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

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extraordinary happens if they are naughty. The true God is the absolute, sacredmystery to which one can only point in silent adoration 130 .Rahner argues that atheists’ silent experiences of unfulfilled metaphysical longing makeit likely they are much closer to God in honesty and reality than ‘Christians’ who babbleabout God in clichés and regard the divine as a question that they have long agorationally settled to their own satisfaction131 .Rahner’s theology of mystery teaches that the origin of any statement about God must beunderstood as a direct and personal encounter with the silent mystery at the initiative ofthe divine. Christian doctrines are human responses, human attempts to say somethingabout the self-revelation of God in human language. As such, they are important: theinitiative of God in history can obviously only be learned as people are introduced to thehistory of the events and words of revelation. Humans cannot invent a saviour to suitthemselves; a saviour has appeared at God’s initiative at a certain time in history. Theimportant issue is that, by grace, people in Jesus’ time recognised Jesus as their saviourand experienced the saving effect of his life and work. The historical witness emergesfrom the experiences of contemporary witnesses. In Jesus, people encountered in spaceand time the flesh and blood manifestation of all their hearts longed for and wereontologically conditioned to experience. Today, the words of Christian witness ‘to theglory of God in the face of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6) are expressed truly as emergingfrom silent existential witness; others, enabled by grace, find in Jesus the personificationof the mystery that they too have always lived with and longed for—often at a levelbelow consciousness and cognition. Nevertheless, proclamation does not define themystery. It is not as if somehow through the human history of listening to the selfrevelationof God, humans finally arrive at the ultimate definition and mastery of thenature of divinity. Were this so, humans would not belong to God—God would belong tohuman beings! Were this so, individuals would no longer need to adopt a listeningposture in their relationship to the divine. Human words about the mystery are at bestincomplete stammerings that point towards the reality of eternal love and the wisdom of130 Rahner, Content of the faith, 227.131 Ibid, 228.115
abandonment to the eternal life in this love. Ironically, this ‘abandonment’ results in‘finding’ the true meaning and fulfilment of human existence 132 .In light of Rahner’s theology of mystery, ministry of proclamation involves threemovements.1. A movement towards an appreciation of the existential basis of Christiandoctrine: away from a concept of ‘cosmic prescription/law’ and towards anunderstanding of the record of a living existential witness to the selfrevelationof the God who makes himself known but is never grasped. Inthis sense, Christian doctrine and proclamation act as elements of graceoriginatedspiritual guidance and direction. These elements have their root inthe silent encounter with divinity in history in the depths of the human spiritof actual people; when rightly expressed, they act to support and facilitatethe unique journey of encounter with the silent mystery for a new generationof spiritual seekers.2. A movement towards a deliberate interiority as a prerequisite and ongoingnecessity for any public expression of faith. Modern life leads to exhaustionand fragmentation: as everything is done ‘on the run’, individuals get bywith the very minimum of what they absolutely have to know about anygiven topic to enable them to juggle tasks and responsibilities and to ‘keepall the plates spinning’. What do human beings need to know about faith?What is absolutely necessary to stay in the divine ‘good books’? Individualswant to know the basic facts, the ‘four spiritual laws’, the ‘Reader’s Digest’version—or less! Rahner’s theology of mystery teaches that individualbelievers have nothing to say that has any meaning to anyone else unlessthey are actively participating in a regular immersion in silence. Humanscannot ‘skim’ faith; individuals cannot shortcut intimacy with God.Christians must find the courage and discipline in grace to enter into thedepths of themselves guided by the Holy Spirit. Believers have nothing to132 K. Rahner, ‘The mystery of the human person’ (from Christianity at the crossroads, 11-20) in Contentof the faith, 79-80.116
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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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Endean argues that Rahner is interp
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The Ignatian Exercises—especially
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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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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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