What do you know to be true?

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2 GRACIOUS MYSTERY,

EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER

CONTEXT: A SECULAR WORLD

Consider the insight into God that emerged in western Europein the middle of the twentieth century. Rebuilding from the devastation of two world wars, society was being shaped by pro- found changes whose origin reached back centuries before the wars to the Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. Seeds stemming from these movements had taken deep root and flowered into a culture that was recognizably modern and secular. Three salient components of this culture had a particular influence on the spiritual climate.

" Scientifically, rapid advances in discoveries about the natural world provided empirical explanations for events, leading to aprag- matic mentality rather than one oriented to supernatural causes. This knowledge also opened the door to technological inventions that provided a measure of control over nature. A rising standard of living, including new organized enjoyments, ease of travel, and comforts in everyday life, went hand in hand with the specter of mass extermination raised by nuclear weapons.

25

26 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

.; Politically, after violent bouts with fascism and communism, democ- racy became established as the preferred form of government, givingaverage persons a grearer measure of freedom and authoriry in the running of their lives.Coupled wirh rhis as a condition for democracy's success,the spread of universal educarion produced a level of literacy in the mass of averageciti- zens, both men and women, that allowed for greater critical questioning and independent judgment. New media of mass communication via radio and television vastly increased the amount of information available to the ordi- nary person. ,

.; Intellectually, a series of astute thinkers in philosophy, literature, and psychology had measured the adequacy of the idea of God against whatever benefit it might bestow on human beings, and had found it wanting. In the nineteenth century Ludwig Feuerbach judged God to be a projection, formed when human beings extrapolate their own strengths and imagine them writ large in a superior being: human beings create God in their OW~ image rather than vice versa. Karl Marx famously excoriated religion as "the opiate of the people:' providing a narcotic for life's unjust suffering with its promise of divine reward in heaven, rather than providing a basis for the struggle for justice on earth. Inhis novels Fyodor Dostoevsky protested the existence of God in the face of innocent suffering, especially that of chil- dren; his character Ivan returns his ticket of admission to the religious uni- verse,passionately rejecting any part in a setup that allowed such outrages to happen. Sigmund Freud pronounced God to be an illusion, generated to ful- fill the human wish for a strong, protective father figure to guard us amidst life's buffeting; the mature personality would grow up and take responsibil- ity without this fiction. Coming from multiple directions, the formidable challenge of atheism had enormous cultural growth in modern Europe.

More poetically, on the brink of the twentieth century Friedrich Nietzsche crafted a parable that pointed to the winds of disbelief that would blow over modern society. A madman lit a lantern at noon and went into the public market looking for God: "Where is God?" Mocked by the towns- people in an escalating series of exchanges, he finally threw the lantern to the ground. It shattered, and its light went out. "God is dead; cried the mad- man, "and we have killed him." Let the churches begin the funeral. While

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 27

everyone laughed, hepredicred thar his generarion wasnor yer ready for the news. Bur ir would reach the ears of a furure generarion. Then rhe horizon would vanish, rhere would be no more up and down, and people would ger dizzy with rhe fall inro freedom.

Byrhe mid-twentieth century inEurope the madman's news had arrived. The prominent scientific, political, and intel1ecrual fearures of modern cul- rure combined to present anew chal1engero fairh. The challenge can besr be appreciared againsr rhe foil of the premodern erawhen. in Hans Kung's deft description, Chrisrianity had been a big church in a little world. Before modern times in Europe tor the mosr parr, a relarively unified w k wi

cCbrjstianity for granted....Yes, there were others in the world. but they were peripheral to daily life, eirher enemies or those quietly explained by some rheological rheory. The majority of persons wirh their families and neigh- bors were Chrisrian bybirrh and social custom. Convicrion was nor pur ro the rest,

In odern sociery, however hrisrianiry became a lirrle church in a much bigger world. Believing Chrisrians foun r ernse ves a cognmve minoriry scattered in awider culrure thar bore rhe sramp oforher influences, borh secular and religious. Consequently, a variery of viewpoints pressed rhemselves on rhe averageperson, along wirh a wide array of values accord- ing ro which one could liveone's life.Science's abilirY!.~fu>.ginner-worldly, empirical explanarions for all phenomena made rhe world seem ulrimarely more godless, while the human abjlirYSQ..p!;UU\llI!. PI~i91J.~llymaster narure made the everyday world seem more profane. Parricipation in rhe secular pdIirical' process along with high levels of educarion removed rhe average person from rhe direcr influence ofchurch aurhority. The coruscaring wind of atheism, which ourrighrly refures the realiry of God, along with irs sib- ling, agnosricism, which maintains a srudied neurraliry on rhe issue, blew down complacency in religious belief. Ar rhe very least, rhe modern atmos- phere of skepricism made all truth claims sound relarive.

As a result, Christian faith was thrown into crisis. Thinking people questioned what it all meant, this old, rather creaky tradition of luxuriant doctrines and riruals and hierarchy and pious customs, and whether any of ir was true. Large numbers of people simply drifted away from the church

28 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

under the pressure of modern social patterns, giving rise to the phenomenon of bourgeois indifference to religion. The realities of civil life and the reality of Chrisrian faith diverged, seemingly unable to be integrated.

In this situation philosophers and theologians with an ear for people's questions and an eye for pastoral needs labored vigorously to interpret Christian belief in ways that could be newly meaningful. Truth be told, the European situation at mid-century isnow writ large around the world wher- ever modern culture takes root. But hammered by modern atheistic criti- cism and agnostic indifference, European theologians were the firs~ to contend for the soul of the modern person in secular societ)'. From a wealth of fine efforts, including the Catholic nouvelle theologie pioneered by Henri de Lubac and Jean Danielou and the Protestant reemphasis on the God of revelation spearheaded by Karl Barth, this chapter tracks the insight of the German theologian Karl Rahner, whose work began in the 1930s and con- tinued through the second half of the twentieth century until his death in 1984. Commirted to critical dialogue with the Enlightenment and its legacy,his project profoundly renewed thinking abour the living God in the face of the challenge of atheism. A close look at his line of reasoning will make clear Rahner's breakthrough idea of God, as well as its spiritual and practical import.

