The Reality of Love: Karl Rahner’s Theology of Love Applied to Spirituality

By Ingvild Rosok and Jan-Olav Henriksen

Love is one, and love is "all we need." This book argues against the traditional theological view that God's love differs from human love. If God is love and love is one, we will find God embodied in all kinds of genuine love experiences. By analyzing Karl Rahner's theology of love, the author explores how God penetrates and embraces the whole of reality, suggesting implications for Christian spirituality and spiritual direction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Jan 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532632389

Ingvild Rosok

Ingvild Røsok is Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian School of Theology. She is a translator, author, and spiritual director.

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The Reality of Love

Karl Rahner’s Theology of Love Applied to Spirituality

Ingvild Røsok

foreword by Jan-Olav Henriksen

45022.png

The Reality of Love

Karl Rahner’s Theology of Love Applied to Spirituality

Copyright © 2018 Ingvild Røsok. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Pickwick Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-3237-2

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-3239-6

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-3238-9

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Røsok, Ingvild | Henriksen, Jan-Olav.

Title: The reality of love : Karl Rahner’s theology of love applied to spirituality / Ingvild Røsok ; Foreword by Jan-Olav Henriksen.

Description: Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2018 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-3237-2 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-3239-6 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-3238-9 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Rahner, Karl, 1904–1984—Criticism and interpretation | Love—Religious aspects—Christianity | Theology.

Classification: BX4705 R287 R67 2018 (print) | BX4705 (ebook).

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 01/08/18

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Abbreviations List

Remarks on References and Material

Introduction

Chapter 1: Terminology and Analytical Perspectives

Part 1: The Theological Fundament for Love

Chapter 2: Theological Anthropology

Chapter 3: GOD—The Gift and the Giver

Excursus on Nature and Grace

Chapter 4: Christology

Part 2: One Love—Three Perspectives

Chapter 5: Cognitive Perspectives

Chapter 6: Affective Perspectives

Chapter 7: Spiritual Perspectives

Part 3: Rahner and Beyond

Chapter 8: Desire: From Augustine to Rahner—and Further

Chapter 9: Criticism and Beyond

Chapter 10: Towards an Embodied Spirituality of Love

Bibliography

To Kenneth Hughes, SJ

Foreword

Love matters. Any human being who says that it does not is wrong. We long for love, for being loved and for loving others, and love shapes our concerns in most of what we do. Not only the ideal, fulfilled, and/or perfect love does, but also the misconceived, misunderstood, and failed love makes us humans what we are. So, love matters.

God and love are interrelated in all Christian theology. This point makes it important for all who are concerned about love, or about God, to think through what the relation between God and love implies, and how it must be understood. In this study, Ingvild Røsok uses theologian Karl Rahner as a way into this type of work, and she can relate Rahner’s work on God and love to a contemporary discussion about these issues. Her study recommends itself for several reasons.

First, this is a study of one of the most important Roman Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century. Karl Rahner had a vast influence not only on Catholic theology but beyond that. Rahner’s ability to renew Catholic theology by entering into a discussion with the philosophical trends of that century, and especially the thinking of Heidegger, meant that he could find a new basis for articulating the lasting concerns that theology stewards with regard to insights into the conditions of human existence.

Furthermore, and second, by addressing the relation between God and love through the lens of Rahner, Røsok points to how theology’s understanding of God is related closely to what is arguably the most deciding element in human existence and experience: love. Not love as the sentimental and evasive Hollywood type of love, but love as the persisting and always challenging, transcending, and nevertheless shaping element of human existence. Røsok’s interest in how God and actual human experience belong together is thoroughly developed in her analysis of the different traits of Rahner’s theological oeuvre. It is this interest that also allows her to present some critical remarks regarding Rahner’s contribution.

Third, Røsok’s study is also based on a concern for the actual relevance of a theology of love. Her study points toward the impact that such a theology can have on Christian spirituality. Her analysis of love as a phenomenon that is present in all human life suggests a more embodied and encompassing understanding of the spiritual potential of love than what she finds that Rahner can articulate. However, she does not only restrict herself to pointing this out, but she also offers a valuable contribution as to how Rahner’s thinking can be improved and further developed for the benefit of Christian spirituality.

