Description
Book SynopsisThis book is made up of a collection of texts unavailable in one volume until now, including six previously untranslated essays, from a major theologian of the twentieth century. Rahner's numerous writings focused on the revelation of God as mystery in the world and on the human being who has an essential openness towards the transcendent. His articles reveal an empathy and a depth of insight into the relationship between theology, faith and the arts which are remarkable and may take the reader by surprise. More recently, Rahner's contribution to the growing field of theology and the arts has been recognised by leading theologians on this subject. He asserts that theology must integrate the verbal and non-verbal arts as they are authentic means of human self-expression, of religious experience, and of God's self-communication; and therefore they are essential sources of theology. Rahner argues that theology, understood as a person's reflexive self-expression' about him- or herself in
Trade ReviewIf asked to name major twentieth century theologians who also wrote on aesthetics, mention would certainly need to be made of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jack Maritain and Paul Tillich, and perhaps also of occasional pieces by Karl Barth and Hans Küng among others. But hitherto not even the latter minimum has been available in the case of Karl Rahner, and that despite the fact that of all theologians of the period he was the most open to the activity of the Spirit in the wider world. Gesa Thiessen has at last rectified this defect in her splendid collection and translation of occasional pieces by Rahner on the subject. While most of the extracts discuss how the words of poets can operate like ‘gates into infinity,’ the other arts are not ignored. Much more than ‘mere illustration,’ they confirm how the arts, like theology, are an experience of grace, opening individuals to the transcendent. -- David Brown, University of St Andrews, UK
Premiere theologians expand the traditional boundaries of theology with an eye to the human experiences as manifested in the arts. Gesa E. Thiessen highlights these elements in Karl Rahner’s oeuvre by collecting his commentaries on the visual arts, poetry, literature, and music even unto Stravinsky and the Beatles into this superb volume. -- Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Georgetown University, USA
Gesa Thiessen has given us a wonderful gift in these remarkable but often overlooked works by Karl Rahner on the validity and importance of non-verbal modes of doing theology. Rahner’s trust in the capacity of the arts to be a means by which humans encounter and understand the divine is foundational and just as relevant to contemporary theological reflection as it was in his time. -- Robin Jensen, Notre Dame University, USA
Table of ContentsForeword Introduction: Karl Rahner, Theology and the Arts
Part 1 Prelude – Faith, Culture, Theology, and the Senses 1. Faith and Culture 2. On the Theology of Books 3. God’s Word and Human Books 4. The Theology of the Symbol 5. Seeing and Hearing
Part 2 On Literature 6. Priest and Poet 7. Poetry and the Christian 8. On the Task of the Writer in Relation to Christian Living 9. On the Greatness and the Plight of the Christian Writer
Part 3 On Visual Art and Architecture 10. Theology and the Arts 11. Art against the Horizon of Theology and Piety 12. The Theology of the Religious Meaning of Images 13. Church Building: On Modern Church Architecture
Part 4 On Music 14. Word and Music in Church 15. What Do the Beatles sing? 16. An Ordinary Song
Postlude 17. Prayer for Creative Thinkers Bibliography Index