WINTER

A)Y.intry'season: such is Rahner's metaphor for the situation of faith in the modern world. Keeping his eyeon middle-class, educated European persons who are trying to live a Chrisrian life, he sees that this is a world that no longer easily communicates the faith. First off, a petson can no longer be a Christian out of social convention or inherited custom. To be a Christian no~requires a personal decision. the kind of decision that brings about a change of heart and sustains long-tetm commitment. Not cultural Chris- tianity but a diaspora church, scattered among unbelievers and believers of various stripes, becomes the setting for this free act of faith. Furthermore, when a person does come to engage belief in a personal way, society makes this difficult to do. For modern society is marked not only by atheism and agnosticism bur also by positivism, which restricts what we can know to data

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 29

accessible from the natural sciences;secularism, which gets on with the busi- ness at hand, impatient of ultimate questions, with awealth of humanistic values that allow a life of ethical integrity without faith; and religious plu- ralism, which demonstrates that there ismore than one path to holy and eth- icalliving. All of these call into question the veryvalidity of Christian belief.

When, nevertheless, persons do make a free act of faith, the factors characteristic of the modern world impart adistinctive stamp to their spiri- tual experience. This is not surprising, since the path to God alwayswinds

...through the historical circumstances of peoples' times and p_~~-.:es.Inhabit- ing a secular, pluralistic culture, breathing its atmosphere and conducting their daily lives according to its pragmatic tenets, Christians today have absorbed the concrete pattern ofmodernity into their verysoul. It runs right through their own heart, shaping their mind-set and psychology. AsRahner observed. "agnosticism which knows it doeso't know is the way Gqd is e"P·,i.peed coday."Certainly this isnot true of all believers. For psycholog- ical and historical reasons, some still dwell with an unperturbed God-filled heart in the frarnework of a previous eta. But as Rahnet once famously noted, not all who live at the same time are contemporaries. His concern is focused on Christians who are people of their own modern times, sur- rounded by spiritual ambiguity. When such people "come to church," they do not leave their complex inner and outer worlds at the door but bring the ambiguiries right up to the altar. Since mature spirituality requires integrat- ing the basic experiences of ones life into a wholeness before God, moder- nity forms acrucial element in the act of faith.

Thus the metaphor of winter. The luxuriant growth of devotions and secondary beliefs, all these leavesand fruits that unfurled in the season when Christianity wasdominant in the culture, havefallen away.The trees are left bare and the cold wind blows. In such a season, belief must get back to basics. It will not do to spend energy on what isperipheral and unessential, as if it were high summer. To survive, people of faith need to return to the center, to the inmost core that alone can nourish and warm the heart in win- te[.J.!! this situation there is only one big issue, and chat is the question of God.

It is asource of never-ending concern to Rahner that much ofwhat peo- ple hear in the preaching and teaching of the church draws on a primitive idea of God unworthy of belief, rather than communicating the reality, the

30 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOO

beauty, the wonder, and the strange generosity of the mystery of God. The average sermon, along with the popular piety it encourages, has a basically retarded notion of God, he judged, acknowledging neither the absolute dif- ference of God from the world nor the marvelous truth that God's own self has drawn near as the inmost dynamism and goal offered to the world. All too often sermons work with the tired ideas of modern theism, reflecting a precritical mentality that seesGod as aparticular element of the whole, even if the highest. They refer to God as someone whom we can calculate into our formula ofh;;;:; things work, thus replacing the incomprehensible God with an idol. They fashion the Holy in the image of our own concerns, our neurotic fears, our puny hearts, rather than honoring the improbable out- pouring of love bywhich God not only sets up the world in its own integrity bur, while remaining radically distinct, gives the divine self away to this world. They neglect ro inform us of the most tremendous truth, that we are called into loving immediacy with the mystery of God who self-communi- cates ro us in unspeakable nearness. After listening to such dismal sermons, can we really saythat the word "God" brightens up our lives? Unfortunately, Rahner wrote, it is more often the case that the words of the preacher fall powerlessly from the pulpit, "like birds frozen to dearh and falling from a winter sky:'

In this wintry season, church statements about God are ordinarily roo naive and too superficial to help believers, let alone convince unbelievers. In a sense the onslaught of atheism might perform a service, prodding faith to purify notions of God that, while they may be traditional, are woefully defl- cientto the point of being idolatrous. Is God dead? If we mean the God imagined as a part of the cosmos, one existence among others though infi- nitely bigger, the great individual who defines himself over against others and functions as a competitor with human beings, then yes, the God of modern theism isdead. But as Rahner appreciated, atheism sets a condition for faith that in response must reach far deeper for its truth: "the struggle against atheism is foremost and of necessity a struggle against the inade- quacy of our own theism."

Through a lifetime of writing, teaching, and preaching, Rahner set out to uncover truth about the living God that would provide warmth and sus- tenance in winter, Holding himself accountable to everyday believers, he focused particularly on those beset by doubts engendered by the precarious

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 31

existence of Christian faith in the secularized, scientific-industrial societies of modern Europe. He made rheir doubts his own and responded to them with the full force of hispenetrating grasp of rhe resources of rhe Christian rradition. His method engaged people not bypouring solutions from above inro bewildered souls but by inviting rhem to take a journey of discovery into the virrually uncharred territory of rheir own lives. Johann Baptist Metz, whom we will read in the nexr chapter, argues that rhis is rhe deepest source ofRahner's greatness as a theologian: he invites the ordinary, average person on a personal journey that ends up being a iourney ~t'~a~Jheart into god. In the end Rahners merhod of proceeding and irs resulring insights have profoundly renewed rhinking abour rhe Christian doctrine of God. Tracing our rhe logic ofhis project will disclose both its spiritual fruit- fulness and irs influence on much else that follows.

