Christocentrism of Charism – Buggert - CarmelStream

am a dog," it is no longer a dog! It has been sublated to the level of "human."
Of course throughout this evolutionary process, since there results an emergence of new and
higher being, God as empowering or transcendental cause is at work. It is precisely God's
empowering causality that enables beings to surpass themselves in the evolutionary process.
Without this grounding and empowering causality of God, finite being can neither exist nor become
nor surpass itself in its becoming as occurs in evolution.
Eventually in this evolutionary process matter unfolds in its unlimited potentiality to the point
that it can reflect back upon itself. At that point human matter or "spirit" has emerged, and at this
point there is something unique about the new being which has emerged. Whereas in all previous
stages of evolution the being which has emerged has definite limits to its possibilities of becoming,
once the human has emerged, this is no longer the case. This is because of the understanding of the
human which Rahner has.
For Rahner human nature is not absolutely limited, determined or circumscribed in its being.
Human being is not absolutely "finite," but rather is a relative infinitude. Human being is capax Dei
or capax infiniti. As "spirit" the human being is a being whose very being is infinite openness.
Hence Rahner states: "Human being is not some absolutely terminated quantity.... Human being is
rather a reality absolutely open upwards...." cxxviii
As capax Dei there is no finite end to that which the human can become. And as 'absolutely
open upwards,' no matter how much a human becomes, he/she remains 'just human.' The only 'end'
which the human can have as capax Dei is God him/herself. Only the infinite itself can fully 'fill' or
actualize the infinite capacity which the human is.
Since the human is an infinite capacity for God's self-gift, God can give totally the fullness of
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