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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Personal reading of scripture as a discipline of spiritual formationRahner’s brief essay, ‘Reading the Bible’ 68 , demonstrates his view of the importance ofthe personal reading of scripture to the spiritual formation of the everyday believer. Inthis essay, Rahner discusses the many and varied nuances of personal experiences andpreferences in the way Christians read scripture, the nature of the relationship betweendivine and human authorship, the spiritual essence of Bible reading, and its ultimatepurpose.At the beginning of his essay, Rahner asserts that ‘Bible reading belongs necessarily tothe spiritual life’ 69 ; he defends this precept against a hypothetical challenge from someChristian mystics. According to Rahner, that Desert Fathers ‘in their radical renunciation’of the material world ‘actually gave up Holy Scripture’ does not imply that engagementwith scripture is an optional discipline for the everyday believer. Rahner argues that ‘theSpirit of God had so filled them; the whole of Scripture had become so interior to them,that they no longer had need of its words and letters’ 70 , and suggests that when seasonedChristians have lived and breathed spiritual lives dynamically formed through arelationship with scripture for decades, the word becomes a living and integral part oftheir interior being. Having become fully initiated in the spirituality of the HolyScriptures, seasoned Christians may become less dependent on rereading God’s word.Though this position may be considered controversial by those in Christian leadership—particularly within the Protestant tradition—who strongly advocate daily personal Biblereading, it clarifies that Rahner’s interior spirituality must pass through—rather thanbypass—an extended and engaged process of biblical formation.Rahner uses the exceptional nature of the Desert Fathers’ mystical experiences toadvocate that, for everyday Christians, extended regular Bible reading be the norm. Herecognised that Christians with differing intellectual capacities and personality traits willhave different ways of approaching their personal reading of scripture. Some will prefer amore methodical, exegetical approach. At the other end of the spectrum will be those68 K. Rahner, The practice of faith, 85-87.69 Ibid, 85.70 Ibid.145
who, like mystics, experience such a powerful transformation from ‘a single word ofScripture’ that ‘this single word’ will continually ‘resound in their life, so that they reallyneed not read much more in Scripture’ 71 . Though the majority of Christians will fallsomewhere between these two polarities, most will benefit from regularly reading theBible.Rahner is clear about the common features of all approaches to personal scripturereading. Firstly, Christians read scripture to sustain and nurture a genuine love of Godand neighbour. Secondly, it is an engagement with the word of God, not because readersare able to intellectually grasp the full meaning of the relationship between the originaldivine inspiration of scripture and the very real human expression of the biblical authorsthat the scriptures reflect, but that whenthis reading is genuinely supported by the vehicle of the inward grace of God, bythe Holy Spirit who is given to us and who has inspired these Scriptures, then wehear in Holy Scripture not just discourse about God but God’s actual word to us 72 .Thirdly, the Bible is a book that Christians never finish because its work in the individualis eternal: readers never simply ‘finish’ with these words either through the physicaldiscipline of reading periodically, or by being transformed by the experience of beingfilled with the spiritual essence of a particular biblical theme or passage because God’swords are eternally engaged in believers’ souls.Finally, Rahner advocates that whatever method Christians use to read scripture theymust approach the word in stillness, solitude and silence. This approach allows scriptureto penetrate urgent and superficial human preoccupations and speak what really mattersto individuals spiritually. In the midst of this stillness individual believers must read theword with the whole of their lives and hearts. Human lives and hearts are informed byeach individual’s personal context and situation. The ‘Spirit who fills this word is theselfsame Spirit who is hidden as well in the interior of our own life situation’ 73 . In thisway believers experience the interpenetrative work of the Spirit as a spiritual weaving71 Ibid, 85.72 Ibid, 86.73 Ibid, 87.146
Page 1 and 2:
‘A Spirituality of silence’An i
Page 3 and 4:
Chapter 4: The human experience of
Page 5 and 6:
Summary of thesis:This thesis offer
Page 7 and 8:
The particular angle from which thi
Page 9 and 10:
somewhat superseded by more recent
Page 11 and 12:
Rahner: I have nothing against that
Page 13 and 14:
One brief but notable spiritual inf
Page 15 and 16:
dialectic between these two, has le
Page 17 and 18:
odies of knowledge, history and alt
Page 19 and 20:
superiors, having decided that he w
Page 21 and 22:
High School Week, Rahner began his
Page 23 and 24:
Earlier in this chapter, Rahner’s
Page 25 and 26:
These anecdotes testify that Rahner
Page 27 and 28:
As you see, at the top of the carto
Page 29 and 30:
Central to Rahner’s thinking is t
Page 31 and 32:
Kilby notes that in regard to this
Page 33 and 34:
Introduced by Cardinal König to a
Page 35 and 36:
influence will continue to spread a
Page 37 and 38:
We see from Rahner’s pastoral con
Page 39 and 40:
European power 4 , and that he was
Page 41 and 42:
Over a period of days and weeks, th
Page 43 and 44:
The outcome of this encounter: the
Page 45 and 46:
Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
Page 47 and 48:
Rahner the Ignatian spiritual direc
Page 49 and 50:
facilitate this joyful and liberati
Page 51 and 52:
Rahner’s often-quoted comment tha
Page 53 and 54:
The master of the Exercises in no w
Page 55 and 56:
Endean argues that Rahner is interp
Page 57 and 58:
The Ignatian Exercises—especially
Page 59 and 60:
provision of appropriate spiritual
Page 61 and 62:
their existential encounter, they a
Page 63 and 64:
Chapter 3: Spirituality of silence
Page 65 and 66:
which the spiritual pilgrim finds t
Page 67 and 68:
Lord, to pray my whole life long wi
Page 69 and 70:
Encounters with silence: strictures
Page 71 and 72:
a long highway filled by a column o
Page 73 and 74:
gaze; they prefer to stay safe, ris
Page 75 and 76:
This experience is life’s true es
Page 77 and 78:
Christians can experience the full
Page 79 and 80:
Rahner does not claim for himself t
Page 81 and 82:
example, it would limit God to say,
Page 83 and 84:
will and love of God: then the diam
Page 85 and 86:
Echoes of Ignatius’ Exercises are
Page 87 and 88:
Chapter 4: The human experience of
Page 89 and 90:
proximity, the silence that leads e
Page 91 and 92:
‘listening to the freely proffere
Page 93 and 94:
approach; he is not arguing against
Page 95 and 96:
must occur in history—time, space
Page 97 and 98:
The most obvious criticism of Rahne
Page 99 and 100:
Schleiermacher: seeking to build a
Page 101 and 102:
and his meditations in Encounters w
Page 103 and 104: theological method, and the importa
Page 105 and 106: spirit dancing together in apprecia
Page 107 and 108: choosing to enter into the mystery
Page 109 and 110: may be described as a ‘mysticism
Page 111 and 112: possibilities but without a definit
Page 113 and 114: theologie) in which Rahner’s prim
Page 115 and 116: • around the concept and meaning
Page 117 and 118: knowledge. For we are not saved by
Page 119 and 120: silent experience of God—is able
Page 121 and 122: the immanent life of God’ 120 . T
Page 123 and 124: Investigations much like the biblic
Page 125 and 126: abandonment to the eternal life in
Page 127 and 128: Theology of mystery as dynamic chal
Page 129 and 130: ecause the phonetic sound of the wo
Page 131 and 132: alone that enables individuals to f
Page 133 and 134: Chapter 5: Word and sacrament—exp
Page 135 and 136: The centrality of scripture, and it
Page 137 and 138: What makes the words of scripture d
Page 139 and 140: silence. He felt that the movement
Page 141 and 142: with humanity—his ‘economic’
Page 143 and 144: Having discerned their revelatory c
Page 145 and 146: fulfilment in following the absolut
Page 147 and 148: Rahner’s transcendental perspecti
Page 149 and 150: toward which it points. God’s wor
Page 151 and 152: sacramental: a sign in which God’
Page 153: In light of the implications of Rah
Page 157 and 158: The juxtaposition of two articles
Page 159 and 160: These two interpretations of Rahner
Page 161 and 162: Rahner advocates that all believers
Page 163 and 164: The sacrament of the wordIn reflect
Page 165 and 166: ‘theological aesthetics’. With
Page 167 and 168: Many things in life act as signs th
Page 169 and 170: Rahner’s dual commitment to recei
Page 171 and 172: living human being, and each indivi
Page 173 and 174: The church is sacramental in the se
Page 175 and 176: spiritual rhythms that trace direct
Page 177 and 178: the missionary tasks of the Church;
Page 179 and 180: unhelpful assumptions that diminish
Page 181 and 182: expressions of mystagogical 142 ini
Page 183 and 184: Does this lead Rahner into compromi
Page 185 and 186: ) ) an ongoing contemporary influen
Page 187 and 188: Hosek shifts the soteriological foc
Page 189 and 190: Is this vision of silent spirituali
Page 191 and 192: Being in silence as a way of creati
Page 193 and 194: word of life and hope within them.
Page 195 and 196: Level 1:PremoralStage 2:Instrumenta
Page 197 and 198: These new monastics see the local c
Page 199 and 200: eliefs that have been tried and tes
Page 201 and 202: of mature theological reflection co
Page 203 and 204: ecognised in his Christological ass
Page 205 and 206:
inability or unwillingness of the e
Page 207 and 208:
Kanyini—an Australian Aboriginal
Page 209 and 210:
The film Kanyini demonstrates the c
Page 211 and 212:
estless and always in a hurry to ge
Page 213 and 214:
considered the sole and ultimate au
Page 215 and 216:
We define spirituality as a conscio
Page 217 and 218:
supportive conversation with expres
Page 219 and 220:
A glance at table 4 75 (above), Hug
Page 221 and 222:
In the worldview of contemporary Au
Page 223 and 224:
It certainly seems somewhat disinge
Page 225 and 226:
A good starting point for examining
Page 227 and 228:
Christian contemplative-prayer trad
Page 229 and 230:
Of course, a small number of the vi
Page 231 and 232:
For better or for worse, and despit
Page 233 and 234:
energy, intellect, prayer, love and
Page 235 and 236:
Rahner, K. Karl Rahner - Prayers an
Page 237 and 238:
Kelly, G.B. (ed.). Karl Rahner - th
Page 239 and 240:
Van Vorst, B. ‘Kung and Rahner: d
Page 241 and 242:
Harden, J.A. ‘Ignatian Spirituali
Page 243:
Tyson, P. ‘Contemporary Australia
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?