MYSTERY EVER GREATER

Starting with the Human For centuries rhe usualwayofarriving at an ideaof God was to start with the natural world and then, pondering its existence and organization, to con- clude something abour its Maker. Aquinas provides a stellar example. Not- ing that rhe world does not cause itself but iscontingent, that is, essentially unnecessary, he reasons that to explain the existence of the world there must be a cause uncaused byanother, aBeing that existsnecessarily and causesall orher causes. ''And this iswhat people call God" (Summa TheologiaeI, q.2, a.3). In the modern era philosophy shifted the starting point of reflection from the cosmos to the human being, from what seems simply exrernal to our lives to OUf internal human experience, from nature to human nature. Fascinated with whar it means to behuman, thinkers probed ultimate ques- tions rhrough rhe lens of human srruggle, human consciousness, human freedom. Convinced that this philosophical approach can provide fertile ground for explaining Christian faith, Rahner begins his approach ro the idea of God byexecuting this "turn to rhe subject," that is,by focusing on the person not as a mere object but asahuman subject with interiority, a think- ing mind, and freedom ro choose.

Of all the aspects of human life thar reveal our subjectivity, the early

32 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

Rahner opted to focuson our curiosity. His doctoral dissertation opens with the words, Man fragt, which translated means One asks, or A person asks a

•question. This isa typical human act, one that can be found at all times in all cultures. From the child's "why is the sky blue 1"to rhe young adult's "what should I do with my life?" to the mid-lifer's "do you still love me?" to the dying elder's "is there any hope?" -from asking directions when lost, to starting a business, to exploring the rain forest, to holding a press confer- ence, to checking on the latest news, to figuring out how to deal with your cancer, to wondering about the meaning of life, questions both existential and practical pour forth in an unending torrent. One asks.

Ponder what this ordinary experience reveals about human nature. A question presumes that we do not know something. In an interesting way it also implies that we already do know alittle something or it would be impos- sible to ask about it to begin with. Most tellingly, asking a question shows that we have a desire to know something. It brings to light a certain dyna- mism in the human spirit that drives us toward wanting to know something more, thereby expanding our connection with our own depths and with the wider world. In asking, we anticipate that there is a reality to be found. When an answer crysrallizes, rhe mind grasps it and judges whether it firs or does not satisfy the question that was asked. Even a perfectly good answer does not allow our mind to rest for long, because the answer nestles against a background of related things that trigger our curiosiry anew. And so the answer becomes the basis for a new question.

How long can this go on? Is there alimit to the number ofquestions we are allowed to askbefore wehave to stop? The very idea maleespeople smile. There is no set quota that, once we have reached it, would prevent us from asking further questions. Imagine how that would cramp our spirit. Itwould be lileehitting abrick wall, becoming brain dead. Instead of ameager ration of preassigned questions, however, human beings are capable of pursuing new questions as long as they live.While analyzing, weighing, judging, and defining concrete objects in the world, our reasoning power keeps on slip- ping beyond standard definitions to seek new hotizons. The number of questions we can ask is limitless.

What maleesthis basic human phenomenon possible? Byanalyzing the process of inquiry so that it leads up to this question, Rahner revealsthat he is employing the method of thinking known as transcendental philosophy .

•

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 33

Pioneered by Immanuel Kant, this phi10sQPhyexplores the human subject ~ our typical bebayjprs and asks: what is the conditiog fer ehe possibility of human beings acting this way?Invited into ascience lab, for example, where a white-coated scientist is peering intently into a microscope, a transcen- dental philosopher would not ask to have apeek to see the discovery being made. Rather, the philosopher would focus on the scientist and wonder what basic condition of human nature makes it possible for her to pursue evidence and make this discovery in the first place.

Following Rahner's train of thought, we started with the subject who asks a question. What is the condition for the possibility of this lifelong, universal behavior? It can only be that the human spitit is characterized by an unrestricted drive toward the truth, which is ultimately boundless. In every question we ask,we transcend the immediate point and teach dynam- ically for something mote. Even in the most mundane inquiry we go beyond the matter at hand toward the next thing, and the next, and ultimately toward ... what is infinite. In an unthematic and ever-present way, human beings are oriented toward boundless truth. If this were not the case, then even a person's first question would never be asked, let alone the questions of the human race as a whole, for having to halt at some regrettable limit would alter the nature of our mind. But our questions, driven by profound reaming to know. are made possible by the very structure of human nature. which isdynamically oriented toward all the reality there is to be known. As this analysis shows, human persons don't just ask questions: we are a ques- tion in search of the fullness of truth.

This same pattern can be traced again if we start not with the human mind and its desire to know but with the human will and its experience of freedom. As Anne Carr explains, for transcendental philosophy freedom is not something one has, like a motor in a car. Rather. it is the situation of being persons present to ourselves, "given over to ourselves and ultimately responsible for ourselves," able to some degree to transcend forces and objects that might predetermine who we are. Freedom is actualized over time in everyday decisions and relationships. "It includes what one is in the worlds of family, community, business, politics, work of all kinds, and who one ultimately is in acceptance or refusal of the infinite and mysterious hori- zan of one's very existence."Here, too, we experience a never-ending dynamism of desire to seekand receive that propels the spirit forward, Every

34 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

act by which aperson loves another, for example, deepens the ability to give and receive yet more love in a widening circle of relationship that defines who we are. Inevery aspect, human freedom, like reason, isa dynamism that keeps on transcending beyond everything it grasps. What is the condition for rhe possibility of freely summing oneself up in the declaration "I love you"? It is the open structure of human nature that is oriented toward a boundless fullness of love.

