What to think of Karl Rahner?

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steve_b said:
:confused:
Isn’t THAT what I said?
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It isn’t what you said, but I take you at your word that it isn’t what you meant. You may be freely critical of his writings, just as I am.
I didn’t censure him, the Church did.
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While this is true, the only censure from Rome that I know of was later lifted. I can’t find any support for the EWTN comment that there was a censoring of a work of his published
posthumously. He has been declared orthodox in his theology from spokesmen of the Vatican. He co-authored a book with then Joseph Ratzinger, and also worked with him on submittals to the Vatican II Council.
 
I know this inquiry into Karl Rahner is a bit old but since he does come up quite a bit I felt it necessary to post.

Make it clear Karl Rahner was a heretic. His teachings on salvation and the Eucharist were straight out against the teaching of the Church. His suppression was lifted by liberals when they came to power ( ie: John XXIII and Paul VI ) only to promulgate an anti-tradition agenda in the Council. He was considered by farther left characters as a middle ground theologian but his theology was very much anti-Catholic. Simply just stay away from him like the plague.
 
DavidFilmer said:
For several centuries, the Church maintained the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books), which was designed to protect the faithful from immoral or heretical writings. It was never a particularly good list, and it was abolished around the time of Vatican II. So the responder’s statement is inaccurate - there are no books that are currently considered “banned” (although this has been the case in the past).

Kinda. Catholics make a promise to follow the precepts of the Church, whatever they may be. Maybe it’s abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. Maybe it’s not reading books on the Index.

The act itself is not inherently sinful, but committing the act requires a Catholic to violate his promise of obedience. Willfully breaking a promise without just cause is always sinful, even if the matter of the promise itself is not.

If I promise to wash your car on Saturday, and I willfully disregard this promise without just cause, then I have sinned. I have no moral obligation to wash you car, but I have a moral obligation to uphold my promises, so if I promise to wash your car, it becomes a moral obligation.
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Actually, although the Index was abolished, Pope Benedict, while Cardinal Ratzinger, stated that it does not change the Church’s position on the books that were on the Index up to the time the Index was abolished. The reason for his clarification resulted from a question about The Poem of the Man God. It was on the Index and when the Index was abolished many folks thought it was now okay to read that book but Cardinal Ratzinger explained that nothing had changed just because the Index did not exist anymore.
 
DavidFilmer said:
For several centuries, the Church maintained the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books), which was designed to protect the faithful from immoral or heretical writings. It was never a particularly good list, and it was abolished around the time of Vatican II. So the responder’s statement is inaccurate - there are no books that are currently considered “banned” (although this has been the case in the past).

Kinda. Catholics make a promise to follow the precepts of the Church, whatever they may be. Maybe it’s abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. Maybe it’s not reading books on the Index.

The act itself is not inherently sinful, but committing the act requires a Catholic to violate his promise of obedience. Willfully breaking a promise without just cause is always sinful, even if the matter of the promise itself is not.

If I promise to wash your car on Saturday, and I willfully disregard this promise without just cause, then I have sinned. I have no moral obligation to wash you car, but I have a moral obligation to uphold my promises, so if I promise to wash your car, it becomes a moral obligation.
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Actually, although the Index was abolished, Pope Benedict, while Cardinal Ratzinger, stated that it does not change the Church’s position on the books that were on the list up to the time the Index was abolished.
 
thistle said:
Actually, although the Index was abolished, Pope Benedict, while Cardinal Ratzinger, stated that it does not change the Church’s position on the books that were on the list up to the time the Index was abolished.
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A quick bit of research indicates “Madame Bovary,” the Larousse Dictionary, John Milton, Alexandre Dumas (father and son), and numerous others who routinely appear on Advanced Placement Catholic high school reading lists were on the Index at the time of its abolition. Seems strange. “Les Miserables” was apparently on the Index for decades, and was removed only just before the Index was abolished. Very strange.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
A quick bit of research indicates “Madame Bovary,” the Larousse Dictionary, John Milton, Alexandre Dumas (father and son), and numerous others who routinely appear on Advanced Placement Catholic high school reading lists were on the Index at the time of its abolition. Seems strange. “Les Miserables” was apparently on the Index for decades, and was removed only just before the Index was abolished. Very strange.
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Stranger still is where Fr. Rahner’s works show up on the index. I can’t find any.
 
tdgesq said:
Stranger still is where Fr. Rahner’s works show up on the index. I can’t find any.
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Maybe they were not forbidden reading. Whoever said they were banned should give us supporting evidence for such a claim.
 
I’ve found Rahner difficult reading, and I don’t resonate with his systematic starting points, but he was an extremely significant 20th century theologian who, while certainly “left of center”, was not the left-wing nut job that some would like to portray him. He certainly can’t be dismissed in one sentence as a “heretic”.
 
David_Zampino said:
I’ve found Rahner difficult reading, and I don’t resonate with his systematic starting points, but he was an extremely significant 20th century theologian who, while certainly “left of center”, was not the left-wing nut job that some would like to portray him. He certainly can’t be dismissed in one sentence as a “heretic”.
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:tiphat:

Good to see you again old friend. Hope all is well with you
 
“Something that Rahner said crosses my mind: the Jesuit is a specialist in discernment in the field of God and also in that of the Devil. There is no need to be frightened of persevering in discernment in order to discover the truth. I was really impressed when I read Rahner’s remarks.” – Pope Francis (Speeches June 2013)

“judge your neighbor justly” Lev 19:15 (NABRE)
 
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