This dissertation examines the ecumenical relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion and the necessity for a symbolic cognitive and narrative conversion in both communions. Drawing upon Karl Rahner's theology of symbol, this dissertation argues that such a cognitive and narrative conversion is determined by the interpretation and appropriation of God's mystery as the origin and goal of Christian activity and belief. As such, there is a demand for a second naïveté in both communions, whereby, the methods employed by ecumenical dialogue extend beyond the logic of criticism and seek to embrace a postcritical logic of symbol. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology / PhD; / Dissertation;

Thesis advisor: Robert Imbelli / Grace sows the seeds of God's sacred word in every human life. One of theology's most important functions is to furnish people with ways of perceiving these divine intimations in their concrete lives and relationships. Orientation to transcendental mystery is the sine qua non for initiation into faith. Theology must therefore lead people more deeply into the mystery of everyday existence as a preparation for the Christian life. At the same time, theology aims at expounding Christian teaching in as clear and intelligible a manner as possible. Theology accomplishes this by adapting its modes of presenting doctrine to the needs and capabilities of its addressees. This two-fold responsibility is properly understood as theology's mystagogical task. This dissertation argues that film is a crucial reference point for mystagogy--a locus mystagogicus. Film interprets human experience in ways conceptual theology cannot. It is thus a rich source for theological reflection. Theology is also an indispensable resource for film interpretation and a natural dialogue partner since it seeks to disclose the deepest dimensions of existence. More importantly, film needs theology as the hermeneutic that formally interprets religious experience--something that many human beings only vaguely sense, often misunderstand, and can easily misrepresent. With the help of film experts, theology can turn its discerning eyes to the stories and images of film and present viewers with a unique language by which they can articulate a response to their film experience. Film thus requires theology to bear witness to its artistry when it does succeed in opening people in wonder and humility to the ever-greater God. This dissertation in Catholic systematic theology investigates the theoretical and practical conditions of possibility for film as a locus for and of mystagogy. The question that it attempts to clarify is the extent to which Karl Rahner's fundamental theology provides an apposite and needed model for the way Catholic theology relates to film. There are three basic goals: (1) to outline existing ecclesial and theological foundations for a Catholic theology of film by way of a survey of magisterial documents on cinema and the writings of individual Catholic theologians and film scholars; (2) to provide greater theological grounding for Catholic approaches to film by developing the model that film is a locus mystagogicus on the basis of Rahner's transcendental method, creative retrieval of ancient mystagogy, and theological aesthetics; and (3) to test the viability and vitality of this model by way of analysis of the film Babette's Feast. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

Originally presented as the author's thesis, Fribourg. / Bibliography: p. [416]-426.

Thesis advisor: James W. Morris / Lawrence Cunningham, a Catholic theologian, appraises the study of the saints as a neglected element in the Christian tradition, even within the Roman Catholic tradition where the veneration of the saints is one of its distinctive features, and there is an elaborate system to canonize saints. Cunningham wrote his critique in 1980, and yet its validity remains true even today. Although the study of the saints is still marginal in Christian theology, there are some notable efforts dedicated to rethinking the theology of saints. This dissertation, which corresponds to those efforts, deals with one question that emerges from today’s multi-faith context: “Is it possible for Christians to acknowledge individuals of non-Christian religious traditions as saints?” To give an affirmative answer to the question, this dissertation project proposes an inclusive theology of saints that includes non-Christian saintly figures. Assuming a confessional stance in the method of comparative theology, the primary purpose of this project is to enrich the Christian systematic theological discourse of saints and sainthood through learning from other traditions in this case Islam. Saints in Islam are called the “friends of God” (awliyā’ Allāh; sing. walī Allāh). The term is based on a Quranic verse, “Verily, the Friends of God have no fear nor sorrow” (10:62). Another textual ground for the saints in Islam is the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pl. ahādīth; sing. hadīth). One famous hadīth related to the saints states that, “When they are seen, God is remembered.” In this dissertation, I compare the notion of sainthood and saints from Christian perspectives with Islam, particularly with Ibn ῾Arabī’s concept of walāya. As a comparative theology work, I will describe first the discourse of saint and sainthood in each religious tradition, i.e., Christianity and Islam, prior to doing the actual comparison. Chapters 1 to 4 serve this endeavor. Chapter 1 and 2 explore the discourse from Catholic and Protestant perspectives. I will focus on several Catholic theologians who developed their theologies of saints during and after the Second Vatican Council, i.e., Karl Rahner, Jean-Luc Marion, and Elizabeth Johnson. Besides, I will also draw insights from two prominent Protestant theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich. Chapter 3 introduces the topic of saints and sainthood in Islam from a phenomenological, textual, and theological perspective. Ibn ῾Arabī’s concept of the walāya occupies the whole chapter 4. It is important to note that the chapter does not describe Ibn ῾Arabī’s thought exhaustively because I have already selected certain materials for the comparison. The comparison yields three theological constructs as features of an inclusive theology of saints: saints as manifestations and revealers of God’s self-communication, the hiddenness of saints, and saints as companions. Each of these theological constructs will be explored in chapters 5 to 7. These theological constructs correspond to the proposed metaphor of the community of friends of God that could enrich the current Christian symbol of the communion of saints. Last, chapter 8 functions as an excursion to underline the practical side of my proposal of an inclusive theology of saints. I will provide two contemporary cases of Muslim-Christian cross veneration of saints to connect the more theoretical aspects of this dissertation with the living reality of people. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Southern Methodist University, 1982. / Bibliography: p. [409]-416.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze views on the relationship between other religions and the Christian notion of salvation as they are presented in works by theologians Gavin D ́Costa, Kajsa Ahlstrand and Karl Rahner. To interpret their views, I use the fourfold model for theology of religions as it its presented by theologian Jakob Wirén. Because the purpose of this essay is to analyze the relation between soteriology and other religions I use the fourfold model solely to analyze the soteriological implications of their respective theology.  I have restricted my analysis to the three works Vägar – En öppen religionsdialog by Ahlstrand, The Meeting of the Religions and the Trinity by D ́Costa and Religiös Inklusivism by Rahner. These works represent different ways of framing theological content where Ahlstrands work tends to be descriptive while Rahners and D ́Costas tends to be normative in their approach to the subject.  The results of my analysis follow along the line as I conclude that Ahlstrands position within the fourfold model cannot quite be determined. However, I conclude that her views are not to be placed within the exclusivism spectrum even though her position cannot be specified further with regards to her text.  My analysis places both Rahner and D ́Costa within inclusivism but also shows that they represent to very different forms of inclusivism. Rahner sees other religions as righteous traditions where the one God may lead people to salvation earning these people the title anonymous christians. He however stretches that this implies that this people need to be made fully aware that they are in fact christians. D ́Costa on the other hand points out that the spirit acts freely outside the church where it may lead non-christians to salvation. He however stretches that the church must not try to domesticate the work of the spirit outside the church as it has no knowledge a priori on the full implications on where the activity of the spirit within other religions may lead to.  Therefore D ́Costa and Rahner are inclusivists in different ways where Rahner presents a traditional form of christian inclusivism while D ́Costa presents a modern form of inclusivism.  Keywords: Gavin D ́Costa, Kajsa Ahlstrand, Karl Rahner, theology of religions, soteriology.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:26:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis Carlos Silva de Sousa.pdf: 17519641 bytes, checksum: 0950925e65bdebf21f9afbe5334bfa74 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-30 / Faculdade Católica de Fortaleza / The aim of the thesis is to examine the notion of excessus in the Suma de Teologia (Ia, q. 84, a. 7 ad 3) by Thomas Aquinas, through Cornelius Fabro s critique of Karl Rahner. With the analysis of the notion of excessus we tackle the problem concerning the possibility knowing of God. The hypothesis we raised initially with Cornelio Fabro is that Rahner's interpretation of notion of excessus as anticipation (Vorgriff) does not preserve the transcendence of God. Karl Rahner's commitment to the anthropocentric change would distort the original meaning of excessus as an overtaking or transcendence, which comes from Dionysus, in the line of the "negative theology": the mediation of the transcendental subjectivity that would eventually immanentalize the esse of God in thought. It is not our intention to analyze, however, if Fabro s "principle of immanence" applies or not to Rahner, but only to certify that Rahner reinterprets Sto. Thomas. In fact, Fabro and Rahner part from different perspectives when they approach the text of Thomas Aquinas, the real "touchstone" of our investigation.We do not intend to examine whether Karl Rahner, in his own way (that is, with features including those that were not extracted from Thomas Aquinas text), in fact preserves the divine transcendence. From the historical point of view (which is ours), Fabro is right to stress that the notion of excessus in Thomas Aquinas comes from Dionysus, but it is wrong not to recognize the legitimate role that the negative judgement exerts on the nonquiddidative knowledge of God. We conclude with a critique of the critique of Fabro, because, in criticizing what he understands by pseudo-Thomism in Rahner, he eventually affects Thomas Aquinas himself / O objetivo da tese consiste em analisar a noção de excessus na Suma de Teologia (Ia, q. 84, a. 7 ad 3) de Tomás de Aquino, através da crítica de Cornélio Fabro a Karl Rahner. O problema de fundo se refere à possibilidade do conhecimento de Deus. Argumentamos