Karl Rahner: Theology and Philosophy

171 Pages·2004·0.75 MB·English

by  Karen Kilby

Karl Rahner
Theology and philosophy
Karl Rahner is one of the great theologians of the twentieth century. This
bold and original book explores the relationship between his theology
and his philosophy, and argues for the possibility of a nonfoundationalist
reading of Rahner. Karen Kilby calls into question both the admiration of
Rahner’s disciples for the overarching unity of his thought, and the too-
easy dismissals of critics who object to his ‘flawed philosophical starting
point’ or to his supposedly modern and liberal appeal to experience.
Through a lucid and critical exposition of key texts including Spirit in
the World and Hearer of the Word, and of themes such as the Vorgriff auf esse,
the supernatural existential, and the anonymous Christian, Karen Kilby
reaffirms Rahner’s significance for modern theology and offers a clear expo-
sition of his thought.
Karen Kilbyis Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Nottingham University.
She is author of Karl Rahner(Fount Christian Thinkers, 1997), a brief intro-
duction to the thought of Rahner.

Karl Rahner
Theology and philosophy
Karen Kilby
First published 2004
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is animprint of the Taylor &Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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© 2004 Karen Kilby
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
BritishLibrary Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-50500-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-56992-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–25964–9 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–25965–7 (pbk)
To Marianne B. Kilby and Peter Kilby

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Spirit in the World 13
3 Transcendental 32
4 Hearer of the Word and the supernatural existential 49
5 The relation of philosophy to theology: a nonfoundationalist
reading 70
6 Defending a nonfoundationalist Rahner 100
7 The theory of the anonymous Christian 115
Conclusion 127
Notes 129
Bibliography 153
Index 159

Acknowledgments
The research behind this book began at Yale, and among the many things
for which I owe a debt of gratitude to Kathryn Tanner and George Lind-
beck, one is the encouragement and advice they gave on this project. David
Ford, Nicholas Lash, Fergus Kerr, and Denys Turner have also, at different
stages and in different ways, provided much appreciated support.
I am grateful to the members of Professor Peter Walter’s Dogmatics
Seminar at the University of Freiburg, whose response to an earlier version
ofsome of the material in chapters 4 and 5 was instructive. I am particularly
grateful to Philip Endean SJ for the kindness of offering me detailed dis-
agreement with this same material.
The completion of this book has been made possible by the generosity
of the University of Nottingham in providing an early sabbatical, and by
the Research Leave Scheme of the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
My parents, to whom the book is dedicated, have provided the kind of
support at many levels and over many years which is the condition of the
possibility of the writing of a book: I am grateful to them, and also to John,
Sally, Robert, and Andrew Hunton, without whom it would have been
finished much earlier.