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

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Following and drawing from John Ackley’s 17 exposition of Rahner’s transcendentalframework of five conditions for the possibility 18 of a human concept of a word of Godprovides a deeper insight into Rahner’s speculative theology of the word. WhilstRahner’s theology of the word is expressed within the framework of his transcendentalphilosophical approach, the actual content and implications resonate with a mysticaltheology of spiritual direction.The word as God’s self-communication with humanityAckley explains Rahner’s biblical conviction as ‘the threefold experience of God asFather, Son and Spirit [that] corresponds exactly to the nature of God’ 19 . According toAckley, Rahner proposed his now famous Trinitarian formula 20 —‘the economic Trinityis the immanent Trinity’—in contrast to the Catholic Trinitarian doctrine tradition thatconceptually separates the immanent nature of God in three persons as mystery, and theeconomic Trinitarian actions of God in history as that which is revealed. Rahner’sformula means that the actions of the Trinitarian God are the natural and free expressionof who the Trinitarian God is in himself. God says something to humans about theimmanent nature of God’s community of being: the saving acts in history are performedby a Trinitarian God whose persons express a level of differentiation in function and role.Nevertheless, there is absolute unity within the Godhead between who God is and whatGod does 21 .The saving word of the Trinitarian God, therefore, is more than a verbal description ofrecognisable revelatory historical acts. The saving word of the Trinitarian God is a‘whole-of-person’ communication: God’s acts in history point humans towards anawareness of the interpersonal differentiation of God in the community and unity of hisessential being. Christologically, this means that when Jesus enters the hypostatic union17 J. Ackley, The church of the word – a comparative study of word, church and office in the thought ofKarl Rahner and Gerhard Ebeling (New York: Peter Lang, 1993), 35-56.18 ‘Conditions for the possibility’ (of knowing and willing) Rahner’s development of theology of wordtypically reflects his transcendental reflection on the subject – see D. Donovan, ‘Revelation and faith’ inThe Cambridge companion to Karl Rahner, Marmion, D. & Hines, M. eds. (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2005), 87.19 The church of the word, 37.20 See D. Coffey, ‘Trinity’in The Cambridge companion to Karl Rahner, 98-111, for a detailed discussionand evaluation of Rahner’s Trinitarian formula.21 J.Ackley, The church of the word, 37-38.131
with humanity—his ‘economic’ role in history—he is not doing something new oroutside [cf ‘other than’] his role and place within the immanent Trinity becausethe incarnation of the Logos is…[not to be] regarded as the incarnation of just anyone of the three divine persons, so that any other of them could just as well havebecome…[human], but as the incarnation of the Word precisely and exactly assuch, since on account of his inner-trinitarian propriety it is precisely he whobecomes…[human] and who alone can do so 22 .The humanity of Christ ‘is not an outward mask’ but ‘by virtue of its origin, theconstitutive real symbol23 of the Logos himself’ 24 . Jesus, the Logos of the immanentTrinity, is ‘bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh’ 25 : eternally human as well as divine.In this sense, a real ontological relationship between God and humanity exists 26 .Rahner’s Trinitarian formula, from which his idea of ‘word as real communication’ isdrawn, has been discussed, evaluated and criticised. Coffey notes, however, that themajor concern with the formula has to do with perceptions of ‘modalism’ relating totechnical inadequacies in Rahner’s development of the concept of ‘person’ in its uniquesense of the divine oneness-in three 27 ; these technical debates are outside the parametersof this thesis.Thomas Torrance’s argument that a main strength of Rahner’s formula is its concept ofthe self-communication of God 28 encourages an appreciation of Rahner’s theology ofword as real self-communication of God, and as a theological aesthetic—a beautifuldivine meditation. Torrance discerns in Rahner’s ideas the perception that the ontologicalconnection between humanity and the eternal Logos has always been silently true of thehuman story. Rahner argues that, if the Logos is intrinsically connected ontologicallywith humanity and the Logos is also integrally one with each other member of the Trinityas well as one with the whole of the Trinity, then humanity has both its ultimate genesis22 K.Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol.IV, 256.23 ‘Real symbol’, a phrase we will discuss in more detail further on in this chapter.24 K. Rahner, Theological Investigations IV, 90, in ibid., 38.25 J. Anderson, ‘Ascension power’, in The upper room disciplines (Nashville, Tennessee: Upper RoomBooks, 2007), 148.26 J.Ackley, The church of the word, 38.27 ‘Trinity’ in the Cambridge companion to Rahner, 98-99.28 Ibid, 110.132
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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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gaze; they prefer to stay safe, ris
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This experience is life’s true es
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Christians can experience the full
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Rahner does not claim for himself t
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example, it would limit God to say,
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will and love of God: then the diam
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Echoes of Ignatius’ Exercises are
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Chapter 4: The human experience of
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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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