que a noção de excessus como ultrapassamento ou transcendência em Tomás de Aquino provém de Dionísio, na linha da tradição da teologia negativa . A hipótese que levantamos, inicialmente com Cornelio Fabro, é a de que o repensamento da noção de excessus como antecipação (Vorgriff), tal como Rahner a interpreta, não preservaria a transcendência de Deus. O compromisso de Karl Rahner com a reviravolta antropocêntrica deturparia o sentido original de excessus como transcendência, porque a mediação da subjetividade transcendental acabaria por imanentizar o esse de Deus no pensar. Não é nossa intenção analisar, porém, se o princípio de imanência , proposto por Fabro, se aplica ou não a Rahner, mas apenas constatar que Rahner reinterpreta Sto. Tomás. Na verdade, Fabro e Rahner partem de perspectivas diferentes quando se aproximam do texto de Tomás de Aquino, a pedra de toque da nossa investigação. Não pretendemos examinar se Karl Rahner, a seu modo (isto é, com recursos inclusive não extraídos do texto de Tomás de Aquino), de fato preserva a transcendência divina. Do ponto de vista histórico (que é o nosso), Fabro tem razão em acentuar que a noção de excessus em Tomás de Aquino provém de Dionísio, mas está equivocado por não reconhecer o papel legítimo que o juízo negativo exerce no conhecimento não-quididativo de Deus. Concluímos com uma crítica à crítica de Fabro, porque, ao criticar o que ele entende por pseudo-tomismo em Rahner, acaba por atingir o próprio Tomás de Aquino

La présente dissertation se propose d'étudier la problématique de l'unicité et de l'universalité de Jésus-Christ dans la christologie contemporaine. Le choix de ce thème a été motivé par le fait que pendant ces dernières années la confrontation avec le pluralisme culturel et religieux a conduit la théologie chrétienne à réfléchir de manière nouvelle sur cette question. Elle porte sur le christianisme en tant qu'il a pour spécificité de rendre témoignage à un homme confessé comme le Fils unique de Dieu et le Sauveur de tous les hommes. Dans ce sens, la finalité de notre recherche est de montrer la signification et la portée de l'affirmation de Jésus-Christ comme unique Médiateur de notre salut, et ce dans le cadre de la théologie fondamentale et en particulier de la christologie. Bien que cette doctrine ait été toujours et soit encore une pierre d'achoppement pour ceux qui ne partagent pas notre foi, elle représente pour la tradition chrétienne plus qu'une croyance centrale, elle est vue comme le fondement même de la foi. Pour montrer la pertinence du sujet traité, ainsi que les chemins à suivre afin de proposer de nouvelles perspectives pour la réflexion théologique, notre point de départ est l'analyse du phénomène de la multiplication des modèles interprétatifs concernant le rapport entre le christianisme et les autres religions. Les recherches menées par Peter Schineller, Joseph Gelot, Paul Knitter, Camil Ménard et Jacques Dupuis dans ce domaine, nous ont permis de nous familiariser avec le vocabulaire utilisé dans la discussion (exclusivisme, inclusivisme, pluralisme, etc.) et de percevoir les possibles relations entre les modèles proposés. Du point de vue de notre travail, ces analyses montrent d'une part que la question christologique se trouve au cœur du débat, et d'autre part que l'enjeu de celui-ci se situe dans la manière dont les théologiens cités comme représentants de chaque modèle, chacun à partir de ses propres présupposés, traitent la question de l'unicité et de l'universalité du Christ. C'est cette double constatation qui nous a amené à choisir d'étudier la pensée de cinq théologiens contemporains: Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Edward Schillebeeckx, Karl Rahner et John Hick. La partie conclusive de la thèse expose les perspectives christologiques qui se dégagent de la recherche. Elle offre une esquisse élaborée avec la conviction que la christologie ne se limite pas à offrir un répertoire d'opinions sur le Christ, mais qu'elle est une réflexion dynamique et attentive aux défis qui lui sont adressés. Notre étude conduit, d'une part, à une prise de distance critique vis-à-vis des modèles ou catégories qui sont proposés aujourd'hui pour expliquer la pluralité d'opinions concernant l'unicité et l'universalité de Jésus-Christ. Ils ont certainement une pertinence pédagogique, ensemble ils constituent une sorte de carte géographique qui offre des points de repères dans un terrain devenu assez complexe. Néanmoins cette «nouvelle vulgate», selon l'expression de G. Comeau, qui a fortement marqué les esprits, perd de sa pertinence lorsqu'elle est considérée comme l'exposé d'une «évolution naturelle» dans le débat. D'autre part, l'examen de la théologie des auteurs permet d'identifier les présupposés christologiques qui doivent être pris en compte pour traiter la question de l'unicité et de l'universalité du Christ. Premièrement, l'universel concret, parce que la christologie est appelée à réfléchir sur les polarités dialectiques qui caractérisent le mystère: l'Absolu et le fini, l'Universel et le concret, l'humanité et la divinité; deuxièmement le christocentrisme, qui permet une révalorisation de l'histoire du salut comme horizon théologique propre de la place du Christ dans le projet de Dieu; enfin la relation entre personne et mission de Jésus-Christ, qui témoigne du tournant sotériologique opéré dans la christologie contemporaine et qui met en évidence la manière dont l'homme participe à la vie divine. Nous avons identifié aussi deux éléments qui caractérisent le Christ comme unique et universel: l'affirmation de Jésus-Christ comme Médiateur de la volonté salvifique universel de Dieu, et l'incarnation par laquelle s'exprime l'identité personnelle de Jésus.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Southern Methodist University, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [409]-416).