Ingvild Røsok’s study, therefore, goes far beyond a mere study of the texts of a theologian now passed. She studies the conditions of human existence as they are articulated in Christian theology, and she does so to make us better understand how love matters in all of human life. This careful, critical, and constructive study of Rahner is therefore a contribution to the present theological discourse about what matters—and should continue to matter—as the decisive element in Christian theology: that God is love, and that humans are called to witness this love in modes of what Røsok calls embodied spirituality.

Jan-Olav Henriksen

Abbreviations List

All the abbreviations below refer to the works of Karl Rahner.

See the bibliography for full references.

FCF Foundations of Christian Faith

GdG Grundkurs des Glaubens

GiW Geist in Welt

HdW Hörer des Wortes

HW Hearer of the Word

LJLN The Love of Jesus and the Love of Neighbor

SE Spiritual Exercises

SW Spirit in the World

SzT Schriften zur Theologie

TI Theological Investigations

Remarks on References and Material

Karl Rahner’s works are numerous, and he wrote mostly in shorter essays, collected in the 23 volumes of Theological Investigations. As short title, I use the abbreviation TI and the number of the volume rather than the name of the essay, unless this is of particular interest in the context.

The quotations are provided in English. For most of Karl Rahner’s texts, I add the German references. Some of these are from Schriften zur Theologiae, but most are from Sämtliche Werke. The German references are italicized, except for the page numbers.

I have used a pdf of Theological Investigations, which is published and distributed by Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick Centre for Culture, Technology and Values (Limerick, Ireland, 2004). The printed source of this pdf is published by Darton, Longman & Todd (London). The notes and bibliography refer to the printed version.

The source of the books Geist in Welt, Hörer des Wortes and Grundkurs des Glaubens is Sämtliche Werke. As for these three books, I refer to the original pages given in the margins, not the page of the particular volume of Sämtliche Werke.

The Exercises is the short title for Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, used in the current text. When the phrase is italicized, it refers either to the concrete book of the exercises or the whole process of undertaking these exercises. In the references, the short title is: Munitiz, St. Ignatius Exx, in order not to confuse it with Rahner’s book named Spiritual Exercises, abbreviated SE.

Introduction

The search for love is a foundational feature of being human. Without love, human beings could presumably not even exist. In Scripture, we read that nothing is above love; when other virtues and skills cease, love remains.¹ Still, there is a common experience that love seems to be the reason for conflicts, rivalry, possessiveness, and egocentrism. In popular meaning, love relates to romanticism and emotions more than charity or ethics. Is the reality of love that fragmented or has the word lost its meaning?

As one of the theological virtues, love has been the object of an uncountable amount of research throughout the centuries. Still, the common understanding of the concept seems to be more influenced by secular sentimentalism than by reflected thinking, even among Christians. In Theology of Love, Werner G. Jeanrond observes that more than forty years have passed since the last major vogue of more comprehensive theological treatments of love.² These former comprehensive treatments include, among others, theologians such as Anders Nygren with his renowned and debated book Agapé and Eros, the great Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, writing Love Alone is Credible, Paul Tillich with an ontological and ethical concern in his Love, Power and Justice, and the famous author C.S. Lewis with a book called The Four Loves. Despite the great contributions these and other works have given to theology, some of their reflections on love are less helpful for understanding the relation between divine and human love. A common feature is the contrast given between what is often called true Christian love and a worldly love that tends to be considered false or misunderstood. This leads to a negative evaluation of human desire in general and fear or taboos of eroticism in particular.³ Hence, these human experiences of love will provide little or no foundation for understanding divine love. This is more than understandable, considering the popularized, hollowed meaning of the notion of love. Nevertheless, a negative evaluation of human desire easily terminates in a hostile view of sexuality and embodied love, which again runs the risk of a gnostic spirituality, however subtle it may occur. With the common understanding in theology and in other sciences that a human being is dependent on love, we need to assure that the content of the concept of love is fruitful for the whole reality of human life. Jeanrond points to a need for further theological clarification on how love is constitutive for the human self.⁴ I will add that this also implies asking how this constitutive love is related to God and God’s giving of love. For what should, theologically speaking, be the source of human love, if not the divine? But is it possible to know anything about divine love without starting from, and taking seriously, human experience? Even within the canon of the Holy Bible we find passages that highly value human desire and passion; the Song of Songs remains, despite various interpretations, an outstanding and beautiful example of portraying erotic love as sublime and paradisiacal.⁵

