Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

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Chapter 1: The deep silence of the pastoral theologian who listensbefore speakingThis exploration of the concept of spirituality of silence in Karl Rahner begins byconsidering the way in which this concept is reflected in the biographical portraitconstructed by his former students, colleagues, friends—and others who have beeninfluenced by his person and his writings. This chapter focuses on developing this portraitin the multidimensional form redolent of the complex reality of human existence in itsvarious expressions of role and identity. The reader is invited simply to enjoy theviewing, and allow this glimpse of a deeply human and spiritual theologian to engage theimagination and the mystical senses. A section of this chapter offers an opportunity forreflection—focusing on the substance of the silent spirituality that is the focus of thisthesis.Family setting and influenceOn 5 March 1904, Karl Rahner was born into a lower middle class family who lived inFreiburg im Breisgau in Germany. Rahner’s father worked as a ‘Baden professor’(assistant principal) 5 at a teacher’s college. His mother focused on managing the busyhousehold, which included Rahner’s six siblings; she sometimes took on extra babysittingto supplement the meagre family income. The young Karl Rahner was raised in afamily environment that emphasised the Roman Catholic piety of the era; the importanceof hard work; civic and moral duty; and loyalty to the state.Rahner was grateful for his experience of an emotionally uncomplicated and stress-freechildhood where each member of the family understood their role and place and simplygot on with things 6 . He freely absorbed and proudly owned the no-nonsense, straighttalkingwork ethic of his family and ethnic origins:Krauss: People say about the Alemannian [Germans] that they are pensive,taciturn, and work like horses. Do you agree?5 See K. Rahner, I remember–an autobiographical interview with Meinhold Krauss, Trans. H.Egan(London: SCM Press, 1984), 24.6 See, ibid, 24–26.1
Rahner: I have nothing against that characterization. I find it quite honourable andlovely…by and large what you say is correct’ 7 .The methodical work ethic of Rahner’s upbringing continued to influence him throughouthis entire life, as is further illustrated in another interview in his later years:I do not know what’s happened to my life. I did not lead a life; I worked, wrote,taught, tried to do my duty and earn my living, I tried in this ordinary way to serveGod—that’s it 8 .Rahner was, in one sense, very much a product of his ethnic disposition and family oforigin: hard-working; uncomplaining; fiercely loyal to the Roman Catholic church; notgiven to personal disclosure in direct conversation; blunt; uncomplicated.On the other hand, however, Rahner was so much more. The piety of his upbringingbecame for him not an end in itself but the beginning of a spiritual journey in which heapplied his no-nonsense work ethic to the exegesis of a beautiful, sacramental idea: ‘Theextraordinary God of grace transforms the everyday life into a living prayer withoutchanging the external form of its very ordinariness’ 9 . This exegetical project, driven bythe methodical and dutiful Rahner, provides glimpses of the creative spiritual andemotional complexity of an original theologian. The piety of Rahner’s upbringingblossoms into a personal mystical awareness of God at the centre of his own being—andat work in the world in and through all things. 10Emerging SpiritualityOne notable factor in Rahner’s biography is that he spent his entire adult life within theJesuit order. In 1922, a mere three weeks after his secondary school leaving examination,Rahner entered the novitiate of the upper German province of the Society of Jesus 11 .Until his death almost 62 years later, he was to remain an active member of the societythrough which he understood his primary vocational identity.7 Ibid, 32.8 Cited in H. Vorgrimler, Understanding Karl Rahner, Trans. J. Bowden (London: SCD Press, 1986), 44.9 See Harvey Egan, Karl Rahner – Mystic of everyday life, (New York: Crossroad, 1998), especially pages80-105.10 See Karl-Heinz Weger, Karl Rahner – An introduction to his theology, Trans. D. Smith (New York: TheSeabury Press, 1980), 86-95.11 Vorgrimler, Understanding Karl Rahner, 50.2
Page 1 and 2: ‘A Spirituality of silence’An i
Page 3 and 4: Chapter 4: The human experience of
Page 5 and 6: Summary of thesis:This thesis offer
Page 7 and 8: The particular angle from which thi
Page 9: somewhat superseded by more recent
Page 13 and 14: One brief but notable spiritual inf
Page 15 and 16: dialectic between these two, has le
Page 17 and 18: odies of knowledge, history and alt
Page 19 and 20: superiors, having decided that he w
Page 21 and 22: High School Week, Rahner began his
Page 23 and 24: Earlier in this chapter, Rahner’s
Page 25 and 26: These anecdotes testify that Rahner
Page 27 and 28: As you see, at the top of the carto
Page 29 and 30: Central to Rahner’s thinking is t
Page 31 and 32: Kilby notes that in regard to this
Page 33 and 34: Introduced by Cardinal König to a
Page 35 and 36: influence will continue to spread a
Page 37 and 38: We see from Rahner’s pastoral con
Page 39 and 40: European power 4 , and that he was
Page 41 and 42: Over a period of days and weeks, th
Page 43 and 44: The outcome of this encounter: the
Page 45 and 46: Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
Page 47 and 48: Rahner the Ignatian spiritual direc
Page 49 and 50: facilitate this joyful and liberati
Page 51 and 52: Rahner’s often-quoted comment tha
Page 53 and 54: The master of the Exercises in no w
Page 55 and 56: Endean argues that Rahner is interp
Page 57 and 58: The Ignatian Exercises—especially
Page 59 and 60: provision of appropriate spiritual
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their existential encounter, they a
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Chapter 3: Spirituality of silence
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which the spiritual pilgrim finds t
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Lord, to pray my whole life long wi
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Encounters with silence: strictures
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a long highway filled by a column o
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gaze; they prefer to stay safe, ris
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This experience is life’s true es
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Christians can experience the full
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Rahner does not claim for himself t
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example, it would limit God to say,
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will and love of God: then the diam
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Echoes of Ignatius’ Exercises are
