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

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The anonymous Christian as an idea along the wayUltimately, Rahner’s silent spirituality of the anonymous Christian as a helpful idea‘along the way’ rather than an ‘end in itself’. Schreiter’s critical assessment is that despitethe ‘coals heaped upon…[the] head’ of the anonymous Christian, the idea ‘has shownremarkable vitality’ 146 . Schreiter attributes this vitality to the fact that Rahner has usedthe idea to attempt the integration of a range of themes pertinent to the place of thechurch in its mission to a contemporary world with secular, multicultural and multi-faithdimensions. Schreiter names these themes asa) the universal salvific will of God;b) creation and redemption theology;c) Christ, Christology and Soteriology;d) culture.He refers to Rahner’s own argument that individuals are free to reject his theory of theanonymous Christian but will still be left with the task of theological integration, reimaginationand culturally meaningful communication. Schreiter argues that it isprecisely because this need exists, and is felt at a deep level by many Christians, thatRahner’s idea of the anonymous Christian has experienced such a resilient life in the faceof intense conservative criticism.Jeannine Hill Fletcher’s more recent analysis of the contribution of the idea of theanonymous Christian highlights themes similar to Schreiter’s. She notes thatRahner’s systematic project is enduring precisely because he is able to maintaintwo essential teachings: God’s universal will of salvation and the Christologicalaffirmation of Jesus role as mediator of that salvation 147 .Fletcher comments on the enduring legacy of the idea of the anonymous Christian asa) enshrined in Vatican II and influential in later Roman Catholic writings suchas Dominus Iesus 148 ;146 ‘The anonymous Christian and Christology,’ 30.147 ‘Rahner and religious diversity,’ in the Cambridge companion to Rahner, 244.148 This document was discussed in our previous chapter.175
) ) an ongoing contemporary influence in theological discussions, particularlythose focussing on ideas of religious pluralism and inclusivism;c) ) a way for everyday Christians to hold to the idea of Christ as the ‘onlyname under heaven’ for salvation without automatically condemningeveryone else to an eternity in hell 149 .Neither Schreiter nor Fletcher suggest that Rahner’s idea is without problems or in needof adjustment. Schreiter suggests a more balanced and explicit Christological approachand a more faithful rootedness in biblical traditions, and raises the need for a morecomplex cross-cultural consideration of concepts such as universals, literalism inScripture, and the difficulties of translation and differing horizons of meaning 150 . Fletchernotes the problems Christians encounter as they consider the reverse application of thetheory, remarking that Christians might wonder how their faith in Christ constitutesmembership as an ‘anonymous Zen Buddhist’. She concludes that asChristians become increasingly aware of the differences among neighbours ofother faiths, they will continue to inquire whether a concept like the ‘anonymousChristian’ can accurately reflect their lived experience, or whether newtheological representations are needed. And as Christian theologians look ahead tonew formulations that continue to speak to people, those who consider atheological response to religious difference surely will stand on the shoulders of151Rahner to see where we have been and to think our way forward .Fletcher’s sentiment is a helpful way to frame the significance of Rahner’s universal andsilent spirituality of the anonymous Christian as a step along the way to meeting thechallenges of spiritual dialogue in a multicultural, multi-faith and ideological globalvillage.Pavel Hosek’s article ‘Towards a public theology of religious pluralism’ is a recentapplication of Fletcher’s views. One of Hosek’s important points is that in a ‘progressiveglobalizing of contemporary world and the related multi-cultural and multi-religious149 Ibid, 236-245.150 ‘The anonymous Christian and Christology,’ 40-41.151 ‘Rahner and religious diversity,’ 246.176
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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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theologie) in which Rahner’s prim
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• around the concept and meaning
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knowledge. For we are not saved by
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silent experience of God—is able
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the immanent life of God’ 120 . T
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Investigations much like the biblic
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abandonment to the eternal life in
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Theology of mystery as dynamic chal
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ecause the phonetic sound of the wo
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alone that enables individuals to f
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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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