxford Book of Christian Verse. Chosen and edited by Donald Davie. David Jones: The Roman Quarry and Other Sequences. Edited by Harman Grisewood and René Hague. Simone de Beauvoir and the Limits of Commitment. By Anne Whitmarsh. This Year in Jerusalem: Israel in Experience. By Kenneth Cragg.

A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology Edited by Leo J. O'Donovan New York, Seabury, 1980. 198 pp. $14.50

A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology <i>Edited by Leo J. O'Donovan</i> New York, Seabury, 1980. 198 pp. $14.50

Book Review: A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology

Book Review: A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology

CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY

CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology. Edited by Leo J. O'Donovan. New York: Seabury, 1980. xiii+198 pages, bibliography, glossary. $14.95. ISBN 0-8164-0212-4. Avery Dulles Avery Dulles Catholic University of America Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume XLIX, Issue 3, September 1981, Pages 530-a–530, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/XLIX.3.530-a Published: 01 September 1981

A World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Foundations of Karl Rahner's Theology. Edited by Leo J. O'Donovan. New York: Seabury, 1980. xii + 198 pages. $14.95 (paper $7.95).

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Theology and Experience in the Thought of Karl Rahner

One of the striking aspects of Roman Catholic theology today is the discussion of a new, fundamental source for theological reflection. In addition to Scripture, tradition in its historical and dogmatic aspects, and philosophy, human experience itself has become an explicit source in Catholic theology.' The reasons for the emergence of experience are many and complex, but singularly notable among the historical, cultural, and theological causes is the work of theologian Karl Rahner. Rahner has played a significant role in leading Catholic thought into its present open context in which the relevance of human experience to theology has become crucial. For he has focused on experience in his developemnt of an original theological method, a method which he calls theological anthropology. It is this method which provides the coherence and continuity in Rahner's thought, despite its continuing development, lack of systematic expression, and the apparently sharp discontinuities between the early and the later Rahner.