Experiences of a Catholic Theologian
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2000
- Journal Title:
- Theological Studies
- Volume:
- 61
- Issue:
- 1
- Language:
- Abstract:
Translators Introduction Shortly before his death in March 1984, Karl Rahner offered this brief retrospective on his life's work as a theologian in which he focused on four "experiences" which, as he approached the end of his life, he considered crucial to any form of theological reflection With characteristic modesty he uses these ex periences as a way of critically reviewing his own theological work Pride of place goes to what he calls the analogical nature of all theological assertions since Rahner always favored an apophatic way of speaking about God Yet this God does not remain distant but has communicated God's very self to humankind This self- communication of God, an experience of grace, is the second expe rience discussed here and constitutes for Rahner the core of the Christian message A third retrospective experience is that as a Jesuit his theology has some affinity with the spirituality of his religious order At least, that was his hope—that he would be able to incor porate some of the "existentialism of Ignatius'' into his own way of theologizing A fourth and final experience is the "incongruence" of theology with the other sciences Nevertheless, if theologians are not to preoccupy themselves with a purely abstract concept of God, they will see the various natural sciences and artistic expressions such as music, visual art, and poetry as revealing the hand of God The experience of "not-knowing, " of not being able to provide any clear answers to a multitude of problems and questions, led Rahner to plea for a greater modesty in theological discourse "A theology that wishes to answer all questions clearly and thoroughly is guaranteed to miss its proper 'object' " ("Why Doing Theology Is So Difficult, " in Karl Rahner in Dialogue, ed Paul Imhof and Hubert Biallowons [New York Crossroad, 1986] 216) This experience, in turn, is linked to a central tenet of Rahner's theology, namely, to the God of incomprehensible mystery, who cannot be explained with rationalistic clarity. Rahner concludes his retrospec- tive by returning to a familiar emphasis on God as the absolute future, a future which can be reached only through the medium of death. Death and eternal life constitute radical caesurae, which he can describe only in the paradoxical language of emptiness and fulfillment, darkness and light, question and answer.
- Who (Jesuits):
- What (Subjects):
- When (Centuries):
- Page Range:
- 3–15
- ISSN:
- 0040-5639