Once one grasps this pattern of human self-transcendence, one sees that this single basic experience ispresent in a thousand forms. Not only do we curiously question and freely love, but we desire happiness, we know loneliness, we doubt, we resist injustice, we plan projects to benefit others, we act responsibly, we remain faithful to conscience under pressure, we are amazed at beauty, we feel guilt, we rejoice, we grieve death, we hope in the future. Undergirding all these personal existential moments is an immense and driving longing. At root we experience that we are oriented to some- thing more. Let us not, for the moment, say what this more is. It is some- thing like a horizon that opens up the landscape and beckons us onward, encircling our lives though we can never reach it.

This orientation to the horizon is part of the life of every person whether they pay attention to it or not. It is not one particular experience among others, but the ultimate depths of every other distinctively personal experience, the very condition that makes them all possible. Because where would we be if there were only a limited number of questions we could ask, a set number offree decisions we could make, a restricted amount of beauty we could enjoy, or a quota on tears? We would not be recognizably human. As it is, however. we experience ourselves as beings who constantly reach out beyond ourselves toward something ineffable. This orientation iswhat con- stitutes us as spiritual subjects, orpersons, properly so called. Infact in apara- doxical way. the moment we become aware of our radical limitations. we have already overstepped these boundaries.

Inmid-century Europe an interesting debate broke out about what this might mean. Existential philosophers with a fierce commitment to atheism, thinkers such asJean Paul Sante, concluded that life is absurd. The universe with its empty heaven endlessly frustrates human questing. Since there is no ultimate fulfillment to our self-transcending, all our desires come to naught. Held for a few brief moments over the void, human beings with all our

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 35

strivings are the butt of a great cosmic joke. Religious thinkers, ro the con- trary, contended that life is meaningful because an infinite holy God who is the surrounding horizon of human questing intends to be our fulfillment. Whether it is nothing or everything that awaits, however, both sides agreed on the dynamic structure of human experience, which is oriented always ro the "more."

The Whither of Our self-transcendence Having established this point about human self-transcendence in his own way, Rahners argument now becomes explicitly theological. Note that he is not trying ro "prove" the existence of God in some objective manner. Such proofis not possible. Rather, working within the context of modern culture, he is trying to relocate the question of God. He is moving it from a question about a Supreme Being "our there" to a question abour what suppons the dynamic orientation of human nature. IfGod exists, he argues, it is no acci- dent that we find ourselves so open and so yearning. The Creator would have made us this way in order to be, as infinite Truth and holy Love. the ful- fillment of our questioning, loving, thirsty-for-Iife selves.To appreciate this. we must get away from the conventional picture that the very word "God" conjures up. which too easily leads ro inadequate misunderstanding. What would be an appropriate way to refer to this boundless plenitude that is the vis-a-vis of the human spirit? Strange as it may sound, it would be helpful to use for a time the archaic term Whither,This term refers to apoint of arrival, a.4estinatio_",as in the question "Whithergoest-tho~i" Th~ Whither of our self-transcendence is that toward which we ate journeying. the goal toward which our self-transcending minds and hearts are forever reaching. ~~

Whar must this Whither be like? Here we reach the heart of the argu- ment as we fathom something characteristic of the divine. given the tran- scending dynamism of the human spirit. The only satisfactory vis-a-vis to such a dynamic human spirit would be something itself forever unbounded, so that reaching the goal would not shut the human being down. The term of our self-transcending spirit must be itself infinite. indefinable, forever beyond our grasp. not at our disposal. To this ineffable plenitude Rahner gives the name "holy mystery."Every epoch. he observes, has different catch- words for God. specific terms that evoke the whole. In this wintry season. "holy mysrery" will do for us.

36 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

Mystery here is not meant in the spooky sense of something weird or ghostly. Nor does it have the mundane meaning ofapuzzle that hasyet to be solved, as in alirerary murder mystery.Rather, mystery here signifiesthe idea that the Holy is so radically different from the world, sowholly other, that human beings can never form an adequate idea nor arrive at total possession.

The Whither of human self-ttanscendence isand must temain incom- prehensible in depth and bteadth, forever, We will never reach the end of exploring, having figuted it all out. It is something like parallel train tracks that appear to meet at apoint in the distance, but when you get to that point the tracks haveopened up to another distant point. It is something like the horizon one seeswhen flying in an airplane; no matter how fast the jet goes, it never catches the horizon, which remains still farther beyond the window. It is something like being in love and finding your beloved endlessly inter- esting and beautiful. There isalwaysmore. Rahner describes the idea ofGod asholy mystery in poetic, geographical terms:

The horizon itself cannot be present within the horizon. The ultimate measure cannot be measured; the boundary which delimits all things cannot itself be bounded by a still more distant limit. The infinite and immense which comprises all things: such an all-embracing immensity cannot itself be encompassed.

This iswhy it is a mistake to think we can prove the existence of God the same wayweprove the existence of a new planet at any other particular object of Out experience in the world. We cannot discover God directly at indirectly aswe might find a subatomic particle in the trailings of a cloud chamber. God is not one being who appeats alongside other beings that exist, not even ifwe envision God as the greatest one, or the first, or the last. It is amistake to think of God as an element within a larger world, as a patt of the whole of reality. Holy mystety cannot be situated within out system of coordinates but escapes all categories. Hence, to think rightly of God we must give up the drive to intellectual mastery and open up to the Whithet of Outspirit's hungry orientation. "The concept 'God' isnot agrasp of God bywhich aperson masters the mystery.but it is the means bywhich one lets oneself be grasped by the mystery which isptesent yet ever distant."

