I have written about the recent death of the spiritual giant, as I described Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Küng. He died at peace in his beloved German university city of Tübingen. I have been to Tübingen a few times and always enjoy a visit to the famous university there. One of the wonderful late medieval European universities, Tübingen was founded in 1477 and became well-known for teaching theology. Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, was a formidable teacher of dogmatic theology there and invited Hans Küng to join the faculty.
In my former piece I mentioned the key role Küng played at Vatican II in the early 1960s. That ecumenical council significantly changed Catholic theology and practice. That was when the local Catholic parish moved to using English in the Mass and not Latin. In many churches the altar was brought away from the wall and, sometimes, placed right in the middle of the sanctuary. We began to see women playing a role in the worship service. In my memory the “Folk Mass” became a fitting symbol of a new---or renewing---Catholic Church.
In many ways Küng was right in the middle of this. He was a reforming theologian who never left the Catholic Church---unlike similar theologians in the 16th century who left the Church and became Protestants, i.e., Lutherans, Calvinists and Radical Reformers. Küng never left the Church, but he wanted to be in dialogue with those who left and with those from other major religious traditions, such as Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. He saw no problem with married clergy and women priests. Obviously, all this put him at odds with many in the Catholic hierarchy, including his old colleague, Pope Benedict.
I don’t want to pursue this line, but rather to share some reflections of some of his friends, some of whom are Catholic Bishops and Cardinals. Their sharing is both an appreciation of what Küng brought to the religion table and a caution about some of what he stood for and taught. If I could summarize their reflections on Küng, he was both important and sometimes in error. That makes me smile, because all public figures who take a stand doubtlessly share that same fate. Let’s look at some comments.
Cardinal Walter Kaspar, former head of the important Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and a major Catholic theologian in his own right. I have a few of his books. Suffice it to say, he was more mainline Catholic than Küng! Kaspar was a doctoral assistant to Küng at Tübingen. He describes Küng as one who “knew deep in his heart that he was Catholic and never left or wanted to leave the church, even if ‘his behavior’ was not always that of a Catholic.” Kaspar continued with these words about Küng. He was a critic, but he was more than that. “He was a person who wanted to promote renewal of the church and realize its reform.
And now comes Kaspar’s critique of Küng. “However, in my judgment, he went too far — beyond Catholic orthodoxy — and so did not remain tied to a theology based on the doctrine of the church, but 'invented' his own theology." This brings me back to a point I dealt briefly with in my earlier reflection. Küng’s theology can rightly be called “as it is.” He was a student of Christian history and Catholic theology. So, he was not firing from the intellectual hip, so to speak. But he was also committed to a living faith, which is not to suggest more orthodox Catholics were not. But if we go with a living faith, that means theology is always being written---always in process.
For some in the Catholic hierarchy, Küng’s theology---as it is---took him too far. Interestingly, Küng remained a priest in the Basel, Switzerland, diocese, even though he spent many years teaching in Germany. The Bishop of Basel, Felix Gmür quips that in spite of Küng’s criticism, “Hans Küng was a lover of the church.” Bishop Gmür continues, “He did not want to make the church superfluous and did not want it to perish. He wanted a renewed church, a church for today's people.”
I was pleased to hear from a former seminary professor of mine at Harvard Divinity School, John Elder. John remembers a visit to Harvard by Küng, when he was a keynote speaker at a colloquium on interfaith dialogue. John tells us that Küng “focused on the common elements in various religious traditions, more clearly expressed in some traditions than in others.” Elder comments that Küng saw this as evidence that “non-Christians also had a truth to speak to our world.”
Elder tells me that things went well in the question-and-answer session until some “questioner” really wanted to make a comment. That person told Küng, “All this is interesting, but my religion DOES have THE truth. Why should I be concerned about others?” In effect, Küng’s answer was love---Christian love and universal love. It makes me think: sometimes the real problem is not others; it’s me and us! All I know is I want to be with Küng. Theologically, we might be wrong, but we are committed to a living faith and love---as it is.
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