Dr.

Hirschel Heilbron Researcher in the field of Systematic Theology: Theologies of Religion/ Comparative Theology Karl Rahners theological pioneering contribution on other faiths Introduction In this paper we will study Karl Rahner contribution to the theological debate of non-Christian faiths. The contributions we will consider: nature grace, truth and grace, religion as ways of salvation, anonymous Christians and limits for the church and for religions. With this contribution he laid a foundation, which the Second Vatican Council not only explored but build on as well. Background Karl Rahner was born on 4 March 1904 in Freiburg, Breisgau, Germany, and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 18 years. After ten years of in-depth study, he was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1932, DCosta (1986:81-83) says. His doctoral studies concentrated on the work of an Italian Catholic priest in the Dominican Order, a philosopher and a theologian in the scholastic tradition: Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis and Doctor Communis. In his doctorate, published as Spirit in the world in 1939, he argued for post Kantian metaphysics and also attended seminars about German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who is being regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Enlightenment. Martin Heidegger conducted these seminars in Freiburg. After the completion of his doctoral studies, he became a professor of theology at the Jesuit Faculty at Innsbruck in 1938. Here he began his collection of what is known today as Theological Investigations which is regarded as his main contribution, for the Inclusivism model. DCosta (1986:81-83) says between 1939 and 1944, the Nazis prohibited the Innsbruck Faculty to continue and Rahner was compelled to neither practise nor engage in any pastoral care or to lecture in Vienna. During this time, he developed a holistic understanding of the pastoral challenges and demands that were fostered by technology and secularisation. DCosta (1986:81-83) says that in 1945, Rahner returned to Germany, and accepted a professorship in Theology at Pullach and later at the University of Innsbruck, Munich and Mnster. Knitter (2002:68) says that Rahners theological concerns focused mainly on the predicament faced in their relationship with those who hold a believe system other than theirs. Even though he lacked religious education, regarding the belief systems of the faiths his change of heart for the adherents of other religions, has become key to Christianity during the 1960s which was then in turn embraced by Vatican II. Rahner, in theological circles, is considered to be the chief engineer. His contributions in the theological world have made a massive impact on this Christian approach. The next section will consider his contributions he made to Christian Inclusivism. Nature is graced / God of love Sanders (1992:217) says that Inclusivists believe God is love and desires to share his love not only with an exclusive group, but with the whole human race. They say that God desires to bring all people to Himself, whether they are considered as outcasts, publicans or sinners, like it was in the Jewish society. Inclusivists believe that God is sovereign and He acts in accordance with his will, and not mans restrictions and limitations. His mission is to save man and He will do what He thinks is necessary. He wants man to know Him and have a relationship with Him, which is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. They believe that we are equally responsible toward God to work on our relationship with the Lord. Unlike the no-value-system claims of the Christian Particularist, the Inclusivist attributes a positive value act to individuals who are in a disposition. Rahner (1980:61-62) believes that, nonChristian religions should be considered as channels through which his grace flows due to the supernatural elements that it mediates. He maintains that, if the Christian revelation is to mean anything, then it must be on the basis that God somehow offers grace to those who have never heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dupuis (2000:143) says whatever truth and grace are already found among the nations as a sort of secret presence of God, this frees them from evil influences and restores them to Christ. Schillebeeckx (1990:87-88) says:

