A Passion for Truth: Hans Küng and His Theology by Robert Nowell, and: Küng in Conflict ed. by Leonard Swidler (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 149 getic today than any effort to explain the mystery of the Gospel. Purtill's keen appreciation of Aslan's country suggests Lewis's appeal far more powerfully than his appreciation for Lewis's logic. Virginia Theological Seminary Alexandria, Virginia MARIANNE H. MICKS A Passion for Truth: Hans Kung and His Theology. By ROBERT NOWELL. New York: Crossroad, 1981. Pp. 377. $14.95. Kiing in Conflict. Edited with a Translation and Commentary by LEONARD SwrnLER. New York: Doubleday, 1981. Pp. 627. $17.95. In reviewing these two works I first will deal briefly with each separately , noting their contents and making some comments. Then I will make three comments pertinent to both. Finally I will raise six questions which the two evoke. I am not primarily concerned with Kiing's theology as such, though of necessity some of my comments pertain to it. Nowell's book is a "theological" biography of Kiing. The introductory chapter, "Loyalty Disavowed," provides the context for the book. The Kling case raises two questions: whether the Church is committed to the truth or its own past; whether the Church is truly universal or limited'! Kling is presented as the contemporary Catholic theologian who is (alone'!) passionately committed to both the Church and (especially) the truth, who tries to make sense out of Christianity for our world today, who assumes that Christian faith is reasonable and must be something vital. Above all, Kling is a preacher, who wishes to proclaim the message of God not of men. Whether he has been successful is now, from the standpoint of Roman authorities, disputable. Whether or not Rome's evaluation of Kiing is correct the reader will be better able to judge by the end of the book. For the purpose of this book is to enable the reader to judge (I presume with some objectivity) the relative merits of Kiing and the magisterial (especially Roman) authorities. Chapter two, "The Making of a Theologian,'' and chapter three, "Rome and Paris," depict Kiing's milieu (secular and ecclesial) and its influence upon him, his seminary and educational experiences up to his doctoral work. Central here is that Kiing's theological development paralleled the developments within the Church from a pre-Vatican II (closed and repressive ) Church to a Vatican II (open and liberating) Church. Chapter three likewise indicates the theological issues which first caused concern 150 BOOK REVIEWS for the pre-doctoral Kiing and which will be important for his later theological development (the meaning of tradition and the natural-supernatural question). Also mentioned here is Kiing's early contact with the theology of Barth and its abiding influence upon him. From chapter four to chapter eighteen, Nowell presents in chronological fashion the key writings and main theological positions of Kiing, while at the same time noting Church events during these years which in some way influenced Kiing's writings (e.g. the calling of Vatican II by John XXIII and Humanae vitae). Likewise throughout these chapters he deals with Kiing's conflict with the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Doctrinal Commission of the German Bishop's Conference. Regarding Kiing and his theology Nowell makes several points worth noting. (1) Kiing has developed an ecumenical rather than a polemical theology. He does not try to prove Protestants wrong and Catholics right but rather is concerned to listen to what Protestants are saying and to use this as an occasion and basis for a Catholic examination of conscience (p. 68). (2) Nowell accurately notes the pastoral concern of Kiing's theology. Kiing generally is not addressing a professional, theological audience but rather the educated lay person. Hence his writings tend to be "more popular" in language style. 'rhat Kiing writes for the lay person itself has ecclesiological ramifications; it shows that he acknowledges the emergence of the laity from its subservient position in which the laity was strictly the " ecclesia discens." In addressing the laity, Kiing, as Newman earlier, is relativizing somewhat the ecclesia docens-discens distinction (p. 96). (3) Nowell often shows how later works of Kilng build upon earlier ones. For example, Kilng's positions on infallibility (1970) are found in seminal...