Themes Of Faith Research Articles

Theological Investigations. Volume XIX. Faith and Ministry by Karl Rahner, and: The Practice of Faith. A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality by Karl Rahner

BOOK REVIEWS Theological Investigations. Volume XIX. Faith and Ministry. By KARL RAHNER. Trans. Edward Quinn. New York: Crossroad, 1983. Pp. 304. $19.50. The Practice of Faith. A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality. By KARL RAHNER. Edited by KARL LEHMAN and ALBERT RAFFELT. Trans. Robert Barr et al. New York: Crossroad, 1983. Pp. 316 + xv. $19.50. The nineteenth volume of Theological Investigations (T.I.) completes the English translation of volumes thirteen and fourteen of Rahner's Schriften zur Theologie (S.z.T.). S.z.T. XIV was to have been the final volume of Rahner's writings (S.z.T. XIV, p. 7), but the publication of a fifteenth and a sixteenth volume will keep English translators busy for some time. Edward Quinn has produced' a fine translation, despite wellknown difficulties with Rahner's technical and ordinary language. Rahner's recent death will surely give rise to a number of competing, posthumous readings of his theology-based largely, I suggest, on which of the several kinds of Rahner's occasional articles are given hermeneutical priority. To cite some topics from T.I. XIX, is the "real" Rahner the Rahner of "foundations of Christian faith" (3f), eternity and time (169f), the problem of evil (194f), the historical Jesus (24f), theology and the natural sciences (16f), and similar efforts in philosophical theology? Or is the real Rahner concerned more centrally with the broad outlines of essential Christian teachings, even when they have to do with the technicalities of the status naturae lapsae (39f), angels (235f), Mary's virginity (218f), the Sunday precept (151f), and purgatory (181f) ? Or is the real Rahner concerned with those practical issues primarily neither philosophical nor doctrinal but "pastoral "-concerned with the spiritual condition of our basic communities (159f), our worship (141f), our pastoral ministries and work (73ff), our priests (103f; 117f), our women (211f)? All of these, surely. But which Rahner norms the others? Or, if there seems to be no need to ask this question, will Rahner have bequeathed a textual corpus equally subject to a number of readings? Given this problem, Lehmann's and Raffelt's collection of sixty-five published and unpublished pieces from Rahner's sundry writings provides the best single place for anyone, whether rudus or peritus, to gain access to the " spirit" of this man. Organized around the themes of faith and hope and love, this anthology offers a superb icon of Rahner's characteristic weave of appeals to deep-seated affections, Church teaching, and meta66 ~ BOOK REVIEWS 663 physical vision. As the editors note (p. xiv), it is not always easy to see why one selection was included under faith and another under hope or love. But the focus on these virtues yields a new angle on Rahner, even for those already familiar with most of the articles individually. The " spirituality" of the subtitle is experience of and reflection on our (Rahner supposes) self-transcendence into holy mystery-a self-transcendence which yields diverse and conflicting spiritualities (pp. 19-20; cp. T.I. XIX, p. 103). Rahner's resolution of this diversity and conflict is evocative description of the "circle," the "synthesis" (pp. 7, 87, 141, 136) of our self-transcendence in spirit and matter and God's self-impartation in Word and Spirit. Is there really a "circle" here-or does Rahner have a "starting point" (e.g., "transcendental experience") ~ If it really is a "circle" does Rahner end up eompromising self-transcendence or self-impartation-or is the circle a sui generis synthesis, foreshadowing a new Catholic spirituality~ I suspect something like these questions will divide us for some time to come. Lehmann and Raffelt have done an excellent job of seeing to it that the debate includes not simply esotericists but all "those concerned with the practical molding of their faith, and who wish to make use of reflection and meditation in order to do so" (p. xiv). Loyola College in Maryland Baltimore, Maryland JAMES J. BUCKLEY The Glory of the Lord: .A Theological .Aesthetics, I: Seeing the Form. By HANS URS VON BALTHASAR. Translated by Erasmo LeivaMerikakis . Edited by JOSEPH FEssro, S.J. and JOHN RICHES. San Francisco, Ignatius Press and New York, Crossroad Publications , 1983...

Dialectics in Peter Maxwell Davies

One of the persistent features of Peter Maxwell Davies's music has been the use of musical material borrowed from medieval and renaissance sources. His interest in the music of this period has not of course been in its abstract musical forms, which represent aesthetic ideals now unattainable, but in themes of faith and belief which it can be used to symbolise for us. Like Adrian Leverkiihn, the composer-hero of Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus, Davies is concerned with the dilemma that in a godless world, to create God after one's own image is to call up the devil.

Thoughts on Evgenii Yevtushenko's Long Poem

Evgenii Yevtushenko's long poem The Bratsk Hydroelectric Station [Bratskaia GES] was prefaced by a sort of self-review: "Strictly speaking this is perhaps not even a poem but merely my own thoughts, bound together by a debate between two themes: the theme of lack of faith, expressed in the monologue by the Pyramid, and the theme of faith." The Bratsk Hydroelectric Station certainly bears but little resemblance to the usual long poem, with its traditional construction, whether lyrical-epic, in which the narrative rests upon figure and the fate of the hero, or lyrical, constituting a monologue by the author. The first impression of its composition is one of frightful diffuseness and lack of any concern at all for the architecture of the building. The blocks for erecting a grand structure are all there, but it is left to the reader's imagination to combine them into a single building. Whereas the first half is held together after a fashion by the dialogue between the Pyramid and the Hydroelectric Station, interrupted by occasional pictures of the past, the second is merely a succession of portraits, lives and lyrical digressions whose intent is to affirm faith in social progress.