Through grace God has become a person for us. Creation does, however, offer us the possibility of affirming the personal character of God as a mystery, and this recognition forms the basis of the possibility of associating with God in grace if at a certain point which is not grace, our human freedom were not able to come into contact in some way with the personal God, then grace or revelation would be impossible. Rahner (1980:56-61), in his first thesis, focuses not only on Christ alone, but also brings Christianity into the spotlight and challenges Particularists to consider the danger of stating other religions as invalid. He avoids Particularisms idea of marginalising other religions and admonishes that, if Christianity considers itself superior over other religions, it must be aware of the possibility of not reaching all people. Rahner (1980:61-66) says that this is not in line with Gods saving grace. He contends that, although these other religious traditions may not possess the complete truth, however, they do possess supernatural, graced-filled elements which mediate the grace of God as they show forth the fruitful of the Spirit in the life of the non-Christian religions. He says if we belief in the salvific purpose of God toward humanity through Jesus Christ, then we must be aware of the gratuitous influences of natural grace in the lives of all men. Truth and grace Knitter (2002:75) says one of the major strengths of Inclusivism was when they did away with the 16th century restrictions that disallowed and denied people of other religious faiths the privilege of salvation. It was impossible for them to receive or obtain this salvation, because they had outside-thechurch status. Today the Catholic Church embraces all that which is true and holy in non-Christian religions, respecting the moral and doctrinal teaching as well as joining in dialogue. According to Knitter (2002:75), during the second half of the century, the Catholic Church explored the challenges and risk of dialogue with people of other religions. This was viewed as a giant leap forward for Inclusivism, as they embraced Rahners writings. Although he never explored or developed a proper understanding of these non-Christian religions, Rahner (1980:75) firmly believed in Gods universal salvific will for all people and this convinced him that there was a need for dialogue with them. Netland (1991:20-24) said from 1962 to 1964, Vatican Council II Iatched onto it and made inroads into the hearts and lives of people of other faiths. Knitter (2002:75) says, Never before had a church, in its official pronouncements, dealt so extensively with other religions; never before had it said such positive things about them; never before had it called upon all Christians to take these religions seriously and dialogue with them. According to Netland (1991:14-19) the desire for mutual understanding and enrichment through extensive contact with people of other faiths, through interreligious dialogue, was emphasised. Allowing salvation for other non-Christian religions without any reservations or restrictions, and recognising the need for dialogue with these people, Knitter (2002:100) regards this as an element of Gods grace in other non-Christian religions. Religion is a way of salvation The Particularistic point of view, discussed in the previous chapter, explained that salvation is obtainable only in the person of Jesus Christ. Rahner (1978:178-230, 318) agrees, but adds that grace is active also in other religions. By this, he says that, God is offering the gift of God self through other religious beliefs, practices, and rituals. He bases his belief on the fact that God meets us in social physical forms that are called sacraments. This has been the core of Catholic theology (Vatican II, 1980:81-82). Barnes (1989:44) states, Catholic theology has a much more developed sense of the sacramental and therefore a different conception of the way God reveals Himself. He continues by saying that the more we become aware of the church as a communion of people, marked as a social reality, the identity of other religions as social realities emerges and this would cause a problem for Christianity to deny the possibility that other religions may be ways of salvation. Being mindful of the social aspect of everyday life of religious people in which Gods grace is at work, Kng (1967:25-66) writes, As against the extraordinary way of salvation which is the Church, the world religions can be called if this is rightly understood the ordinary way of salvation for nonChristian humanity (see also Dupuis 2000:153). Dupuis (2000:153) says that: God is not only Lord of the church through the special salvation history of the church but also through the universal salvation history of humanity which is bound up with the special

salvation history in having a common origin, meaning and goal and being subjected to the same grace of God. Mans religion, being the religion of a social being, is never merely an individualist, subjectivist activity in a purely private zone, but always active in particular embodiment, i.e. a particular religion, a concrete religious community. According to Shenk (1997:43), Inclusivists want to avoid monopolizing the gospel of redemption. They acknowledge the possibility of salvation outside of Christian faith or outside the walls of the visible church, but the agent of such salvation is Christ, and the revelation in Jesus is definitive and normative for assessing that salvation. Jesus Christ is believed to be the center, and other ways are evaluated by how they relate to him. Other religions are not just a preparation for Christ, but Christ is actually present in them. Barnes (1989:50) says that the Catholic Church declared and their approach is that there is nothing unholy or impure in non-Christian religions. We, as the church, are called to be a witness for Christ, as well as to acknowledge the truths and values that are found in these other religions, and to promote their spiritual good and bring the best out of them. Therefore, Netland (1991:20) says, according to the World Council of Churches, since 1970, dialogue with people of other religions has been understood as the mission of the church. DCosta (1986:94) says that this dialogue should proceed in a spirit of open commitment, being receptive and attentive to the other, knowing that the presence of God might already be in the life of the non-Christian or his/her religion. Barnes (1989:50-51) says that all ancient prejudicial attitudes should be buried and a new spirit and vision of Gods fatherly love for all humanity, despite their religious background, should be adopted. The anonymous Christian Rahners (1980:75) third thesis states: Christianity does not simply confront the member of an extra-Christian religion as a mere non-Christian but as someone who can and must be regarded in this or that respect as an anonymous Christian. If he has experienced the grace of God if, in certain circumstances, he has already accepted this grace as the ultimate, unfathomable entelechy of his existence as opening out into infinity then he has already been given revelation in the true sense even before he has been affected by missionary preaching from without. Rahner (1980:75) says further that the person who is targeted by the missionary might be someone who is already progressing toward salvation whether through his circumstances or other, without having someone to preach the salvation of Jesus; then the possibility that he is as an anonymous Christian should be considered. There have been some controversies regarding the term anonymous Christian but, for Knitter (2002:73-74), DCosta (1986:86) and others who understand Rahners theology, this term says that Rahner only proposed this vision to his fellow Christians. They say it had no reflection on any other person from other religious traditions. For them his sole purpose for producing an idea such as anonymous Christian was to liberate Christians from their negative views of those outside the church and to enable them to realize that God is much greater than they are. Gods sovereignty allows Him to alter any situation according to his will, whether it increases the number of Christian converts or not. Dupuis (2000:144) says that Rahner based his theory on his theological anthropology which is a philosophic-theological analysis of humanity in the concrete historical condition in which it is being created by God and destined to be in union with God. Therefore, we are considered to be the event and the locus of Gods self-communication in Jesus Christ. What he was saying is that God, by his grace, created us and built his image into us in order to guide us back to Him. We did not seek God, He sought us instead. Dupuis (2000:144) says that, There is and has to be an anonymous and yet real relationship between the individual and the concrete history of salvation, including Jesus Limits of the church and for religions Knitter (2002:74) says Rahners invention of the anonymous Christian sparked some limitations for the mission of the church, which is to go and win the lost for Jesus Christ by converting them into the Christian faith. Rahner (1966:133; 1980:75-77) says that Christians can no

