Metaphysics of Mystery: Revisiting the Question of Universality through Rahner and Schillebeeckx

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How can we theologically reflect on universality in a world that increasingly focuses on particularities and differences? Marijn de Jong argues that the question of universality calls for a reconceptualised form of metaphysical theology, which he finds in the work of Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx. Casting a new light on these theologians, De Jong demonstrates that their methods contain a dialectical interrelation of hermeneutics and metaphysics. An interrelation which seemingly has been lost in more recent hermeneutical theology, Rahner and Schillebeeckx carefully balance particularity and universality without falling prey to relativist or absolutist ways of reasoning. By analyzing fundamental themes such as experience and interpretation, nature and grace, faith and reason, and intelligibility and mystery, De Jong reveals the modest theological metaphysics that lies at the heart of their methods. This critical retrieval demonstrates the enduring relevance of these thinkers and opens up new avenues of thought for theologians that do not want to shy away from the difficult question of the universality of God. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: Metaphysical and hermeneutical theology: Retrieving a dialectical interrelation 1 Introduction 2 Theology and the challenges of postmodernity 2.1 Sceptical theological responses to postmodernity 2.2 An alternative response: Hermeneutical theology 3 Francis Schüssler Fiorenza’s hermeneutical turn 3.1 From augmentation to critique 3.2 Complementary dialectic 3.3 The crisis of hermeneutical theology 3.4 A reappraisal of transcendental theology 4 David Tracy’s hermeneutical turn 4.1 Defending metaphysics 4.2 Taking the hermeneutical turn 4.3 The full force of postmodernity 5 The rediscovery of universality 5.1 The lessons of Fiorenza and Tracy 5.2 A renaissance of universalism 6 Going forward by stepping back Part I Chapter 2: An eclectic theologian: The sources of Rahner’s method 1 Introduction 2 Aggiornamento: Reading Thomas through modern philosophy 3 Immanuel Kant: The destroyer of metaphysics 4 Joseph Maréchal: A dynamic theological metaphysics 5 Martin Heidegger: Rahner’s only teacher 6 Conclusion Chapter 3: Oscillating between heaven and earth: Human questioning as locus theologicus 1 Introduction 2 The phenomenon of human questioning 2.1 Questionability and questionableness 2.2 Materialist metaphysics of knowledge 2.3 Subjectivist suspicions 3 Incarnational epistemology 3.1 Being with otherness 3.2 Transcending otherness 4 The Vorgriff of Being 4.1 The scope of the Vorgriff 4.2 Anticipating God 5 The finite spirit: Oscillating between world and God 5.1 Decentred subjectivity 5.2 Modest categorical metaphysics 5.3 Natural theology and the hiddenness of God 6 Conclusion Chapter 4: Hidden hermeneutics: The history of transcendentality 1 Introduction 2 The threefold charge of forgetfulness 2.1 Forgetful of history and suffering 2.2 Forgetful of language and inter-subjectivity 2.3 Forgetful of culture and community 2.4 Correcting the Korrektivtheologie 3 The dialectics of revelation 3.1 Standing before mystery 3.2 From spirit in the world to spirit in history 4 The dialectics of experience 4.1 The transcendental dimension of experience 4.2 The categorical dimension of experience 4.3 Mediated immediacy 5 The dialectics of love 5.1 Loving an other is realizing oneself 5.2 Love of neighbour and love of God 6 The dialectics of mystery 6.1 The dark gate to knowledge 6.2 Theological speech and silence 7 Conclusion Chapter 5: The theological a priori: Transforming the transcendental method 1 Introduction 2 The incarnational shape of transcendental theology 3 The supernatural existential 3.1 Navigating between extrinsicism and immanentism 3.2 The ubiquity of grace 4 The contaminating effects of the supernatural existential 4.1 Naturalizing the supernatural 4.2 Supernaturalizing the natural 4.3 Questioning purist concerns 5 Philosophy within theology 5.1 Ancilla or domina 5.2 From purity to porosity 6 Rethinking transcendentality 6.1 Pluralism and gnoseological concupiscence 6.2 Towards a modest transcendental theology 6.3 A theological ‘correction’ of transcendental philosophy 7 Conclusion Part II Chapter 6: Dialogical theology: The sources of Schillebeeckx’s method 1 Introduction 2 Phenomenological-ontological roots: Dominicus De Petter 3 Understanding the past in the present 3.1 Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics of history 3.2 Paul Ricoeur’s long route 4 The future as horizon of understanding 4.1 Theodor Adorno’s critical negativity 4.2 Jürgen Habermas’s reconfiguration of theory and praxis 5 Conclusion Chapter 7: Speculating about salvation history: The metaphysics and hermeneutics of experience 1 Introduction 2 Theology: Positive or speculative? 3 Perspectival epistemology and relational ontology 3.1 Subjective or objective dynamism: Maréchal versus De Petter 3.2 Creation, the foundation of all theology 4 Preambula Fidei: Transcendental or theological? 4.1 The transcendental horizon 4.2 The theologal horizon 4.3 The theological key to transcendental anthropology 5 A critical-hermeneutical turn 5.1 The clear break with De Petter 5.2 The dialectics of experience 5.3 The dialectics of revelation 6 Conclusion Chapter 8: A hermeneutics of living tradition: Faithful creativity and self-giving mystery 1 Introduction 2 Revelation: Past and present 2.1 Historicity and truth 2.2 The mystery which gives us to think 3 Reconceptualizing correlation theology 3.1 The medium co-constitutes the message 3.2 Continuity in discontinuities: The criterion of proportional identity 4 Evaluating the correlation of correlations 4.1 Criticizing continuity: Lieven Boeve and Erik Borgman 4.2 Revisiting continuity: Theological creativity as response 5 Conclusion Chapter 9: The heuristics of grace: Natural theology and contrast experience 1 Introduction 2 Renewing natural theology 3 Experience-oriented natural theology 3.1 The critical cognitivity of recalcitrant reality 3.2 The contrast experience 4 Interpreting contrast experience 4.1 Eschatological hope and creation faith 4.2 Mediated immediacy: The nearness of mystery 5 Grace perfecting nature 5.1 The hermeneutics and metaphysics of contrast experience 5.2 The contrast experience as heuristics of grace 5.3 One reality in two languages 5.4 Anonymous Christians: A real possibility? 6 Conclusion Conclusion The theological character of fundamental theology The incarnational shape of hermeneutical experience The self-critical force of a metaphysics of mystery Bibliography Note on the use of sources Works by Karl Rahner Works by Edward Schillebeeckx Secondary Literature Index