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

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movement in their emotions and thoughts leading them, through the Ignatian concepts of‘consolation’ and ‘desolation’ 47 , to an awareness of what is the Holy Spirit and what isnot. The Holy Spirit leads towards Jesus, who is life itself in its truest and freest form. Inthis process the word becomes incarnate: Jesus begins to live his life within the interior ofthe individual. As they move back out into the world in the Spirit of Jesus, believers sharein the divinising process of God’s incarnate ministry to the world 48 :His eternal Word, eternally descended into the world. In other words, we find Godbecause God, by Himself with His own reality ‘descending,’ has lost himself aslove into His creation, never again to leave it…From that it follows that our‘ascending’ love to God is always a participation in God’s descent to theworld…our love is, as Ignatius says, essentially our appropriation of this divinelove…the love that means the abiding of the eternal Word in his creature, and that49therefore also means a divinised world and Church .A basic synopsis of Rahner’s thought on the nature and purpose of the Exercises and thespirituality of Ignatius presents Ignatian spirituality as a form and means through whichhuman beings encounter God in a concrete way. The Exercises—a time-intensive,solitary and silent process of guided meditation—enable a continual participation in thedivine life that is particular to the concrete realities of the individual’s personality and lifecircumstances. Individuals discern the leading and movement of the Holy Spirit in andthrough all things. Through an extended time of separation from the world andconcentration on the life, ministry, passion and resurrection of Jesus, they recognise hispresence and activity within the world. Participating in the eternal loving activity of Godtowards the whole world, they are free to express this love through original, Spirit-ledcreativity50 .47 These concepts, given specific definition within the Exercises under the heading ‘Rules for thediscernment of spirits’ (see Exx 316 and 317), emerge from Ignatius’ initial experience during hisconvalescence in which he took particular notice of the variations of his mood in relation to differentconsiderations of his future life possibilities.48 Rahner, Spiritual Exercises, 89-115.49 Rahner, Spiritual Writings, 57-58.50 Rahner has declared his own sense of theological licence and original thought as deriving from Ignatiusprayer of abandonment towards the closing of his Exercises in which ‘Ignatius entrusts himself totally toGod without reservation and where the notion of freedom holds pride of place over the Augustinian triad ofmemory, understanding and will’. See K. Rahner, ‘Experiences of a Catholic theologian’ TheologicalStudies 61 (1) (March, 2000): 13.41
Rahner’s often-quoted comment that the ‘Christian of the future will be a mystic or…willnot exist at all 51 ’ relates to his belief that, in the face of an increasing secularised andpluralised society, helping individuals engage with the essential spirituality of Jesuswould become even more important as other forms of church life decline. For Rahner, thespirituality of Ignatius offers a direct and personal encounter with God 52 .Rahner the interpreter of IgnatiusIn his essay, ‘Ignatius speaks to modern Jesuits’ 53 , Rahner somewhat playfully imagineswhat Ignatius would say to contemporary Jesuits, and reveals—in a uniquely personalway—his understanding of the meaning and significance of Ignatius’ spirituality ofsilence for the modern world. This imaginary communication from Ignatius to hisinstitutional spiritual descendents offers opportunities for others to eavesdrop on theconversation and thus draw on the spirit of this great saint for their own spiritualinspiration. As Rahner’s self-declared ‘spiritual testament’, this essay represents theessence of what really mattered to Rahner in terms of his own spiritual journey 54 ; onenoticeable aspect is the blending of Ignatian themes and Rahner’s own concepts andconcerns. At times Rahner seems to be interpreting the original spirit of Ignatius; at othertimes he is using Ignatius as an authoritative mouthpiece for his own original ideas. Theresult, however, is a captivating exposition, revealinga man who has let himself be swallowed up unconditionally by a God ‘in whoseincomprehensible fire we are not, in fact, burnt away but become ourselves and ofeternal value’ (17). Here is Rahner, and Ignatius, for everyone55 .Rahner’s Ignatius begins by stating his intention to speak personally and from the contextof divine silence. From this silence, he declares that he has experienced God in ‘directencounter’: a mystical experience and a profound awareness of ‘nearness and grace’ thathas given him an unshakable certainty in his faith 56 . Such is the power of this silent,51 K. Rahner, ‘The spirituality of the church of the future’ in Theological Investigations Vol.20, Trans. E.Quinn (London: Dartman, Langman & Todd, 1981): 149.52 Imhof & Biallowons eds., Karl Rahner in dialogue, 77.53 This piece forms one half of the joint publication by Rahner and Imhof on Ignatius of Loyola.54 P. Endean, Karl Rahner and Ignatian spirituality (, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 13-14.55 A concluding comment in a review of this text. See W. Burghardt, review of ‘Ignatius of Loyola’, by K.Rahner and P. Imhof, in Theological Studies 40 (4) (December, 1979): 754-756.56 Rahner, Ignatius of Loyola, 11.42
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
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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
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Page 45 and 46: Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
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Page 55 and 56: Endean argues that Rahner is interp
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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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