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

word of life and hope within them. Thus, theological reflection on the silence of Godbecomes an essential spiritual discipline that at times becomes more important thanseeking to hear another more literal word.The silence of suspended judgment against spiritualities not explicitly ChristianIn this thesis I have demonstrated the profoundly Christian nature of Karl Rahner’sspirituality, and that Rahner’s spirituality also views the diverse human family throughthe eyes of an optimistic Christology and generous sacramental vision. Rahner hasnothing to say in judgement of people whose spirituality is not yet—and perhaps neverwill be—explicitly Christian. He proclaims that Jesus is God incarnate and as such is theultimate hope and fulfillment of all humanity’s unconscious longings for the eternalexpression of life. Rahner distinguishes between the verbal and sacramental expression ofhis Christian conviction and the actual, free life of the Spirit at work in Christ thattranscends all theological constructs; he remains respectfully silent before the outworkingof the Holy Mystery of the ‘Spirit poured out all flesh’ 5 .Spirituality of silence in conversation with the cultural reconceptualising ofspirituality as a broad element in human existence and developmentThe term ‘spirituality’ is a relatively recent term in Western culture:• began with the Roman Catholic focus on ‘mystical’ and ‘ascetical’ theologyin the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries;• developed into ‘spiritual theology’ and ‘spirituality’ in the twentiethcentury;• non-Catholic Christians began adopting the term during the latter half of thetwentieth century;• Christian rediscovering and naming of ‘spirituality’ in the last fifty years haspartly to do with the phenomena of young Western people seeking spiritualwisdom in Eastern religions 6 .5 An allusion to both the Pentecostal interpretation of St. Peter (Acts 2:17) and to the title of a relativelyrecent work by Amos Yong: The spirit poured out on all flesh: Pentecostalism and the possibility of globaltheology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005).6 Adapted from B. Holt, Thirsty for God: a brief history of Christian spirituality (Oxford: Lion Publishing,2005), 16-18.184