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

theological method, and the importance of ‘mystical initiation’ into the practices of theChristian faith 55 .Most importantly, Schüssler Fiorenza highlights the flexible, adaptive, creative andparticular way that Rahner uses the term ‘transcendental’.Rahner’s use of ‘transcendental’ is often read exclusively in relation to Kant’s useof the term transcendental. Yet this common reading must be avoided because ofdecisive differences…[First,] Rahner speaks of the transcendental experience asan experience of God and here he differs very much from Kant who would neverspeak of such an experience. Second, though Rahner refers to the a priori, hethereby refers to the historically conditioned human experience of grace. Third,Rahner’s use of the term ‘transcendental’ is frequent and diverse: transcendentalexperience, transcendental reflection, transcendental subject, a transcendentalanthropologicalway of asking questions, a transcendental method, and atranscendental experience. The breadth of his use of the term ‘transcendental’indicates both its centrality and certain ‘looseness’ in its meaning. It is better tounderstand ‘transcendental’ not as a strict philosophical category in Rahner’stheology but much more as a concern about the anthropological significance 56 .It is likely that concerns about Rahner’s transcendental way of explaining the humanperson as an ultimate mystery will remain—as will suspicions regarding histranscendental method as a mechanism for thinking, questioning and explainingtheological issues within this paradigm. Paul Molnar reaches the conclusion that Rahner’stranscendental approach is not redeemed by the non-foundationalist reading of his work;his transcendental way of explaining Christian truth has obscured his focus on the biblicalwitness to Christ alone as the object of faith, and his transcendental method leads Rahner57into ‘repeated inconsistency and difficulty’ . Molnar seeks to demonstrate this by hisanalysis of Rahner’s transcendental approach to the re-construction of the Christian ideaof love of neighbour as intrinsic to love of God. Molnar uses the theological method ofBarth, with its emphasis on the biblical witness to Christ, as a constant positive referencepoint, and to portray Rahner as a theologian who has lost his way from the true referencepoints of the faith. It is clear from reading Molnar that he has both read Rahner and thecontemporary sympathetic arguments on Rahner as a non-foundationalist, yet remains55 Ibid, 69, 70-71, 78-79, 80-81.56 Ibid, 77, emphasis mine.57 ‘Love of God and love of neighbour in the theology of Karl Rahner and Karl Barth’, 2004, 568-569.94