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

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Because God created human beings specifically for the purpose of freely offering himselfin personal love 61 , it logically follows that human beings must always be able to receivethis love. For Rahner, this is the logical conclusion of 2 Peter 3:9: that God desires that allpeople experience salvation 62 . Our capacity for orientation towards the mystery is a‘natural’ spiritual component of being human. The human capacity to receive therevelation of the mystery, to experience the proximity of the mystery as love and astherefore holy, is a supernatural ‘potency’. It is in fact ‘absolutely’ the ‘centre and root’of being human 63 . This potency to receive the word of the holy mystery and to enter intothe depths of God is supernatural because human beings, as God’s real partners, receiveGod’s love as a free gift, not as something they are owed 64 .Furthermore, this supernatural potency is given to every human person and not justChristians. It is not a ‘created grace’. It is not a ‘gift from’ God but the offer andpossibility of receiving the ‘gift of’ God.For, without destroying the fact that grace is God himself in self-communication,grace is not a ‘thing’ but—as communicated grace—a conditioning of the spiritualand intellectual subject as such to a direct relationship with God. The mostobjective reality of salvation is at the same time necessarily the most subjective:the direct relationship of the subject with God through God himself 65 .This potency is the core component of the human person. It is present, silently andalways, as an invitation and offer to participate in the divine life of the holy mystery. Thisgrace, God as a free gift, is not what Christians traditionally have understood as ‘saving’grace. Rahner argues that the experience of salvation is simply the actualisation of truehuman existence through accepting God’s personal, self-giving and revealing love . Godis an abiding presence to every human being, and in God’s life, human beings find theirown true centre of being. God’s abiding presence is invitational not invasive: God’spresence as the true centre of each human being does not mean that each human person is6661 K. Rahner, ‘God is love’ (from Theological investigations, Vol.1,117-125.) in The content of faith, 255-256.62 J.P. Galpin, ‘Before the holy mystery: Karl Rahner’s thought on God’, Toronto Journal of Theology 9 (2)(1993): 233.63 Rahner, Theological investigations Vol. 1, 311.64 Ibid., 312-313.65 Ibid,28.66 Ibid., 314 - 315.97
choosing to enter into the mystery of true life in him. This possibility always exists,however—and the fact that God is a continual abiding presence means that at some leveleach human being is familiar with God’s proximity. In some way human history isconditioned and influenced by human experiences of God’s closeness.The offer of God’s proximity is not just metaphysical; it is part of human history. In thefullness of time, it is the climax of salvation history: the incarnation, life, death andresurrection of Christ. The Christ-event objectifies the absolute and primary truth ofChristianity in history: ‘God as a person, freely wished to love us’ 67 . This flesh and blooddeclaration of love becomes definitive and unsurpassable because not only does Christappear in history but he also ‘abides eternally’ 68 .[The] metaphysical goodness of God…is knowable and in a way familiar; it ishidden because of original sin and is clearly disclosed when human beings come69to know God in the supernatural history of salvation .The ontological dynamic of the supernatural existential enables humans to experience theChrist of faith, to recognise what has always been ‘familiar, yet hidden’, and entering intothe eternal reality of the concrete gospel of the Jesus of history. Therefore, thesupernatural existential makes possible, through the Christ-event, the fulfilment of all thata human being is created for: immersion in the holy mystery of the divine life, in andthrough all things in this life, and ultimately beyond all finite realities and into theunknown eternal bliss of the life that continues after death70 .As a result of divine initiative, the human spirit has been permanently modified: itsnatural dynamism has been transformed into a drive towards the God of grace andglory 71 : ‘the burning longing for God himself in the immediacy of his own threefoldlife’ 72 . The ‘natural, created existential’ of anthropological transcendence that orientates aperson towards the mystery is both complemented and conditioned by a ‘supernatural67 Rahner, Content of the faith, 255.68 Ibid.69 Ibid,,52.70 Rahner, Theological investigations, IV, 36-73.71 G Mc Cool, ed., A Rahner reader, 185.72 Rahner, Theological investigations, Vol. 1, 312.98
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‘A Spirituality of silence’An i
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Chapter 4: The human experience of
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Summary of thesis:This thesis offer
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The particular angle from which thi
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somewhat superseded by more recent
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Rahner: I have nothing against that
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One brief but notable spiritual inf
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dialectic between these two, has le
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odies of knowledge, history and alt
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superiors, having decided that he w
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High School Week, Rahner began his
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Earlier in this chapter, Rahner’s
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These anecdotes testify that Rahner
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As you see, at the top of the carto
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Central to Rahner’s thinking is t
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Kilby notes that in regard to this
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Introduced by Cardinal König to a
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influence will continue to spread a
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We see from Rahner’s pastoral con
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European power 4 , and that he was
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Over a period of days and weeks, th
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The outcome of this encounter: the
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Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
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Rahner the Ignatian spiritual direc
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facilitate this joyful and liberati
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Rahner’s often-quoted comment tha
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The master of the Exercises in no w
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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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