Stressing the incomprehensibility ofholy mystery asRarr;-;,tdoes isnot a novelty. It tuns like a deep river through the whole Jewish and Christian

GRACIOUS MVSTERV, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 37

tradition from scripture to the wisdom of saints, mystics, and theologians across the ages. Aquinas, to whom Rahner is indebred, underscores this point with his famously blunt statement:

Since our mind is not proportionate to the divine substance, God remains beyond our intellect and so is unknown CO us. Hence the supreme knowledge which we have of God is to know that we do not know God, insofar aswe know that what God is surpasses all that we can understand.(De Potentia, q.7, a.5)

Rahner's contribution isro arrive at this insight through the dynamism of human experience, making God's incomprehensible holy mystery the very condition that makespossible the functioning ofout human spirit. The experience of transcendence carries every act ofknowledge and love beyond itself into the presence ofmystery.Whether weare consciously aware ofir or not, whether we are open to this truth or suppresses it, our whole spiritual, intellectual, and affectionate existence is oriented toward a holy mystery that is the basis of our being:

This mystery is the inexplicit and unexpressed horizon which always encircles and upholds the small area of our everyday experience ofknow- ing and acting, our knowledge of reality and our free action. It is our most fundamental and natural condition, but for that very reason it is also the mosthidden and leastregardedreality,speakingto usbyits silence.and even while appearing to be absent, revealing its presence by making us take cognisance of our own limitations.

And this iswhat people call God. Understood in this way, the Whither of our self-transcendence exer-

cises strong implications for human well-being, for such ineffable incom- prehensibility bears up and assures the human spirit's continued operation. Even ifwe were eventually to know every blessed truth there is to know in the entire universe; even if we were to have our fill of loving pressed down and running over; even if we were to experience all dimensions of life in abundance-there would still be more, the Whither, calling forth and sus- raining our spirit. When webecome aware of this and lucidly allow ourselves to be encompassed by God so understood, then our not knowing God who is boundless mystery "is not a pure negation, not simply an empty absence, but a positive characteristic of a relationship between one subject and

...,,---.-

38 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

another." Such incomprehensible mystery creates the condition for the pos- sibility of the religious relationship being at once a true home and an unend- ing adventure of exploration for yearning, seeking, weeping, laughing, knowing, loving, and hoping human beings.

Holy mystery perdures forever. In Rahner's day rhe dominant form of Roman Catholic theology was nco-scholasticism, a strongly rationalisric form of thinking centered on an idea of God that we would recognize today as theism. Neo-scholastic theology had assumed that in the beatific vision when the blessed in heaven would see God face to face, all would become clear. Inan interesting twist, Rahner does not deny fuller knowledge ro the blessed but characrerizes it as knowledge of divine plenitude precisely as mystery. Far from being a regrettable limitation of our happiness, God's abiding incomprehensibiliry even in heaven

must rather be thought of as the very substance of our vision and the very object of our blissfullove.Vision meansgraspingand beinggraspedby the mystery, and the supreme act of knowledge is not the abolition or diminution of the mystery but its final assertion, its eternal and total immediacy .... Mystery is not merely away of saying that reason has not yet completed its victory. It is the goal where reason arrives when it attains its perfection by becoming love.

The incomprehensibility of holy mystery, then, does not belong accidentally ro God like a qualification that could just as well belong to something or someone else. It characterizes the Whithet of our transcendence by defini- tion, solely and primordially and forever. Without this, God would not be God. With this, we encounter the fulfillment of our lives, .I

For some people struggling with faith amid modern culture, the idea of God as incomprehensible mystery comes as an enormous relief It liberates rhem from cramped, confined notions of theism and places their spirit into a relationship where rhey can soar. As Jeannine Hill Fletcher explains, "Incomprehensibility is not so much a sad reflection on human limitedness, bur rather the exuberant celebration of God's limitlessness.... [It] means that the human person glimpses the mystery of God not as absence, but as overabundance." This glimpse makes other people dizzy and disoriented; they experience such boundlessness as a loss of connection ro the domesti- cated, even if aurhotitarian, God of theism they were used to. Still others

GRACIOUS MYSTERY. EVER GREATER. EVER NEARER 39

become fearful because the nameless. ineffable Whither seems so distant and aloof. All need to recognize. however. that at this point in the argument the idea of God as holy mystery isonly half-finished.

MYSTERY EVER NEARER

At the heart of Christian faith is the almost unbelievable idea that the infi- nitely incomprehensible holy mystery of God does not remain forever remote but draws near in radical proximity to the world. This is accom- plished in a single act of self-bestowal that shows itself in two mutually con- ditioning elements. In doctrinal terms these are i.ncarnation and grace; in personal terms. they ate Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Together they form the self-communicating gift pulsing outward from the very depths of divine being whereby this holy mystery draws near to the world in unspeak- able nearness.

Rahner set the stage for appreciating this in a very personal way when he crafted a prayer to the incomprehensible God. Trying to take the measure of this ineffable greatness reduces him to a state of high uneasiness. The prayer begins: "Whenever I think of Your Infinity. I am racked with anxiety. wondering how You are disposed to me:' The prayer goes on to plead that God speak a word of consolation:

You must adapt Your word to my smallness, so that it can enter into this tiny dwellingof myfiniteness-the only dwellingin which I can live- without destroyingit. Ifyou should speak such an "abbreviated"word. which would not say everything but only something simple which I could grasp, then I could breathe freely again. You must make your own somehuman word.for that isthe onlykind I cancomprehend.Don't tell me everything that You are; don't tell me of Your Infinity -just say that You love me, just tell me of Your Goodness to me.

Only then will this theologian be able to get on with his lifewith a modicum of peace.

