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

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theological position. William Dych, Harvey Egan and Herbert Vorgrimler—commentators who both knew Rahner personally and who are long-term students andteachers of his ideas [‘thought’ seemed a bit stilted, but is possible]—advocate a viewthat even at his most speculative and complex Rahner is always seeking to articulate aliving spiritual tradition with its roots in scripture, tradition, mystical experience andreason 2 ; others have argued specifically against the view of Rahner as a philosophical‘foundationalist’. Though some of the material in this chapter is difficult, this does notnecessarily detract from the essential theme of this thesis: Rahner’s theology of mysteryexpresses something simple, beautiful and profoundly attractive; its glory is not in thebrilliance and complexity of philosophical argument 3 . Rather, its meaning and profundityis in the beauty and sheer attractiveness of its proclamation of a God who is silently everpresent as love.The God represented in Rahner’s ‘Holy Mystery’ is the ground and substance of themeaning and dignity of the human person—the God who enables believers to find thecourage to enter into the depths of their own being in a safe and liberating way,discovering in the process the joy of participation in the life of the Spirit. He is the God of‘amazing grace’ whose mystery both teaches believers to fear the incomprehensiblevastness of infinity and relieves those same fears through the proximity and safety of hiseternal presence and beauty.I invite readers to engage with this chapter reflectively, to consider the personalsignificance of what Rahner has to say about the meaning of God as mystery in2 W. Dych, Karl Rahner (London: Continuum, 1992), 32-46; H. Egan, ‘Theology and spirituality’, in TheCambridge companion to Karl Rahner, Marmion , D. & Hines, M. eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2005), 13-28; H. Vorgrimler, Understanding Karl Rahner, Trans. J. Bowden. (London: SCM Press,1986), 1-18.3 There are very specific reasons behind the lengths to which Rahner went to argue for an acceptence of thesimple concepts of his theology of mystery in the language of philosophical tradition and some of these willbe discussed as the chapter unfolds. The essence of Rahner’s value and influence in theology andspirituality, however, has to do with the content rather than the method of his rationale. See N. Adams,‘Rahner’s reception in twentieth century Protestant theology’, in The Cambridge companion to KarlRahner, 211-224.79
proximity, the silence that leads each human person to true rest, actualisation 4 andfulfilment 5 .Rahner’s theology of mystery: the framework for discussionRahner introduces his series of three lectures on ‘The concept of mystery in Catholictheology’ with an opening salvo against what he labels the ‘traditional Catholic view’.People of the modern world, says Rahner,find the mystery of God so all-embracing that they cannot easily bring themselvesto accept a multitude of mysteries which look very much like the complications ofhuman reasoning which has tied itself up in knots 6 .This short statement reveals the pastoral bias in Rahner’s theology, his deep concern forthe posture of the Church in its role as spiritual guide to everyday women and men, andimplies the essence of his theological view: humans live and have their being in thecontext of anthropological transcendence and the supernatural existential. Consequently,it provides the basic framework for exploring the meaning of his theology of mystery.This exploration begins with Rahner’s anthropological theology and its relevance to hisconcept of mystery, and uses the exploratory framework drawn from the lectures to tracehis argument for a reconstruction or redemption of mystery as a pastoral theologicalconcept. This analysis reveals that Rahner tilts his rhetorical lance towards the slaying oftwo ideological dragons:a) the rigid, hierarchical propositional posture of a Church that demands an uncriticaladherence to ill-informed expressions of dogma;b) the secular rationalism of modern thought that fails to recognise the origin, goaland limitations of its intellectual capacity.That Rahner’s theology of mystery begins and ends in a spirituality of silence isdemonstrated and crystallised through a consideration of the implications arising from4 ‘Actualisation’ a word used by Rahner to express the idea that Jesus Christ is the natural completion andfulfilment of what it means to be fully human and that, through Jesus, it is possible for each of us toexperience the fullness of human life through participation in the divine life.5 This idea is reflected in the following reading: K Rahner, ‘God is no scientific formula’, in The content ofthe faith – the best of Karl Rahner’s theological writings, Lehmann, K. & Raffelt , A. eds. (New York:Crossroad, 1993), 228.6 K Rahner, Theological investigations, Vol. IV, Trans. K. Smyth (London: Darton, Longman & Todd,1966), 37.80
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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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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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