In more recent theology and philosophy we find attempts to integrate these human experiences in what may be called a unified conception of love, a search for overcoming the former divisions mentioned above. We find that Karl Rahner wrote the essay Reflections on the Unity of the Love of Neighbour and the Love of God as early as 1965. At that time, his essay was met with severe criticism by, among others, Hans Urs von Balthasar.⁶ One example of contemporary contributions dealing with love is Benedict XIV’s encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est, where the first part treats of the unity of love in creation and in salvation history. The encyclical calls for a maturity and purification of love to be able to attain the goal of a total unity of body and soul.⁷

With this background, I decided to focus on the unity of love as the topic for my doctoral studies, undertaking a critical analysis of Karl Rahner’s theology of love. This book is a revised version of my dissertation through which I earned my PhD in theology at The Norwegian School of Theology in 2015. The analysis aims at developing a unified concept of love that is applicable for Christian spirituality. Hence, the relationship between divine and human love is given specific attention.

The overall question directing my study goes as follows: How can the understanding of love as found in the works of Karl Rahner contribute to a contemporary Christian spirituality? The way forward goes through several steps, as will be presented below. But, given my choice to use Karl Rahner’s works for this study, it is fitting to first introduce him briefly to the reader.

Karl Rahner—Biographical Elements and Reasoning

Karl Rahner, SJ, (1904–1984) has come to be regarded as one of the most prominent and influential Catholic theologians of the last century. As a theologian of the twentieth century, he lived through a period of huge political, cultural, and religious change. His body of work includes more than sixteen hundred entries in German alone, most of which are essays collected in the twenty-three volumes of Theological Investigations. He has written about all kinds of topics related to the life of the Church in addition to more extensive studies in fundamental theology. Nevertheless, he did not regard himself as a systematic theologian, since he never developed a system nor articulated a specific theological method. In fact, most of his works were produced in responses to pressing cultural or ecclesial issues.⁸

Rahner’s influence includes his contributions to the Second Vatican Council (1963–1965), where he provided text material for the discussions of the first sessions. Later, he was officially nominated peritus, which meant he was among the theologians working out suggestions for the official documents to be treated during the council.⁹

Rahner’s career started with studying philosophy at the University of Freiburg under Martin Heidegger. His doctoral dissertation was rejected, but was later published as Geist in Welt, soon followed by Hörer des Wortes. After that, his works are theological, with an emphasis on fundamental theology. With roots in both philosophy and spirituality, he managed, as few others, to write in an interdisciplinary way, always reflecting philosophically without avoiding mystery. At the beginning of the twentieth century, when Rahner studied theology and developed his thought, the philosophy and theology of Thomas Aquinas was declared to be the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, and the prevalent approach to theology was what was often called a manualist approach, following strictly the method of so-called textbooks.¹⁰ Here, the correct answers were listed, and obedience to the ecclesial authorities was presupposed and seen as the first duty of a theologian. Rahner refused to follow this Neo-Scholastic approach to theology; he argued always for a theology of continuity, meaning that he made efforts to rethink traditional dogmas without ever abandoning official teaching. Due to these efforts, he managed to a large degree to reconcile the Neo-Scholastic approach with a more existential understanding of human beings and their relationship to God, and thus also contributing to the dialogue with other denominations and religions.¹¹

