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

ecause the phonetic sound of the word ‘God’ is always dependent on us,therefore the word ‘God’ is also our creation. Rather it creates us because it makesus truly… [human] 138 .Rahner argues for the undeniable reality of the existence and experience of holy mysterythat has moved people to choose a name to express this reality. This name, ‘God’,constantly points humans towards the existential reality from which the expression inlanguage derives in the first place. Without the term ‘God’ or an equivalent, people forgetthe true meaning of their existence and become lost in preoccupation with the individualdetails of their existence. They would never face the totality of the world and ofthemselves as existing ‘helplessly, silently, and anxiously’. They would not notice thatonly from this location can they consider the questions—instead of asking questionsabout the questioning itself. They would not notice that their lives involve manipulatingdifferent aspects of existence rather than ever facing existence in its unity and totality.People in this state would ‘remain mired in the world and in’ themselves, ‘and no longergo through that mysterious process which’ they are139 .Thus the existence of the term ‘God’ challenges the claim that an empirical rationalworldview completely defines human experience. Such a worldview may be tempted towrite off the language as the product of a speculative psychological longing forsomething ‘other’. For Rahner, however, such a longing is clear and irrefutable evidenceof the existential reality that prompts imaginative and linguistic attempts to express thereality central to anthropology, and what ‘being human’ means.This word [‘God’] exists. It is in our history and makes our history. It is a word.For this reason one can fail to hear it, as the scripture says, which hear and do notunderstand. But it does not cease to exist because of that…it is itself the finalword before wordless and worshipful silence in the face of ineffable mystery. It isthe word which must be spoken at the conclusion of all speaking if, instead ofsilence in worship, there is not to follow that death in which…[humanity]becomes a [race of] resourceful animal[s] or…sinner[s] lost forever 140 .The argument above is primarily from the perspective of a philosophical appeal to the‘obvious’ existence of mystery: that which becomes before and after empirical138 Ibid, 50.139 Ibid, 48.140 Ibid, 51.120