Bibliography  in  Homanisation

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

Bibliography Gutierrez, M. “El monogenismo en la doctrina de los teólogos católicos desde el Concilio Vaticano I hasta nuestros dias”, Diss. theol. Pont. Univ. Gregor. 1957 (see Liber Annuus 1957, p. 405). Rost, L. “Theologische Grundgedanken der Urgeschichte” in Theologische Literaturzeitung 82 (1957) pp. 321-6 Zimmerli, W. Die Urgeschichte (Gen. I, 1-11) Zurich 21957. Arin …

Going Catholic

Article by Jason Byassee

When I ran into a friend from divinity school recently, we asked each other the normal catch-up questions. Then, in the same casual tone, she said, "So are you going to become Catholic?" It’s not that odd a question these days in theological circles. Last year a string of theologians left their Protestant denominations for …

Grace in Freedom

Book by Karl Rahner

(ENTIRE BOOK) A collection of Professor Rahner’s speeches and radio talks, dealing with the relationship between grace and freedom as understood in the Catholic Church. Chapters include the Catholic’s responsibility after Vatican II, the nature of the Christian faith, ecumenical perspectives, the church and personal freedom, the nature of “God,” and the nature of freedom and morality.

Helping Omega Make Its Point: The Pitfalls and Promise of Understanding Catholics

Article by James T. Baker

I am now learning what I suppose ecumenical pioneers have known for decades — that religious integration is both the simplest and the most complicated of human endeavors: simple in design, complicated in detail. This is true of all kinds of integration – racial, social, sexual, but most of all religious. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, …

Homanisation

Book by Karl Rahner

(ENTIRE BOOK) A famous Catholic theologian deals with the position of Catholic theology in regard to hominisation, the theory of man’s evolutionary origins.

Imperial Claims?

Article by Kilian McDonnell

The protestant responses to the “Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church” recently issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s Office for the Doctrine of the Faith (ODF) have been mostly pained surprise, sometimes anger. Leaders in other world religions had a similar reaction. Even Catholics were taken aback by what …

Mystery and Promise: A Theology of Revelation

Book by John F. Haught

(ENTIRE BOOK) The author deals with revelation from within a Roman Catholic perspective. Revelation comes in the form of a divine promise which upon reflection turns out to be nothing less than God’s own self-donation to the world. It is the gift of an image of divine humility which renders reality intelligible in an unprecedented way.

Preface  in  Homanisation

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

The Preface describes the limits within which the book must deal as it concentrates on the position of Catholic theology in regard to hominisation, the theory of man’s evolutionary origins. The central concern is the relation of the Catholic scientist and his/her findings to the official teaching of the Church. The Church’s toleration of a moderate theory of evolution leaves many questions unanswered and raises new ones. The book attempts a small advance toward some answers and a clearer recognition of what is still open to question.

Roman Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Dissenting View

Article by Charles E. Curran

Issues of sexual morality, always significant ones in the Christian tradition, are among the most vital topics of debate and concern within the Roman Catholic Church today. The content of official Roman Catholic teaching in sexual matters is generally well known. It is equally well known that most Catholic believers disagree with the hierarchy’s absolute …

Section 3: Religious Patterns  in  Grace in Freedom

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

Is Christianity an “Absolute Religion”? While the multiplicity of religions today threatens the individual Christian more than at any other time, still non-Christian religions can be channels of grace. Hence Christians must be tolerant and humble towards all non-Christian religions. Rahner also discussed medical ethics here.

Section 4: Ecumenical Perspectives  in  Grace in Freedom

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

Catholics believe that confession of the solely justifying grace of God is a fundamental truth of the Christian faith, so they profess the sola gratia of the Protestant Reformers. Ecclesial unity of Christians is the inexorable demand of the Lord of the Church, but none of the Churches has as yet the will to unity which they all ought to have.

Section 8: True Freedom  in  Grace in Freedom

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

The essence of freedom is not to be understood as the mere possibility of choosing between a number of objects, one of which is God. It is seen as freedom from social, economic and political constraints, the opposite of slavery and serfdom. Rahner looks at various aspects of freedom: historical, paradoxical, the role of grace, self-realization, capacity for love, moral judgment and freedom in relation to Christ.

Section Three  in  Homanisation

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

The third section, fifty percent longer than the first two together, considers several theological and philosophical questions raised by the relation between sacred theology and contemporary evolutionary theory, They include the distinction between spirit and matter, the unity of spirit and matter, the concepts of becoming, of cause and of operation, the creation of the spiritual soul, the insights of Aristotelian scholasticism, and the biblical narrative of man’s origin as it relates to the theory of evolution.

Section Two  in  Homanisation

Book Chapter by Karl Rahner

This section examines the reasons for the official teachings of the church presented in the previous section. These reasons are linked with what Scripture has to say about the origins of man that allow a neutral or even permissive attitude to modern evolutionary theory. The question is what is the source of the knowledge that the author of Genesis had of what he reports, or how was it known to the sources which he incorporated into his work under the light and protective guarantee of inspiration? Rahner’s answer is that he knew it as historical aetiology. The meaning of that term is presented at length as is its application to Genesis.

The Reception Process: The Challenge at the Threshold of a New Phase of the Ecumenical Movement

Article by Hermann J. Pottmeyer

"Koinonia/communio" and "dialogue and reception": These are the key terms on which theologians are today focusing their thinking about the ongoing ecumenical process. Koinonia/communio describe the form of Christian unity; "dialogue and reception" describe the way to unity. The two themes are closely connected. The way must correspond to the goal. If the goal is …