longer regard people of other faiths as lost and in need to be saved. Instead, our Christian missionmessage should consider itself as the historically tangible vanguard and the historically and sociologically constituted explicit expression of what the Christian hopes is present as a hidden reality even outside the visible Church. Braaten (1995:32) asks if this controversial idea could lead to a case of euthanasia cultural classes and, in this case, clashes amongst religions of the world? Who could deny one religious group the right to share the truth cross-culturally? Rahners (1980:77) response to this challenge is a technical response where he diminishes the emphasis of the churchs task to help the anonymous-Christians to become conscious of their status as Gods children who have received a divine gift of grace. Barnes (1989:55) says if non-Christians are saved in the same way as the Christians through their historical practices, then such non-Christians are already members of a tradition that is oriented toward its fulfilment in Christ such non-Christians have already received a revelation in the true sense before being affected by the missionarys preaching of the Gospel. The limitation marked for non-Christian religions stems from the fact of Rahners (1966:391) theology, namely that salvation is obtainable only by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed the centre of all, unlike John Hicks Copernican revolution that replaces Christ with God at the centre. (John Hick A.D. 1922- , an English Presbyterian minister, is the most radical and most controversial of the proponents of a contemporary model for Christian approaches to other faiths, who also created the Copernican Revolution. John Hick, who is considered to be the most influential voice of Christian Pluralism, will be studied in more detail in Chapter 4). For Rahner (1980:78-79), salvation in the end is only obtainable in and through Christ Jesus, therefore non-Christian religions serve as channels that are preparing their adherents to embrace Christianity in the fullness of time. Storms (2006:2) contribution on the topic follows the same line: The so-called fulfilment view of non-Christian religions this comes from the recognition of undeniable truth and beauty in other faiths, believes these to be incomplete anticipations of what had been definitively revealed in Christ. In other words, what was imperfectly and only partially revealed in other religions is perfectly and completely revealed in Christianity. The former are thus moving gradually to their consummate fulfilment in Christianity. Christianity does not replace, but fulfill, what is good and true in other faiths.

Summary In this paper we set out to study Karl Rahner contribution to the theological debate of nonChristian faiths. The contributions we considered: nature grace, religion as ways of salvation, anonymous Christians and limits for the church and for religions. With this contribution he laid a foundation, which the Second Vatican Council not only explored and build but with some reservation.

Abstract Being considered as one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologian, he builds on the existing Roman Catholic Church doctrine expanding the secure boundaries of the traditional Christian doctrine creating a right of admission for the non-Christian faith into the Christian debate about other religious faiths. this he did despite of his inadequate study and knowledge of these non-Christian faith. This has been one of his greatest critiques to his name, despite his revolutionary contributions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, M. 1989. Christian identity and religious pluralism: Religions in conversation. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. Braaten, C.E. & Jenson, R.W. (eds.) 1995. Either or: The Gospel or Neopaganism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. DCosta, G. 1986. Theology and religious pluralism: The challenge of the other religions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Dupius, J. 2000. Toward a Christian theology of religious pluralism. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis. Knitter, P. F. 2002. Introducing Theologies of Religions. Maryknoll, N.Y., U.S.A.: Orbis Books. Kng, H. 1967. The world religions in Gods plan of salvation. In: J. Neuner (ed.), Christian revelation and world religions, 25-66. London: Burns and Oates. Netland, H. 1991. Dissonant voices: Religious pluralism and the question of truth. Leicester: Apollos; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Rahner, K. 1966. Christianity and the non-Christian religions: In theological investigations, Baltimore: Helicon Press, pp. 115-34. Rahner, K. 1984. The importance of the non-Christian religions for salvation: In theological investigations, London: Darton, Longman & Todd. Rahner, K. 1980. Christianity and the non-Christian Religions. Christianity and other Religions. John Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite. Eds. Christianity and other religions. Oxford: One World Publications. Rahner, K. 1974. The function of the church as a critic of society. In Theological Investigations, No. 12, New York: Seabury, 229. And also Francis Sullivan, The church we believe in: One, holy, Catholic and apostolic, 123. Sanders, J. 1992. No other Name: An investigation into the destiny of the unevangelized. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Schillebeeckx, E. 1990. The church: Human story of God. New York, NY: Crossroads. Shenk, C.E. 1997. Who do you say that I am? Scottdale, PA: Herald Press. Storms, S. 2004. Religious pluralism. Nov 8, Series on Historical Theology. Enjoying God Ministries. http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/39- religious-pluralism/. Last checked June 1, 2011.