Who and what are the bases for Karl Rahner’s works? That is a disputed question that will be discussed briefly in chapter 1. What is undisputed is that his approach to theology is influenced by philosophy as he sees the two disciplines as mutually enriching each other. His transcendental approach and method, combined with a rather complex language, is perhaps the reason why many tend to underestimate the theological factors that have shaped his thought. As a Jesuit, he had a long formation period, including extensive theological studies, the praxis of prayers and two periods of undertaking a thirty-day retreat. He studied the patristic fathers and, of course, Ignatius of Loyola—the founder of the Society of Jesus—and he gave retreats to Jesuit novices. These Ignatian roots must have deeply influenced his approach to theology, which is evident in his deep interest in mystical theology and in the way he takes human experience as a starting point for theological reflections, as Declan Marmion and Mary E. Hines observe in the introduction to Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner: "The Spiritual Exercises begin with the subjectivity of the human person and it can be argued that this theological insight is at least as important to Rahner’s starting point as is the influence of the German philosophers."¹²

Karl Rahner is first and foremost a theologian and a Jesuit, and Ignatian spirituality had the most significant influence on the totality of his works.¹³ This, together with his influence by existentialism and phenomenology, has been decisive when choosing Rahner’s works as the primary material for my study. There are many benefits and possibilities involved in this choice. I also see some challenges, as briefly referred to in the following.

Karl Rahner is known for what is often called a transcendental approach, and as such directing his thought towards the field of metaphysics. Some would argue that he is strictly metaphysical in his approach. He is nevertheless influenced by existential phenomenology, and recent Rahner-commentators thus argue for a phenomenological reading of his works.¹⁴ My approach, as far as possible, is to read Rahner phenomenologically. He writes in a context between modernity and postmodernity, and his way of thinking is not easy to place in fixed boxes. I assert that Rahner, in several ways, anticipates the thinking of postmodern philosophy. This will briefly be illustrated by the following three points, relating respectively to the disciplines of philosopy, theology and spirituality.

The first point relates to philosophy and the constitution of the subject. In his transcendental thinking, Rahner goes beyond the traditional Kantian meaning of that term; his concern is rather to show that the subject is constituted in a way enabling it to hear and receive revelation, thus experiencing what is beyond certain knowledge.¹⁵ The subject is fundamentally and, by its very nature, pure openness for absolutely everything . . .¹⁶ There is a constitutive openness for hearing that already presupposes one who speaks first. The subject is transcending itself, reaching towards the other. With his understanding of the subject and of revelation, Rahner is suggesting a way involving . . . a further intersubjective reduction which considers the transcendental constitution of the subject as an openness to alterity, or otherness.¹⁷ In this way, Rahner foreshadows issues that are central phenomena with postmodern thinkers.

The second point relates to theology and what Rahner calls the supernatural existential. This term expresses God’s gratuitous gift offered in freedom, thus giving the constitution of the subject an exterior dimension: the gift, also denoted by Rahner as uncreated grace.¹⁸ In Experience of the Spirit and Existential Commitment he shows how this supernatural ordering of the human person is something which is given to the person: "The gift of grace through the Spirit of God is in the first instance a genuine self-communication of God to the transcendent human self and not an internal or external categorial reality of human consciousness . . .¹⁹ Michael Purcell calls this a gradual and reductive move from interiority to exteriority, [which] might be termed also a move from modernity to post-modernity."²⁰

The third example to be mentioned briefly is Rahner’s concern in his spirituality with practicing a radical surrendering to God—and to the other. Rahner insists that abandonment belongs to the essence of human nature, as exemplified by Jesus Christ: "Incarnation is the highest instance of the actualization of the essence of human reality, which consists in this: that man is insofar as he abandons himself to the absolute mystery whom we call God."²¹ A Christian is called to follow the example of Christ, which means losing oneself in order to find oneself.²² Radical following of Christ is marked by an authentic and self-less love that is to be attained through prayer and meditation in accordance with the pattern of Ignatian spirituality. Although Rahner speaks in terms of metaphysics and ontology, he is exceeding traditional ontology by turning to the apophatic language of mystery, as seen in the quote above. This is another feature found by several contemporary thinkers.

