Theological Investigations XVIII by Karl Rahner, and: Concern for the Church (Theological Investigations XX) by Karl Rahner (review)

466 BOOK REVIEWS Theological Investigations XVIII. By KARL RAHNER. New York: Crossroad , 1981. Pp. 260. $14.95. Concern for the Ohiirch (Theological Investigations XX). By KARL RAHNEIR. New York: Crossroad, 1981. Pp. 191. $12.95. Transcendence is the condition of the possibility of history; history is the mediation of transcendence. This dialectic has grounded Rahner's theological retrieval of the Christian tradition throughout the many volumes of his Theological Investigations. It is again the basic key to Volume XVII wherein he addresses current questions in Christology, Anthropology, and Ecclesiology. As we have come to expect, the characteristically Rahnerian focus is on the transcendental moment in these various issues. However , his insistence on the historical as the concrete mediation of the reality of faith is loud and clear. The genius of Rahner's dialectic of history and transcendence is illustrated in this volume in the relationship between the specificity of Christmas and transcendental freedom, between Christ's resurrection and transcendental hope, between the life and death of Jesus and the Risen Lord, between classical ontic Christology and modern ontological Christology. In his chapter on " Jesus Christ in the non-Christian Religions " Rahner imaginatively recalls the ancient Platonic theme of anamnesis (memoria) to assert the anticipatory thrust of human consciousness toward a historical ''' recognition " of its salvation. No one finds what he or she is not " constitutionally " looking for. The "always already there" presence of the Holy Spirit in the human spirit constitutes the basis for Rahner's anthropological essays. Accordingly , the Christian message "means awakening and interpreting the innermost thing in man." The same dialectic is in evidence in Rahner's essay on the human body, the " self-consummation of the spirit in space and time." The Incarnation of the Logos is the necessary historical mediation of grace and glory in accord with the same taxonomy. Indeed, the enfleshment of the Word is "the only reason" that we have anything to do with the Trinity. The key to the essay on mysticism remains the same-now rendered: mysticism is the condition of the possibility of prophecy; prophecy is the mediation of mysticism. The prevenience of the grace of the Spirit constitutes all as mystics in principle. The so-called extraordinary mystics are those whose psychology is pervaded by the elevation of grace, those in whom the experience of grace takes " deeper root existentially." In his essay on the " liberty of the sick " Rahner reflects further on his theology of death as the active self-consummation from within as transcendental freedom achieves itself in concrete, total self-surrender. In his discussion BOOK REVIEWS 467 0£ the " intermediate state" Rabner completes his thesis by placing the " moment " 0£ resurrection in coincidence with, the " moment " 0£ death as self-consummation. Self-critical appropriation 0£ the graced fullness 0£ the self requires criticism in the Church. Total rapport between the inner exigencies of lived faith and the outer structures of the Church constitutes the ideal towards which criticism (direct and indirect) in the Church moves. Rahner 's criticism of Mysterium Ecclesiae (the 1973 Declaration 0£ the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) again illustrates another form of his dialectic-in this instance the mutually conditioning relationship between the official teaching of the Church and the ecclesial life of the whole People of God. Rahner clearly indicts the tendencies of the " Roman authorities " to invoke their merely formal authority as the legitimation of doctrine. As he continues his discussion of authority in relation to ministry in the Church, Rahner again indicts "formalism" in his contention that only the content of the actually envisioned ministry legitimizes its sacramental transmission. In relation to the critical issues of authority and power in secular societies today Rahner detects a kairos for the institutional Church-the possibility of setting a social example of what might be called "institutionalized freedom." " See how those Christians love one another " can be translated into " See how they really live together, in liberty and without coercion." In relation to " the one Church and the many Churches " Rahner envisions a communio of the Churches around the " basic Christian substance of faith "-when the "the immobility of the Churches' leaders" is overcome. Again, the official teaching authority...