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11. Karl Rahner's Theological Life
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11. Karl Rahner’s Theological Life Harvey D. Egan, S.J. ‘‘Strengthened by the Church’s sacrament and accompanied by the prayers of his Jesuit brothers, shortly after completing his eightieth year, Father Karl Rahner has gone home to God. He had loved the Church and his religious order and spent himself in their service.’’ So read part of the official Jesuit announcement of the death of Father Karl Rahner, S.J., on March 30, 1984. With his death, the Catholic Church lost one of her most loyal sons. Although well known for his controversial reinterpretations of the Christian tradition and for his criticisms of much in the Church’s practical life, Rahner always spoke from deep within the Church as one who had never lost sight of the total Christian vision. His unanswered questions have provided fresh points of departure for a host of other thinkers. Add to this his significant impact upon the Second Vatican Council, his fourteen honorary doctoral degrees, and the large number of doctoral students he directed, and one can see how aptly he has been called ‘‘the quiet mover of the Roman Catholic Church’’ and ‘‘the Father of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century.’’ Yet Rahner referred to himself as someone who was ‘‘not particularly industrious,’’ who ‘‘went to bed early,’’ and was a ‘‘poor sinner.’’ ‘‘All I want to be, even in this work [of theology],’’ he said, ‘‘is a human being, a Christian, and, as well as I can, a priest of the Church.’’1 144 / Harvey D. Egan, S.J. Although Thomas Aquinas, Heidegger, Kant, Hegel and Joseph Maréchal undoubtedly influenced his thinking, Rahner contended that the great Christian mystics and saints, as well as the Jesuit spirituality he prayed and lived, had a much greater significance for his theological work. For him the saints were theological sources. He saw clearly that the faith of the theologian, as well as the living faith of the contemporary Church, were both crucial to the theological enterprise. From him I learned that theology could be distinguished, but never separated from living faith, hope, and love. Theology must flow out of and then lead back into the prayer of silent surrender to the Mystery of God’s love for us in the crucified and risen Christ—and must do so without dissolving theology’s necessarily critical function. The theologian must have compassion for the human and worship God with his whole person, knowing when to ‘‘kneel his mind’’ before the incomprehensible God, whose love became manifestly irreversible in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Central to Rahner’s thinking is the notion that what is at the core of every person’s deepest experience, what haunts every human heart, is a God whose mystery, light, and love have embraced the total person. God works in every person’s life as the One to whom we say our inmost yes or no. We may deny this, ignore it, or repress it, but deep down we know that God is in love with us, and we are all at least secretly in love with one another. Therefore, one of theology’s most important functions is ‘‘mystagogical’’: it must lead persons into their own deepest mystery by awakening, deepening, and explicating what every person already lives. It must challenge persons to grasp the real meaning of their freedom as total response to or rejection of God’s self-offer to us, which demands total human authenticity. And because God has conquered the human heart through the pierced and risen heart of Jesus Christ, Rahner stated the hope that all will be saved. In fact, Rahner contended that the most important achievement of the Second Vatican Council was its optimistic attitude toward salvation, its implicit recognition of ‘‘anonymous Christianity.’’ This means that even the agnostic or atheist ‘‘who courageously accepts life . . . has already accepted God. For anyone who really accepts himself accepts . . . the One who has decided to fill his infinite emptiness (which is the mystery of the human person) with his own infinite fullness (which is the mystery of God).’’ [44.222.186.148] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:42 GMT) Karl Rahner’s Theological Life / 145 That he has been designated ‘‘Doctor Mysticus,’’ the doctor of twentieth-century mystical theology, is indeed fitting. Much of Rahner ’s theology can be called ‘‘mystical’’ because it takes seriously the experience, albeit often hidden or repressed, of God’s self...