Method and Procedure

The book follows a hermeneutical method, making use of different tools according to various stages of the process and the material chosen. The analysis is supported by a theoretical framework, built upon Andrew Tallon’s theory of triune consciousness. This theory is presented together with other analytical perspectives in chapter 1.

In a hermeneutical study, one must be aware of the subjective lenses through which the texts are interpreted. Rahner has been read positively, critically, as a foundationalist or not, as a modernist, as a post-modernist, as a conservative, and as a radical/liberal.²³ Years ago, when I started reading Rahner, I knew little about all these labels. I read with one question in my mind: Does this man speak to my heart, to my spirit? He obviously did, since I continued reading and writing for years. This is more than a personal statement. A recurrent theme throughout most of Rahner’s works is his concern to convey God’s desire for communion with human beings. So, my approach and the lenses through which I interpret Rahner is the position that the roots and aim of his works are spiritual, although using the tools of transcendental theology and philosophy. Important as it is, I do not see his philosophy as the only and most important fundament for his works. Hence, I take on what is called a non-foundationalist reading of Rahner, which will be further explained when presenting some analytical perspectives.²⁴ This means that although I start with three chapters about anthropology and theology, I interpret these texts as pointers towards a spirituality of love. My reading of Rahner is positive, but critical. By that I mean that, although my reading of Rahner is mostly positive, I have found some deficiencies which are criticized and which give reasons for a reconstructive reading towards the end of the book. This is done by supplementing the understanding of love and desire with recent research, and particularly with the strictly phenomenological approach of Jean-Luc Marion.

The book consists of three parts. As a prelude to these parts I have a theoretical chapter, clarifying specific Rahnerian terminology and taking account of the theoretical and analytical perspectives. Part I consists in an analysis of the fundamental thought of Rahner which serves as a framework for analyzing his thoughts on love which is, then, undertaken in Part II. Lastly, in Part III, I assess critically the findings, complement Rahner with Marion’s thoughts according to the erotic reduction, and finally, apply my central findings to their relevance for the understanding of contemporary spirituality. The major steps throughout the ten chapters are as follows.

The first to be investigated is Rahner’s fundamental thinking, establishing the basis for further analysis. Step by step, we see that Rahner understands the human being essentially as constituted to be in relationship with God. When Rahner claims the unity of the love of God and the love of neighbor, this is basically a consequence of his conviction that God is the source of love and that this love flows through human beings in the moment when he/she becomes aware of being a subject. I examine this dynamic movement in detail in chapter 2, including central topics as the unity of knowing and being, desire, and freedom. This will serve as a necessary background for approaching the topic of love understood theologically.

In chapter 3, God, the Gift and the Giver, I will examine a few selected theological topics that are needed for understanding Rahner’s theology of love. A highly central theme is his notion of God’s self-communication, which is explored from a trinitarian perspective. Since Rahner’s theology and anthropology are utterly intertwined, I offer a separate excursus on the issue nature and grace within this chapter.

When turning to Christology in chapter 4, it becomes evident that Rahner sees the Christ-event as the axis of creation and as the fulfillment of humanity’s evolution from matter to spirit. Rahner’s reflections on the Incarnation are central for understanding the intertwining of anthropology and Christology, and they also establish the basis for Rahner’s teaching on the human potential for communion with God. I continue the chapter on Christology by exploring the self-givenness of love as demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus. We will see what implications the kenosis of Christ has for Rahner’s understanding of love.

When entering the major analysis of love in Part II, I analyze Rahner’s theology of love according to cognitive, affective, and spiritual perspectives. These three perspectives serve as a methodological tool, enabling me to detect strengths and weaknesses that are important when considering how he may contribute to contemporary Christian spirituality. Hence, by critically examining the integration of different experiences of love and how these occur in human consciousness, I reveal what is coherent, what is not sufficiently developed, and what needs to be reconstructed in Rahner’s theology on love. As for the cognitive perspectives, we trace Rahner’s transcendental approach by examining some key texts about love, unity, and freedom, and we look closely at the key essay Reflections on the Unity of the Love of God and the Love of Neighbour.

