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

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Style: Two Genres, One TheologianEarlier in this chapter Rahner was caricatured, in response to his ‘hopelessly complicatedand obscure’ style, as a ‘theological atomic physicist’. The cartoon (on the pagefollowing), consisting of a sequence of three captions, was sent anonymously toRahner 55 .Rahner’s own interpretation of—and response to—this cartoon follows.55 As represented in Rahner, I remember, 18.17
As you see, at the top of the cartoon is a theological atomic physicist who’ssupposed to be me. What it means is that I speak about things that no oneunderstands. Beneath me sit the so-called multipliers. They are the ones who areexpected to hand on what I say. Beneath them sit the popularisers who spend theirtime putting what the multipliers say into simple language. Below them in thepulpit is an individual populariser who preaches to the Christian people whatneeds to be said there. Nearby sits Jesus Christ who listens to what is beingtranslated from what I’ve concocted, and he says: ‘I don’t understand.’ That’s justthe way it is when you’re a theology teacher 56 .Rahner’s observation that this is ‘just the way it is’ hardly does justice to the ultimatepastoral motivation behind the ‘atomic physicist’ nature of some of his writings. Thecomplex dialectic between Rahner’s multiple sources and target audiences contributes tothe ‘difficulty’ of his style. On the one hand, he seeks to explain what Christian truthmeans within the frameworks of a post-medieval and a rational philosophical worldview.To support this perspective, he utilises a particular way of explaining being andinterpreting texts that he drew from Heidegger. The spiritual heart and content of hismessage, however, he drew from the church fathers and Christian mystics, and his owndeep personal experience of God in relation to both. The dialectic tension climaxes in hisattempt to express theology that demonstrates Roman Catholic orthodoxy57 and at thesame time appeals to the spiritual instincts of a culture cynical about institutional religion.As certain aspects of Rahner’s corpus can be very difficult to read—primarily because ofhis commitment to counter the polarisation he observed between expressed orthodoxyand contemporary human experience and worldview—later chapters of this thesis willpresent the more complex, apologetic Rahner, using a ‘multiplier/ populariser’ approach.It is a continuing irony, however, that in his quest for theological engagement withmodern experience and thinking, at times Rahner becomes virtually incomprehensible tohis potential readers.56 Ibid, 19.57 R. Modras comments on the particular tension that Rahner felt in his younger years to extensively qualifyhis statements to ‘safeguard against any suspicions that he was straying beyond the bounds of orthodoxy’,Ignatian humanism – a dynamic spirituality for the 21 st Century (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004), 205.18
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: These anecdotes testify that Rahner
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
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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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Chapter 5: Word and sacrament—exp
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The centrality of scripture, and it
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What makes the words of scripture d
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silence. He felt that the movement
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with humanity—his ‘economic’
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Having discerned their revelatory c
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fulfilment in following the absolut
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Rahner’s transcendental perspecti
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toward which it points. God’s wor
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sacramental: a sign in which God’
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In light of the implications of Rah
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who, like mystics, experience such
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The juxtaposition of two articles
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These two interpretations of Rahner
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Rahner advocates that all believers
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The sacrament of the wordIn reflect
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‘theological aesthetics’. With
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Many things in life act as signs th
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Rahner’s dual commitment to recei
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living human being, and each indivi
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The church is sacramental in the se
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spiritual rhythms that trace direct
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the missionary tasks of the Church;
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unhelpful assumptions that diminish
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expressions of mystagogical 142 ini
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Does this lead Rahner into compromi
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) ) an ongoing contemporary influen
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Hosek shifts the soteriological foc
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Is this vision of silent spirituali
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Being in silence as a way of creati
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word of life and hope within them.
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Level 1:PremoralStage 2:Instrumenta
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These new monastics see the local c
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eliefs that have been tried and tes
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of mature theological reflection co
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ecognised in his Christological ass
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inability or unwillingness of the e
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Kanyini—an Australian Aboriginal
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The film Kanyini demonstrates the c
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estless and always in a hurry to ge
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considered the sole and ultimate au
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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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