Incarnation Christian faith holds that in Jesus Christ the incomprehensible God actu- ally does speak such an abbreviated word in the language of our common

40 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

humanity: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Living a genuinely historical Jewish life in first-century Galilee, conditioned by the physical and psychological limits of our species,Jesus preached the reign of God, healed suffering people, sought out the lost, and offered hospitality to all comers. In this he expressed what God is and always is: prodigal love. Drinking the bitter dregs of violent death on a cross outside Jerusalem, he placed the infinite mystery of God in solidarity with allvulnerable creatures who end in the dust. The presence of the Source of life in the depths of death awakens hope, seen first in the resurrection of Jesus, that there will be a future for all the defeated and the dead. Here the self-communication of God ro the world in the person ofJesus Christ asa child of Earth isthe linch- pin that holds together the whole adventure of Christian faith.

Rahner placed his interpretation of the incarnation within the frame- work of God as love, thereby taking sides in an old debate. Since medieval times theology has argued over the motive for the incarnation. The Domin- icans, led by Aquinas, rook their clue from a straight reading of the opening chapters of the book of Genesis, where, after Adam and Eve ate the forbid- den fruit, God promised a redeemer who would crush the serpent's head. The coming of the Messiah is the fulfillment of this promise. Therefore, the motive of the incarnation isredemption; the Word became flesh to savethe human race from sin. The Franciscans, led by Duns Scotus, thought other- wise. Guided by the principle that love seeks union with the beloved, this school of thought held that the motive of the incarnation islove. The Word became flesh so that God who is love could enter into deep personal union with the world, the beloved. This would have happened even if human beings had not sinned. The fact that the world issinful entailed that the suf- fering and death of the cross become part of Jesus' story. But rhe primary purpose was union in love.

The strength of Rahner's view of the loving self-gift of God in Jesus Christ can be seen in his option for the Scotisr position, which had fallen under the radar of the prevailing Roman theology of the day. "The incarna- tion isfirst in the divine intention," he mused, meaning that God who islove eternally desires to communicare the divine self to the "other" who is not divine, and so creates a world to allow this to happen. In this view the nar- rative of sin and redemption is embraced by a primordial love that creates

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 41

and seeks union regardless of rhe circumstances. The Whither of our self- transcendence has endlessly sought ro be our fulfillment from the begin- ning.

Grace Anchored in history byJesus Christ, the holy mystery of God takes the ini- tiative to surround the livesof all human beings from beginning to end with redemptive love. In Christian language, this is expressed in the idea that the Spirit of God is present at the center of every life. Rahner's explanation ties this very closely to his transcendental analysis of human nature. Since our concrete acts of transcending ourselves, even when normally ignored amid the press of business, disclose that human persons are dynamically struc- tured toward the infinite, faith interprets that persons are always referred beyond themselves toward an ineffable Whither. The good news treasured" by Christian faith proclaims that this ineffable horizon graciously approaches I us and bids us approach, enfolding us in an ultimate and radical love. This love, experienced at the ground of our being, is nothing other than the gift of God's own self. Ir is offered freely to everyone without exception as light and rhe promise of life, and becomes visible in hisrory wherever love of neighbor, faithfulness to conscience, courage for resistance to evil, and any other human witness to what is "more" takes place.

It is true rhat the dynamic presence of this love in human history is often marred by sin, human beings shutting themselves off in refusal. But in spite of this wretched inward-turning and its tragic results in murder and all manner of harm, the divine offer oflove is always and everywhere present, being more powerful than the mystery of human guilt.

Such loving presence is what theology calls grace. Neo-scholastic the- ology dealt with the concept of grace primarily ascreated grace, seeing it as a finite gift that removes sin and restores our relationship with God. The stan- dard language of created grace led to the unfortunate impression that grace was akind of objective "third thing" between God and human beings, some- thing almost quantifiable that could be lost by sin and gained again by penance, and thus could be governed by individual human actions. Drawing from biblical, patristic, and medieval theology, Rahner shifted the focus to the more primordial, subjective form of grace called uncreated grace. This

42 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

refers to God's own Spirit imparted freely and immediately to all human beings. It is God's own self-communication, which permeates the world at its inmost roots. Not a separate thing or a special gift that shows up now and again, grace is rhe animating force of all of human history, present even before Jesus Christ. Coextensive but not identical with our race, it comes to expression wherever people express their love in care for others, creative art, Iirerature, technology, all the good critical dimensions of responsibility, and trust, even in darkness.

Uncreated grace is the Spirit of God dwelling at the heart of our exis- tence. Thanks to this gift, Rahner argues, the transcending reach of the human person in knowing and loving is actually oriented to the immediacy of God. One can accept or refuse this offer of closeness, bur the offer is not thereby revoked. The language of grace, then, does not signify a lovely gift distinct from God. Rather, in what Rahner characterizes as the most tremendous statement that can be made about God, "the Giver himself is the Gift."

Through incarnation and grace, therefore, the silent, indefinable, and inviolable Whither of human self-transcendence, God the absolute holy mystery, offers to every person the gift of personal, saving presence:

We can therefore affirm at once with certainty that the two mysteries of incarnation and grace are Simply the radical form of the mystery which we have shown to be the primordial one: God as the holy and abiding mystery for the creature, and not in the guise of distant aloofness but in that of radicalproximity.

Jesus and the Spirit articulate the one single mystery drawing intimately near to the world in loving self-communication. Herein lies the specific character of the Christian concept of God. Rather than being the most distant being, transcendent holy mystery is engaged in all the realities of the world around us, being concerned especially with the desperate and the damned.