When entering the chapter on the affective perspectives of love, I look at Rahner’s approach to affectivity in general and at the heart as a symbol for emotions and love. I try to find texts about bodily love and the feelings involved here. These sources are scarce, but become richer when looking for the affective perspectives in his writings on prayer.

The last chapter of Part II deals with the spiritual perspectives of love. We look at Rahner’s dialectical understanding of encountering God, and pay attention to his writings on Ignatian Spirituality to see in what way his theology of love has informed his more spiritual writings. Throughout the sections, a central issue will be to see how a loving, personal relationship with Jesus may evoke and cultivate human love.

In the last part of the book, the view is broadened. An understanding of love as one or as a unified phenomenon does not mean not looking at different aspects of the human experience of love. Desire is closely connected to the phenomenon of love and has been given considerable attention in recent research.²⁵ For that reason, I start this part with a separate chapter on desire. I enter a discussion on Rahner’s thought on desire and concupiscence before bringing in some recent research to complement his thinking.

In chapter 9, called Rahner and Beyond, I discuss my findings concerning the strengths and the limitations of Rahner’s theology. I discuss central themes in dialogue with some of his critics and critically assess the results of the analysis in Part II. We will particularly look at what I found to be incoherences in his view of love as one, which mainly concerns a deficiency when it comes to the erotic and affective perspectives of love. For that reason, I complement his understanding of love with the phenomenological approach of Jean-Luc Marion, who in Erotic Phenomenon undertakes an erotic reduction to show that love can only be spoken of as one, and as embodied.

In the last chapter, I extract the findings that are most relevant to the task of applying Rahner’s theology of love to spirituality. Informed by recent research and knowledge on affectivity and embodiment, I indicate ways of rethinking Rahner’s theology of love in a way that may meet the needs of a contemporary spirituality. This application is focused on the themes of desire and deification, which I see as intertwined issues on the spiritual journey. The emphasis on love as one raises the question of a deification of the human, an issue that relates to the spirituality of kenosis. Based upon Rahner’s understanding of love as one and the Ignatian phrase finding God in all things, I suggest ways of rethinking human experiences of desire, sensuality, and sexuality. Given the primacy of affectivity for understanding love as one, I suggest that these experiences, as well as other daily-life experiences, are a resource for a human-divine relationship. Recent research on the Song of Songs functions as a hermeneutical tool and provides a Biblical perspective on the discussion. My reflections are framed by fragments from the praxis of spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition that has become one of the dominating traditions of spiritual direction within both Protestant and Catholic Churches. The aim of spiritual direction is to help the directee discover God in everything, in order to deepen his/her relationship with God. It is my presumption that traditional teaching on both deification and sensuality often has been an obstacle rather than a help, and I hope that my analysis may contribute in this respect.

1.

1

Cor

13

:

8

. I use the New Revised Standard Version, insofar as nothing else is noted.

2. Jeanrond, A Theology of Love,

7

.

3. Jeanrond, A Theology of Love,

7

–

8

.

4. Jeanrond, A Theology of Love,

8

.

5. Kearney, The God Who May Be,

55

.

6. von Balthasar, The Moment of Christian Witness,

126

.

7. After describing the history and dangers of the concept of eros, Pope Benedict states: "Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature. Only thus is love—eros—able to mature and attain its authentic grandeur. Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est," part I.

5

.

8. Marmion and Hines, The Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner,

3

. Henceforth abbreviated CC.

9. See Vorgrimler, Understanding Karl Rahner,

94

–

100

.

10. Marmion and Hines, CC,

3

.

11. Rahner, The Mystical Way in Everyday Life, xi.

12. Marmion and Hines, CC,

5

.

13. See Rahner, Ignatius of Loyola Speaks to a Modern Jesuit, also called Rahner’s testament. Philip Endean argues, however, that Rahner only said this retrospectively. See Endean, Karl Rahner and Ignatian Spirituality,

3

–

6

.

14. See Purcell, Rahner Amid Modernity and Post-modernity; Purcell, Mystery and Method; Russell, The Heart of Rahner.

15. Kilby, Karl Rahner,

33

; Røsok, Surrender to Life,

13

–

14

,

100

–

101

.

