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

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

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the immanent life <strong>of</strong> God’ 120 . The Incarnation, and the divinisation <strong>of</strong> humanity in graceand glory, <strong>for</strong>m an essential duality <strong>of</strong> theological meaning and purpose. Through theIncarnation, God imparts his being to created nature: in the Incarnation, God’s gift is hisself. The same may also be said <strong>of</strong> grace: though medieval theology understood grace ascreated—a substance given by God to humanity—Rahner appeals to the medievalontology <strong>of</strong> the beatific vision and to the teaching <strong>of</strong> Leo XIII and Pius XII to claim thatwhat is given in grace is God himself 121 . In Jesus, ‘God goes out <strong>of</strong> himself into “theother” in such a way that he bestows himself upon the other by becoming the other’ 122 .Created reality comes from God. Supernaturally, reality is the going out <strong>of</strong> God himselftowards the creation. Thus, Jesus—fully God and fully human—is the ontological basis<strong>for</strong> the presence <strong>of</strong> the Logos in the human soul in the beatific vision 123 .Rahner implicates the mystery <strong>of</strong> the Trinity in the Incarnation’s role in the divinisation<strong>of</strong> humanity. The gradual revelation <strong>of</strong> the Trinity, particularly in the New Testament,reveals something quite wonderful and glorious:God has given himself so fully in his absolute self-communication to the creature,that the ‘immanent’ Trinity becomes the Trinity <strong>of</strong> the ‘economy <strong>of</strong> salvation’,and hence in turn the Trinity <strong>of</strong> salvation which we experience is the immanentTrinity. This means that the Trinity <strong>of</strong> God’s relationship to us is the reality <strong>of</strong>God as he is in himself: a trinity <strong>of</strong> persons 124 .It is in the very nature <strong>of</strong> God’s Trinitarian being to reach out to humanity in eternalproximity, and humans are saved by their experience <strong>of</strong> encountering and being drawninto the Trinitarian life <strong>of</strong> God.Brief excursus: understanding Rahner’s theological reductionismRahner’s assertion <strong>of</strong> the three primary doctrinal expressions <strong>of</strong> mystery (incarnation,hypostatic union, trinity), with limited explanation or argument to support hisconclusions, may come across to <strong>readers</strong> as bold, sudden, debatable and potentiallycontroversial. The lack <strong>of</strong> reference to Scripture, historical theology, or contemporary120 Ibid, 65.121 Ibid, 66.122 Ibid, 68.123 Ibid, 67-68.124 Ibid, 69.112

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