310 BOOK REVIEWS Theology and Discovery: Essays in Honor of Karl Rahner, S.J. Edited by WILLIAM J. KELLY, S.J. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press, 1980. Pp. 365. $24.95. It is hard to imagine a better way in which a University and its Theology Department might honor Karl Rahner than this collection of essays. In March, 1979, Fr. Rahner was awarded the Pere Marquette Discovery Medal "in honor of Father's 75th birthday and in celebration of his achievements in theology both for the Church and for the world " (Editor's Preface). The next three days were devoted to a series of twelve major papers, with two respondents for each paper. The present volume includes these essays as well as appendices on the conference and indices of proper names and scriptural references. Rahner's brief foreward summarizes his own vision of a theology of the future, with the hope that tributes will be directed not toward him but toward " contemporary theology in its entirety." Indeed, the success of this volume is precisely that it accomplishes this. The various papers do (fortunately) direct some tributes toward Rahner's theology. But they spend even more time addressing various topics, both "rahnerian" and "nonrahnerian." The authors, articles (averaging 24 pages), and respondents (averaging 4 pages) are as follows : Rev. Avery Dulles, S.J., "Revelation and Discovery" (Respondents: Rev. Joseph Lienhard, S.J., and Dr. Andrew Tallon); Rev. William V. Dych, S.J., "Method in Theology According to Karl Rahner" (Respondents: Rev. Bernard J. F. Lonergan, S.J., and Rev. Walter Stohrer, S.J.); Rev. Gerald McCool, S.J., "Karl Rahner and the Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas" (Respondents: Rev. Robert Kress and Rev. Patrick Burns); Rev. George Muscalek, S.J., "The Impasse of Ultimate Reassurance and Christian Certitude" (Respondents: Rev. Joseph Bracken, S.J., and Rev. Ladislas Orsy, S.J.); Rev. Harvey Egan, S.J., "Rahner's Mystical Theology" (Respondents: Rev. Kenneth Baker, S.J., and Dr. Keith Egan); Rev. Johannes B. Metz, "An Identity Crisis in Christianity' Transcendental and Political Responses" (Respondents: Rev. Matthew Lamb and Rev. David Tracy); Rev. Jon Sobrino, S.J., "Current Problems in Christology in Latin American Theology" (Respondents: Dr. Fernando Segovia and Rev. Joseph Komonchak); Dr. Thomas Ommen, " The Pre-Understanding of the Theologian " (Respondents: Rev. Peter Schineller, S.J., and Rev. Roland Teske, S.J.); Rev. Leo O'Donovan, S.J., ''Making Heaven and Earth: Catholi!l Theology's Search for a Unified View of Nature and History" (Respondents: Dr. William O'Brien and Dr. Dean Fowler); Rev. Bruno Schueller, S.J., "Christianity and the New Man: The Moral Dimension" (Respondents: Rev. Richard Roach, "BOOK "REVIEWS 811 S.J., and Dr. Mary Rousseau); Rev. John F. X.- Sheehan, S.J., "The Historical Method and Canonical Criticism: A Place on Which to Stand in Doing Biblical Theology" (Respondents: Ms. Toni Craven and Very Rev. Richard Sklba) . A summary of the exchanges-and a few of my own questions-suggest the breadth of issues raised. Dulles aims at " considering revelation under the rubric of discovery " (and, his argument seems to imply, also vice versa). Illustrating his point with samples from Scripture and philosophy of science and elsewhere, Dulles proposes that "it is quite conceivable that one and same disclosure might be, under different aspects, both revelation and discovery." Christian discipleship is, in any case, a faith "on the way to discovery, on the way to revelation not yet given.'' (But, then, one wonders: is not the concept " revelation" decentralized in a way that undercuts the main thesis?). Liehhardt uses Augustine to " complement " Dulles, and Tallon inserts Dulles into a broad tradition of a theology of " the heart " and " affective intentionality." Dych offers a comparison of Rahner and Lonergan. He proposes that, unlike Lonergan's distinction between " potential " and other " acts of meaning," Rahner's distinction between experience and reflection grants a " fulness " to experience that is " left behind " in reflection; analogously, unlike Lonergan's emphasis on thematic knowledge of God, Rahner emphasizes our unthematic knowledge of God, Lonergan, whose concern is " less with developing doctrines than with discovering how one develops them with method," suggests that intentionality analysis precedes talk of potential meanings; more generally...
Read full abstract
Jan 1, 2003
Jennifer Beste 