16. Rahner, FCF,

20

; Rahner, GdG,

31

.

17. Purcell, Rahner Amid Modernity and Post-modernity,

201

.

18. Røsok, Surrender to Life,

36

.

19. Rahner, TI

16

:

24

; Rahner, Sämtliche Werke

23

:

271

. Italics mine.

20. Purcell, Rahner Amid Modernity and Post-modernity,

203

.

21. Rahner, FCF,

218

; Rahner, GdG,

216

. Italics mine.

22. Røsok, Surrender to Life,

36

.

23. See the discussion in chapter

1

.

3

, and Purcell’s arguing of Rahner as a post-modernist, as presented above.

24. Kilby, Theology and Philosophy,

70

–

76

.

25. For references, see chapter

8

.

1

Terminology and Analytical Perspectives

Rahner has developed his own way of understanding some key terms that are frequently used. Some of these will be defined or explained subsequently throughout the book. There are, however, a few terms that are crucial to the analysis and that are easily blurred and misunderstood when reading Rahner. The most foundational of these is the term transcendental, which needs an introductory remark before entering the analysis. Some notes will also be given on the Rahnerian understanding of experience.

1.1. The Term Transcendental

²⁶

When Rahner claims a profound unity between the love of God and the love of neighbor, his arguments are based on a transcendental philosophy applied to theology. The foundation of this philosophy is found in the epistemology as developed in Geist in Welt and (the anthropology) further developed in Hörer des Wortes. Although I later will argue that Rahner’s theology must be understood as a whole, with a particular view on spirituality, there is no doubt his early philosophical writings set a methodological course which to a large degree demarcate his later writings. Hence, Rahner’s understanding of how human beings relate to God is developed according to this transcendental approach. Before entering the presentation and analysis of Karl Rahner’s thoughts relevant for his theology of love, I will clarify how he uses the term transcendental, and provide a brief historical background of his early philosophical works.

The term transcendental is of great relevance and frequently used by Karl Rahner. He talks for instance about transcendental conditions, transcendental experiences, human transcendentality, and transcendental revelation. In philosophy and theology, the term transcendental naturally connotes with the exceedingly influential philosophy of Immanuel Kant. However, Rahner’s different combinations and use of the term do often go beyond the Kantian meaning, and thus he can easily be misunderstood.²⁷ In the following I will sort out some of the different ways of understanding the term—both the traditional Kantian way, and the more specific Rahnerian ways.

The word transcend means to surpass, to go beyond or above. Thus, one might expect transcendental to relate directly to that which goes beyond something. However, in the tradition coming from Immanuel Kant, the term has little or nothing to do with that. Here, the word relates to a distinct way of understanding knowledge. Thus, Kant says that a transcendental knowledge is not so much occupied with objects as with the mode of our cognition of these objects, so far as this mode of cognition is possible a priori.²⁸ In that way the term refers to an investigation of the subject’s constitution, of what comes before the knowing. The things discovered in that investigation are known as the transcendental conditions of the possibility of experience, which can be called the horizon behind the experiences. For Kant, there is no way of getting any knowledge beyond space and time; transcendental, as a term for the horizon behind our experiences, functions as the barrier to that kind of knowledge. For Rahner, the term is used in many ways, often the reverse of this Kantian meaning. Following the etymological meaning of transcend, he uses the term more as an invitation than a barrier—an invitation to transcend the categorical and to discover that particular objects are gifts pointing towards the infinite horizon of all things, whose source is already given in the conditions of the human being.

Considering the immense influence of Kant on this term, the critics and discussions on Rahner’s combination of transcendental experience, for example, is understandable.²⁹ In Kantian understanding, those words cannot belong together without sounding like a contradiction. So how are we to understand Rahner and his way of using the term in so many combinations?

It is possible to broadly distinguish two ways Rahner uses the term. First, he does in fact often employ the term in a Kantian way, that is, as an investigation and the results of such investigation.³⁰ Second, he also employs the term in the way one would naturally expect—in the meaning of that which goes beyond something. In that sense, he can talk about the transcendental experience, meaning those experiences that transcend and reach beyond particular, finite objects. What characterizes Rahner, then, is to combine those understandings.

