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

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sacramental: a sign in which God’s saving will is made present <strong>for</strong> us in ourhistory 54 .Rahner regards the preached word as efficacious in and <strong>of</strong> itself; it communicatespresence and substance as well as <strong>for</strong>m55 . Consistent with Rahner’s concept <strong>of</strong> grace 56 ,the preached word is God’s gift, and not something external to God’s life and personality.The proclaimed word reaches its climax in the focus on ‘God’s consummate saving act <strong>of</strong>Christ’s cross and resurrection’ 57 , and thus leads naturally into the Eucharisticsacrament—by its nature, the Eucharist is a ‘condensed word <strong>of</strong> God’ 58 .Of course, in light <strong>of</strong> Rahner’s central idea—the holy mystery <strong>of</strong> sacred presence and theuniversal supernatural existential—the external spoken word is efficacious preciselybecause God has already preached his silent word into the unconscious depths <strong>of</strong> eachhuman person. Egan <strong>notes</strong> that it is because <strong>of</strong> <strong>this</strong> silent inner preaching that a humanperson is able to hear the external word <strong>of</strong> grace in mundane language as an illumination<strong>of</strong> faith 59 . According to Ackley, Rahner sees the working <strong>of</strong> the ‘inner word <strong>of</strong> grace’ inconjunction with the ‘external, historical word <strong>of</strong> revelation’ as two ‘mutuallycomplementary “moments” in the one Word <strong>of</strong> God which expound and interpret eachother’. There<strong>for</strong>e, the external word <strong>of</strong> ‘God’s victorious grace in the crucified and risenChrist’ speaks to the ‘anointed depths’ <strong>of</strong> the everyday person. Spirit meets with spirit ina dance <strong>of</strong> new life into which the hearers <strong>of</strong> the word are drawn 60 . According to Rahner,theexternal, historical word expounds the inner one, brings it to the light <strong>of</strong>consciousness in the categories <strong>of</strong> human understanding, compels…[individuals]definitely to take a decision with regard to the inner word, transposes the innergrace <strong>of</strong>…[humans] into the dimension <strong>of</strong> the community and renders it present54 K. Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III, 243-246, in The content <strong>of</strong> the faith,. Lehman, K. &Raffelt, A. eds. (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 51.55 The social and historical existence <strong>of</strong> the Church itself is ultimate evidence <strong>of</strong> the sacramental power <strong>of</strong>the word that has created in a permanently visible sense a community <strong>of</strong> eschatological witness to the finaland absolute word <strong>of</strong> God that speaks <strong>of</strong> salvation victory <strong>for</strong> the whole world, see K.Rahner, TheologicalInvestigations IV, 272-273.56 As discussed in the previous chapter.57 Ibid, 107.58 Ibid, or ‘pure word’, J.Ackley, The church <strong>of</strong> the word, 52.59 Karl Rahner - Mystic <strong>of</strong> everyday life, 114-115.60 The church <strong>of</strong> the word, 52.142

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