HOLY MYSTERY

In the nco-scholastic theology dominant at mid-twentieth century, "mys- tery" stood for matters that ordinary reason found difficult to understand. As used in preaching and teaching, it was thought to have three characteris-

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 43

tics. It is plural, for there ate many mysteries. It is propositional, fat these mysteries reside in verbal statements of doctrine or creed, such as that there ate three persons in one God. And it isprovisional, lasting fat this lifetime only; after death all will be made dear, as when a theater curtain tises to revealscenery and actors on astage. Can't understand aChristian teaching? It isa mystety. But allwill be revealed in the world to come.

Rahner finds this an astonishingly limited notion of mystery. Tran- scendental analysis of the human subject allows the term ro be rehabilitated to serve as the central idea of God in the wintry season ofmoderniry. Rather than a plurality, there is only one mystery in Christian faith. Rather than being propositional, it does not reside in doctrinal statements but in the reality of God's own being as self-giving love. And rather than being provi- sional, it isnot temporary but endures for alleternity. This one holy mystery is the ineffable God who while remaining eternally a plenjmde infinite,. lr incomprehensible, inexpressible-wishes to self-communicate to the world, .~ and does so in the historically tangible person of Jesus Christ and in the graceof the Spirit so asro become the blessedness of ever erson and of the universe itse . - Note the twin ingredients in this idea of God that Rahnet thinks can nourish and warm the spirit inwinter. First, the idea of transcendence, God's fathomless otherness, is taken as absolute and articulated as mystery always evergreater. Second, and ofequal weight, the idea of immanence, God's inti- mate and faithful nearness, is also taken absolutely and articulated as mys- tery always ever neater. In one fell swoop, this insight moves beyond the conventional view delineated in modern theism, which for all its good intentions does justice to neither divine otherness nor divine nearness. In the same fell swoop, this notion of holy mystery alsomovesbeyond the nar- row notion of God as the deity of the Christian tribe alone byaffirming the universality of God's gracious presence ro each and every human being. Christian faith, of course, has alwaysheld that what God has done in Jesus has benefitted the whole human race and that the Spirit of God dwells among all people. This had been covered over in practice, however, byalong history of polemic against nonbelievers coupled with theit social marginal- ization. The modern world's contact with multiple cultures in addition to its own internal pluralism maleesthis exdusivist viewof God's salvific putpose, meant only for certain right.rhinking and observant people, increasingly

44 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOO

untenable. It is not the case that divine nearness ischeckered, close to some, far from ochers. Rather, wirh loving generosity holy mystery graciously offers the gift of divine life to everyone, everywhere, and at all times. A per- son may reject this offer, human freedom being held in respect by the Cre- ator of freedom. Nevertheless, all are included in God's universal savingwill and offer of redeeming grace.

Let God be God!-that is, the incomprehensible holy mystery full of surprising love.

Throughout a lifetime of writing that numbers over three thousand entries, Rahner worked with modernity's challenge to layout this core of belief for a wintry season. In the end, he insists, all Christian doctrine really saysonly one thing, something quite simple and radical: the living mystery of absolute fullness, who is nameless and beyond imagination, has drawn near to us amid the tangle of our lives through Jesus and the gift of grace, even when we do not realize it, in order to be our salvation, splendor, and support over the abyss. Consequently, while the ourcome of our own life and that of the world is not yet known, we can have confidence that it is an adventure held safe in God's mercy. Faith then becomes an act of coura.ge. We can dare to hope.

LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOR

This glimpse into the mystery of God ever greater, ever nearer, logically flows into apath of discipleship comprised of love of God and love of neigh- bor, or in Rahner's terms, mysticism and responsibility, which are insepara- ble. The mysticism envisioned here is not an esoteric spirituality. Rather, it is a basic way to God in our time when faith is stripped down to its bare essentials. Because faith isno longer supported by the manifest religious cus- toms and general commirment of society, Rahner is adamant that "the devour Christian of the future will either be a 'mystic: one who has 'experi- enced' something, or he [she] will cease to be anything at all."

What is to be experienced? Nothing less than God, under the rubric of the specific Christian way of apprehending God, namely, as infinite holy mystery who draws near in self-bestowal through incarnation and grace. Christianity at heart proclaims a simple message: we are called into the

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 45

immediacy of God's own self. If we accept the silent immensity that sur- rounds us as something infinitely distant and yet ineffably near; if we receive it as a sheltering nearness and tender love that does not make any reserva- tions; and if in this embrace we have the courage to accept our own life in all its concreteness and yearning, which is possible only by grace, then we have the mystical experience of faith. Accepting our life means letting ourselves fall into this unfathomable mystery at the heart of our existence in an act of loving self-surrender. Such an act does not make everything clear; God does not spare us bewilderment. And our turning toward God is always under threat from sin. But God is present where life is lived bravely, eagerly, responsibly, even without any explicit reference to religion.

The point is this: people who courageously accept themselves, who accept their own life with all its quirks and beauty and agony, in point of fact accept holy mystery, who abides within them addressing them as self-offer- ing love. This entails no loss of individuality but rather a growth in person- hood that is liberated and fortified. For far from being a rival to human authenticity, holy mystery positively wills the world and ourselves in our finite worldliness. Rahner captures the noncompetirive nature of this rela- rionship in his famous axiom. "nearness to God and genuine human auton- omy increase in direct and not inverse proportion."

Jesus Christ is at the center of this form of mysticism. In Jesus, crucified and risen, the self-promise of God to the world has won through to victory. As a definitive event with its roots in history, this victory can no longer dis- appear. It is eschatological, irrevocable, assuring us that the incomprehensi- ble mystery will bring us, too, to a blessed end in God's presence forever. Those who heat this word and bear witness to this truth in history form the community of believers. In this theology, the church is not primarily an institution for the promotion of individual piety and moral living. First and last the church is the sacramental presence of the promise of God to the world, a community that despite its sinfulness signals to the whole world that God's self-gift is continuously offered to all.

