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

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heart, which hold us in their power, which enchant us’ 92 . Rahner names the latter as‘primordial words’. A primordial word is distinguished primarily by the spirit and contextof its speaker: when Francis of Assisi uses the word ‘water’, it has a very different powerof meaning than for the chemist seeks to dissect the material properties of H 2 O.Primordial words cannot, by the nature of their being, be subjected to empirical analysisand mastery of their functional components.‘O star and flower, spirit and garment, love, sorrow and time and eternity!’exclaims Brentano, the Catholic poet. What does this mean? Can one say what itmeans? Or is it not precisely an uttering of primordial words, which one mustunderstand without having to explain them by means of ‘clearer’ and cheaperwords?…Blossom, night, star and day, root and source, wind and laughter, rose,blood and earth, boy, smoke, word, kiss, lightening, breath, stillness: these andthousands of other words of genuine thinkers and poets are primordial words.They are deeper than the worn-down verbal coins of daily intellectual intercourse,which one often likes to call ‘clear ideas’ because habit dispenses one from93thinking anything at all in their use .For Rahner, the efficacy of such primordial words is their power to enable the transitionfrom the individual experience in time to the infinite movement—a transcendentalmovement of the human spirit. The primordial function of certain kinds of words revealssomething like a sacramental principle: these words act as a bridge between temporal andinfinite, utilitarian and mystically inspirational experiences of life. A primordial word issacramental in that it does notspeak merely “about” a relationship of the object in question to the hearer: itbrings the reality it signifies to us, makes it ‘present’…whenever a primordialword of this kind is pronounced, something happens: the advent of the thing itselfto the listener 94 .Rahner argues that a primordial sacramental experience of transcendence-through-wordmay be observed, or at least experienced, in the common human journey.The idea of the sacramental nature of words is very important in terms of expanding anunderstanding of what Rahner means by the ‘supernatural existential’ and the ‘divinisedworld of everyday life’. Gesa Thiessen takes up this theme in her essay on Rahner’s92 Ibid, 296.93 Ibid, 298.94 Ibid, 299.155
‘theological aesthetics’. With reference to ‘Priest and poet’ she makes the followingcomments.Poetry, especially great poetry, is important, because it takes shape where thehuman being radically faces who he or she is. Such facing oneself includes sin,guilt, hatred, deep pain, and failure. But in such authenticity, Rahner asserts, the‘happy danger’ of meeting God is more likely than in the philistine avoidance ofall the chasms in human existence. If one prefers to live at a superficial level, oneis likely to meet neither doubts nor God…both the poetic word and the theologicalword can reach the human heart, which in turn may encourage and enable one toopen up to the divine mystery 95 .Theissen discusses Rahner’s broader view that all great art—visual and auditory, verbaland non-verbal—has within it the potential to lead people into the transcendentalencounter with silence. Theissen also notes Rahner’s view that religious content is notnecessarily synonymous with this sacramental effect.Rahner states that it would be theologically naïve to think that only explicitlyreligious acts will be conducive to a salutary relationship with the divine. Apainting or a symphony, he argues, may be so inspired by divine revelation and byGod’s gracious self-communication that it conveys something about the humanbeing in the light of the divine. When a work of art reaches and is revelatory ofthe depths of human existence, it reaches the realm where true religiousexperience takes place 96 .However, Rahner also notes than when he paintsthe crib with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, using areoles to show from the outset whatis being presented, I have, objectively speaking, a religious picture. It may, in fact,not be very religious, because it is unable to evoke in those who see it a genuineand deep religious reaction. There exists what we call religious Kitsch 97 .The transcendental potential of words that evoke the depths of human experience and thesacramental nature of the biblical text that reveals the true nature, orientation andfulfilment of human longing come together, for Rahner, in the person of the priest, who iscalled to be the poet of the word that ultimately saves. In ‘Priest and poet’ Rahnerpromotes the idea of an everyday possibility of sacramental words climaxing in theproclamation of the ultimate sacramental word, Jesus Christ.95 ‘Karl Rahner: towards a theological aesthetics,’ The Cambridge companion to Karl Rahner, 231.96 Ibid, 22897 Ibid.156
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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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proximity, the silence that leads e
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‘listening to the freely proffere
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approach; he is not arguing against
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must occur in history—time, space
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The most obvious criticism of Rahne
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Schleiermacher: seeking to build a
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and his meditations in Encounters w
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theological method, and the importa
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spirit dancing together in apprecia
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choosing to enter into the mystery
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may be described as a ‘mysticism
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possibilities but without a definit
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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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