Rahner, Karl (1904–1984)

Karl Joseph Erich Rahner was one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians and philosophers of the 20th century; his life's work was to reconcile Thomistic philosophy and theology with modern thought (Immanuel Kant, German Idealism, Martin Heidegger). Influenced by Heidegger, he stressed the importance of time: Death is always present during life, and the essence of death is completion of the human being as being in the world.

Rahner was born in Freiburg in southwest Germany on March 5,1904. He was the fourth of seven children of Luise and Karl Rahner. In 1922 Rahner entered the Society of Jesus, and he was ordained a priest in 1932. from 1934 to 1936 he was back at Freiburg, where he frequented the lectures and seminars of Heidegger and Honecker and wrote his dissertation, Spirit in the World. But neither Honecker nor Heidegger accepted Rahner's interpretation of Thomas Aquinas. For Honecker it was not the true Thomas, and for Heidegger it was too transcendental. Subsequendy, Rahner changed departments and successfully wrote a dissertation and postdoctoral thesis in theology. Afterwards he became a member of the faculty of theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, a position he held from 1937 to 1938 and again between 1948 and 1964. In 1964 Rahner transferred to the University of Muenster and in [Page 1082]to the University of Munich, spending his last years in Innsbruck. In 1976 Rahner published Foundations of Christian Faith, which summed up his theology. He died in Innsbruck in 1984.

Between 1948 and 1964, Rahner developed the main principles of his influential Christian transcendental philosophy and theology. First and foremost, Rahner analyzed the conditions that make it possible for a human being to gain knowledge and to act. His main argument is as follows: Human beings transcend themselves and their world in every act of questioning and thinking. with questioning and thinking, humans encounter the mystery of existence, which Christians believe is grounded in God. Rahner developed the idea that humans are essentially oriented toward this mystery and that authentic searching into the depth of God's mystery is a transformative journey that enables humans to acquire true knowledge and to act as free persons ultimately accepting death as the completion of their being in time and in the world. Technically speaking, God is the condition that makes every human act possible. That means that God's very existence, which surpasses everything (transcendent), is the condition that makes all human knowledge and acts of freedom possible. Rahner calls God's grace (the Holy Spirit) the “supernatural existential” of every human being; it transforms all human efforts and attracts human beings to God. In contrast to Heidegger, the human being is not dasein (being in the world understanding time and being), but daGott (being in relation to God, whereby God is the basis of their true essence). Therefore, the ultimate goal is communion with God.

[Page 1083]How can the reality of the supernatural existential be discovered? Influenced by Saint Ignatius's Christian spirituality as well as by Heidegger, Rahner developed a philosophy and theology of time. Humans understand their death to be the end of their time on earth. In a way, death is the end of their “world.” Thus humans must grasp the importance of time by reflecting on the end, even as they hope that death is not the final end. Christians believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals that death is not in vain. Transformed by this belief, they see their time on earth as God-given. Internalizing this faith-reality, Christians live “in God's time” by ordering their actions according to God's willby doing good and avoiding sin.

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