Theologian · Contemporary
Karl Rahner, SJ
1904–1984 · Transcendental Thomism
Under Roman pre-censorship 1962; peritus at Vatican II; never formally censured, but several of his theses are disputed.
The most influential Catholic theologian of the post-conciliar period, who joined Maréchal's transcendental Thomism to Heidegger: the human spirit is a “hearer of the word” oriented to the infinite horizon of Being, grace is God's self-communication offered to every person as a “supernatural existential,” and those who accept it implicitly are “anonymous Christians.” His “Foundations of Christian Faith” and twenty-three volumes of “Theological Investigations” touched every topic.
Why he matters: Shaped Lumen Gentium's theology of the Church and the laity, the modern theology of grace and religions, and the whole German-language theological academy; his critics (Balthasar, Ratzinger) are equally defined by him.
Where to be careful
The “anonymous Christian,” the reduction of the Trinity to the economic (“the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity”), his treatment of dogma as evolving and his later ecclesiology are contested; Balthasar's “Cordula” attacked the first, and Dominus Iesus (2000) set limits to the use made of his theology of religions. Much of his spiritual writing is sound and beautiful.
School of Thomism · Transcendental Thomism
Maréchal, Rahner and Lonergan: begin with the knowing subject, as Kant did, and show that the dynamism of the intellect reaches being and God. Fertile and contested; its critics say it starts where Thomas never would.
Others in this strand: Bernard Lonergan, SJ
Reading
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Foundations of Christian FaithKarl Rahner, SJ · His one-volume summary.
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Encounters with SilenceKarl Rahner, SJ · His prayers; the best and least controversial Rahner.
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The Moment of Christian Witness (Cordula)Hans Urs von Balthasar · The classic critique of the anonymous Christian.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.