According to Rahner if one undertakes a transcendental investigation in the broadly Kantian sense, then, pace Kant, what one will discover is precisely that our experience has a transcendental dimension . . . in the non-Kantian sense.³¹ Another way to put this is to say that Rahner employs the term transcendental both in a formal sense and in a material sense. The former is when he refers to the conditions of the possibility of experience (or action, knowledge), as with Kant, only broader. The latter is referring to our inner movement or openness that reaches out beyond all finite, as in transcendental experience.

Despite all efforts to categorize the ways Rahner employs this term, there will always be a need of precaution while reading and interpreting his texts. In his discussions of transcendental theology, he often shifts without warning from one meaning to another.³² It will be of importance to keep in mind these distinctions throughout the book. Another term that is frequently used, but without a clear-cut definition, is the term experience. That is of great importance in the present analysis, which is why I offer some preliminary remarks on this from the outset.

1.2. Remarks on Rahnerian Experience

Rahner was among the theologians contributing to a shift in Catholic theology in the view of the role of experience to theology. Traditionally, there was a great reluctance and skepticism to consider the personal, human experience as a factor to theology. For Rahner, however, any mention of God has its starting point in the human experience. However, he uses the term experience in many different contexts and combinations without elaborating on the meaning of the term. He speaks of experience of transcendence, experience of grace, experience of the Holy Spirit, mystical experience, experience of enthusiasm, to name a few.³³ The only straightforward definition is found in Theological Dictionary, where he defined religious experience to be the inner self-attestation [innere selbst-Bezeugung] of supernatural reality (grace).³⁴ This is in line with the phenomenological approach of Bernard Lonergan, who regarded grace as an experience that enables the person to become aware of self-presence and love.³⁵ The axis along which Rahner often distinguishes or categorizes experience, however, is not the religious or sacred as opposed to the secular or ordinary. His anthropology does not allow for a clear-cut distinction that makes the religious experience exclusive. This is due to how he understood reality, within which all kinds of experiences are perceived. There is relatedness between the experience of being a subject and the awareness of being part of something more, namely God. The experience of being a subject is compared to a realization of the sum total of reality:

For when man, the subject, experiences himself as such, he is recognizing himself to be that particular being which is "quodammodo omnia," not, that is to say, one particular subject among many others at the material level, but that inconceivable being in which the sum total of reality as such achieves realization of itself, so that the only way of fully understanding it would be to achieve an experience and understanding of reality itself.³⁶

The close connection between reality and the human being is due to Rahner’s overall view on the human being as constituted to hear and receive God’s word. This will be elaborated further in the chapter of anthropology. The fundamental experience of self is preconscious and prior to reflection, since neither the self, nor God as the ground of this experience, can be perceived as an object. For that reason, Rahner often speaks of the unthematic or pre-reflective experience. The starting point is the constitution of the human being, as it experiences itself as a finite subject, directed towards the infinite. It is the awareness of this constitution that Rahner understands as a religious experience: the awakening of . . . divine experience is the acceptance of a constitution in the human person.³⁷ This awareness is important as a starting point for spirituality, as will be shown in the last chapter of this book. Many commentators have pointed to the distinction between the transcendental and the categorial dimensions of experience as a helpful framework for understanding Rahner’s various use of the term. Having in mind the clarification above on the term transcendental, we can say that transcendental experience points to the level of personal experience that is before conceptualization, a level of consciousness that is deeper, more significant, than the dimension of reflected, articulated, conceptualized experience which is termed ‘categorial,’ says Declan Marmion.³⁸ In the transcendental experience the knowing subject is passive, while the categorial dimension relates to reflected and articulated experiences, where the subject is the active agent. Although the transcendental experience mostly refers to the passive state, it is often used to denote the return-to-self, the state of becoming aware of oneself. Experience is thus related to different ways of getting knowledge, of oneself (inner), of the world (outer), and of God (transcending). The experiential knowledge