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Chapter 4: The human experience of
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proximity, the silence that leads e
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‘listening to the freely proffere
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approach; he is not arguing against
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must occur in history—time, space
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The most obvious criticism of Rahne
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Schleiermacher: seeking to build a
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and his meditations in Encounters w
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theological method, and the importa
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spirit dancing together in apprecia
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choosing to enter into the mystery
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may be described as a ‘mysticism
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possibilities but without a definit
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theologie) in which Rahner’s prim
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• around the concept and meaning
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knowledge. For we are not saved by
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silent experience of God—is able
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the immanent life of God’ 120 . T
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Investigations much like the biblic
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abandonment to the eternal life in
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Theology of mystery as dynamic chal
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ecause the phonetic sound of the wo
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alone that enables individuals to f
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Chapter 5: Word and sacrament—exp
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The centrality of scripture, and it
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What makes the words of scripture d
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silence. He felt that the movement
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with humanity—his ‘economic’
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Having discerned their revelatory c
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fulfilment in following the absolut
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Rahner’s transcendental perspecti
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toward which it points. God’s wor
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sacramental: a sign in which God’
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In light of the implications of Rah
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who, like mystics, experience such
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The juxtaposition of two articles
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These two interpretations of Rahner
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Rahner advocates that all believers
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The sacrament of the wordIn reflect
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‘theological aesthetics’. With
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Many things in life act as signs th
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Rahner’s dual commitment to recei
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living human being, and each indivi
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The church is sacramental in the se
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spiritual rhythms that trace direct
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the missionary tasks of the Church;
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unhelpful assumptions that diminish
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expressions of mystagogical 142 ini
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Does this lead Rahner into compromi
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) ) an ongoing contemporary influen
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Hosek shifts the soteriological foc
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Is this vision of silent spirituali
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Being in silence as a way of creati
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word of life and hope within them.
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Level 1:PremoralStage 2:Instrumenta
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These new monastics see the local c
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eliefs that have been tried and tes
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of mature theological reflection co
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ecognised in his Christological ass
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inability or unwillingness of the e
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Kanyini—an Australian Aboriginal
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The film Kanyini demonstrates the c
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estless and always in a hurry to ge
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considered the sole and ultimate au
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We define spirituality as a conscio
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supportive conversation with expres
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A glance at table 4 75 (above), Hug
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In the worldview of contemporary Au
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It certainly seems somewhat disinge
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A good starting point for examining
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Christian contemplative-prayer trad
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Of course, a small number of the vi
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For better or for worse, and despit
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energy, intellect, prayer, love and
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Rahner, K. Karl Rahner - Prayers an
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Kelly, G.B. (ed.). Karl Rahner - th
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Van Vorst, B. ‘Kung and Rahner: d
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Harden, J.A. ‘Ignatian Spirituali
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Tyson, P. ‘Contemporary Australia
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