The bounden duty to take responsibility for rhe world is integral to the pracrice of this mysticism. In truth, the basic relationship to the living God of our life can be expressed and given credible form only in an unconditional love of our neighbor. Self-centered as we are, love of others can become cor- rupted into an expression of hidden egotism. Surrendering to the incom-

46 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOO

prehensible mystery ar the core of our life, however, allows the liberating gtace of God to be at work. This is the case even if we do not explicitly acknowledge it, as the parable of the sheep and goats makes clear: "1 was hungry and you gave me to eat ... whatever you did JOr one of these least broth- ers or sisters ofmine, you did JOr me" (Matt 25:35,40).

Rahner observes that the tendency today to talk not so much abour God but abour one's neigh bot, to preach more about love of one's neighbor and to avoid the term God in favor of the world and responsibility for the world-this tendency has a solid foundation. Not that we should go to the extreme of banishing God-talk, which would be false to faith. But since both transcendental anthropology and Christian revelation show holy mystery to be profoundly present and committed to the world and every person in it, then loving God means loving the world In this theology, an a-cosmic, unworldly relationship to God is not possible. Encompassed by incompre- hensible holy mystery, we allow our hearts to be conformed to God's own heart, which pours our loving-kindness on the world in unrepentant faith- fulness.

In our day, an older Rahner noted, love of neighbor needs to take a form rhat goes beyond the realm of private, individual relationships. Given our knowledge of how systems affect the individual, love today must be expressed also in Christian responsibility for the social sphere. Acting in this way is more than a humanitarian undertaking, noble as that would be. In a rime of growing solidarity on a global scale,work for justice isstimulared by the Spirit ofJesus, for whom the neighbors' good has an incomprehensible value, commensurate with the love of God poured out upon them.

It may be winter when luxurious foliage no longer clothes the trees of piety. But the bare branches enable us to see deeper into the woods. There we glimpse the gracious mystery of God, whom we cannot manipulate either conceptually or practically, but who abides as the vety Whither of our questing being. The question facing us, Rahner urges, is which do we love better: the little island of our own certitude or the ocean of incomprehensi- ble mysrery? The challenge facing us iswhether we will suffocate in the tiny hur of our own shrewdness, or advance through the door of our knowing and acting into rhe uncharted, unending adventure of exploration into God, whose silent immensity we can trust absolutely and laye through PCg for this world.

GRACIOUS MYSTERY, EVER GREATER, EVER NEARER 47

As the theology discussed in this chapter has shown, human under- standing of God never exhausts the richness of the incomprehensible holy mystery. Consequently, Rahner reasons, this "actually postulates thereby a history of our own concept of God that can never be concluded." Histori- callynew attempts at envisioning and articulating this mystery should be expected and even welcomed. The following chapters distill highlights of yet further attempts to speak about God resulting from the seeking-and- finding dynamism of the living Christian tradition in our day. The rules of engagement governing religious language are in play on every continent as new voices contribute to the whole church's understanding of the holy mys- teryat the heart of faith.

FOR FURTHER READING

The most readable explanation of atheism from a Christian point of view along with a point for point refutation is Hans Kung, Does God Exist? An Answer for Today (Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, 1980). Walter Kasper pro- poses the Trinity as the antidote for atheism in the section entitled "The Denial of God in Modern Atheism," in his The God ofJesus Christ (New York: Crossroad, 1984), pp. 16-46. A selection of primary texts of major atheistic thinkers is presented in Julia Mitchell Corbett, ed., Through a Glass Darkly: Readings on the Concept of God (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989). On the problems that atheism poses for faith in general, seeJ. J. c. Smart, Atheism and Theism (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003). The work ofjulian Baggini, Atheism: A VeryShort Introduction (New York: Oxford Universiry Press, 2003) gives a positive reading of atheism and shows its attraction for many thoughtful people.

Twenty-three volumes of Theological Investigations carry a myriad of Rahner's essays.Especially pertinent to the subject of this chapter are: "The Concept of Mystery in Catholic Theology;' vol. 4, pp. 36-73 (one of Rah- ners most significant essays showing that all Catholic doctrines reflect aspects of the one incomprehensible mystery of God); "Thoughts on the Possibility of Belief Today; vol. 5,pp. 3-22 (a rich and deeply felt introduc- tion to the wintry situation of faith); "Being Open to God as Always Ever Greater;' vol. 7, pp. 25-46 (a devotional reflection on human dynamism

48 QUEST FOR THE LIVING GOD

toward God as rhe horizon of all our activity); "Theology and Anthropol- ogy,"vol. 9, pp. 28-45 (a key essay that illuminates transcendental method); and "The Church and Atheism:' vol. 21, pp. 137-50.

For a rechnical treatment of transcendental analysis of rhe human per- son in a world of sin and grace, see Rahner's Foundations of Christian Faith, trans. William Dych (New York: Seabury, 1978), chaprers 1-4. This same book goes on to join God's incomprehensibility with incarnation and grace in a clarifying way.

A collection of Rahner's prayers that express his theology of God appears in Prayersfor a Lifttime, ed. Albert Raffelt (New York: Crossroad, 1984); the prayer cited is from "God of My Lord Jesus Christ:' pp. 38-39. Valuable and accessible insights into spirituality appear in Rahner's Encoun- ters with Silence (South Bend, Ind.: St. Augusrine's Press, 1999): and The Great Church Year: The Best ofKarl Rahner's Homilies, Sermons, andMedi- tations, ed. Albert Raffelr and Harvey Egan (New York: Crossroad, 2001).

For informative discussion of Rahners method and insights, consult Mary Hines and Declan Marmion, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); and Leo O'Donovan, ed., A World of Grace (New York: Seabury, 1980), especially Anne Carr, "Startingwirh the Human:' pp. 17-30.