Disputed Truth: Memoirs Volume 2

Memoirs

by Hans Küng, John Bowden (Translator)

Hans Küng has been a major influence on post-war Christianity by any reckoning. a peritus for the second Vatican council, he then went on to publish a number of controversial books, including Infallible?, which enraged the Vatican and caused him to lose the ecclesiastical approval of his teaching at the university of Tübingen. However, he remains a respected priest in good standing with his bishop. Throughout all the upheavals that the Catholic Church has undergone in recent decades, Küng has been an outspoken observer, turning himself from enfant terrible to béte noire . However his world influence has been great. Whether speaking at the United Nations or consorting with politicians and religious leaders, he is always listened to with respect and enthusiasm. A string of recent books has added to the reputation—notably On Being a Christian and Does God Exist ? What is not so well known is that, as a young man, Küng was a close friend and confidant of Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI). Over the years, however, they increasingly came to represent exactly what the other most despised. But on being appointed to the Holy See, Ratzinger had a long private meeting with Kung, the consequences of which may resonate within the Catholic Church for many years. In these thrilling memoirs Küng gives his personal account of all these struggles and ambitions. The result is a book of major importance for any student of the church in the 20th century. This second volume covers the period following the close of the Second Vatican Council right up to the present day.

576 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2008

About the author

Hans Küng was a Swiss Catholic priest, controversial theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he had been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos). Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing," but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology. Though he had to leave the Catholic faculty, he remained at the University of Tübingen as a professor of Ecumenical Theology and served as Emeritus Professor since 1996. In spite of not being allowed to teach Catholic theology, neither his bishop nor the Holy See had revoked his priestly faculties.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SECOND VOLUME OF THE CONTROVERSIAL THEOLOGIAN'S MEMOIRS

Hans Küng (born 1928) is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author, who was famously censured by the Vatican in 1979 (see 'Kung in Conflict'], ' The New Inquisition?', 'The Kung Dialogue') and declared no longer authorized to teach "Catholic theology," though he remains a priest in good standing.

He wrote in the Prologue to this 2007 book, “There is no doubt that the papal election in 2005 has considerably increased the importance of these memoirs, and also my responsibility as an author. Almost all my great comrades-in-arms in the fight for the renewal of theology and the church since the time of the [Second Vatican] Council are dead or inactive, with one exception, and he has become pope. Joseph Ratzinger is Benedict XVI… unlike Joseph Ratzinger, in the 1960s I decided not to commit myself to the hierarchical Roman system… had I done so, I would in fact have restricted myself to the church world. Rather, as a Catholic Christian and theologian… I wanted to put myself at the service of men and women inside and outside the Catholic Church and… I embarked on a life of expanding concentric circles: the unity of the churches, peace among the religions, the community of nations.” (Pg. 1-2)

He continues, “Freedom and truth are and remain two core values of my spiritual and intellectual existence. In my great clash with Rome I have always defended myself against being one-sidedly assigned the role of freedom, with my opponents assigned the role of truth. However, by comparison with my first four decades, in the second half of my life the emphasis has increasingly shifted from ‘My Struggle for Freedom’ to ‘Disputed Truth.’ I am convinced that the truth must be proclaimed, defended and lived out in truthfulness… gratitude remains the basic mood in which I go on to present the second part of the account of my life.” (Pg. 3)

He asks, “Who knows how things would have gone on with Joseph Ratzinger had he not left Tübingen after three successful years? So far our careers have developed largely in parallel as the careers of two theologians who for all their similarities are very different … also in psychological make-up… Despite … the differences, they respect and as a matter of course recognize each other as Catholic theologians… So our careers will increasingly diverge in the future, but cross again on important occasions.” (Pg. 15)

He recalls how in 1967 “I was accosted… by a Swiss Jewish woman… [who asked]: ‘You’re a Christian theologian… Why is [Jesus] so tremendously important for you?’ … To begin here simply with the traditional answer that he was not only a human being but… the second person of the Trinity, would certainly have brought the conversation to an abrupt end… I developed for her an impromptu narrative … about how his Jewish disciples had seen and experienced this Jesus… and how the first Christians had been convinced that this Jesus had risen from the dead.” (Pg. 34-35)

In 1968, “both ecclesiastically and politically I regard myself as a representative of the rational center, albeit with an emphasis on renewal and reform… I support the social-critical concern of the ‘political theology’ of Johann Baptist Metz against a privatized Christian faith, but at the same time I argue more strongly than Metz does that the criticism should also be applied to the church, for example in the doctrine of infallibility and the question of celibacy… In practice that means that I am for a thorough reform of the church, the urgent need for understanding between the Christian churches … but not a violent or even non-violent revolutionary overthrown.” (Pg. 79) He adds, “To put it plainly: the Catholic people were ready for renewal, but the episcopate orientated on Rome had put a stop to it. The effects of this conservative system only become evident with time, above all in the pedophile scandals… which bankrupts several dioceses.” (Pg. 89)

He observes, “How differently Ratzinger and I dealt with Holy Scripture … is finally confirmed by his 2007 Jesus book ['Jesus of Nazareth'], which builds on his earlier studies. Whereas in exegetical questions I always seek the consensus of professional exegetes and am generally restrained in disputed questions, in his lectures as a systematic theologian Joseph Ratzinger dares to interpret individual biblical passages in a very independent way---and uses the findings of professional exegetes selectively and arbitrarily. Certainly he affirms the historical-critical method in principle, but he is more than hesitant in applying it.” (Pg. 129)

Of the controversy following the 1970 publication of his ‘Infallible: An Unresolved Inquiry,’ he recalls, “respected theologians … have invited me to a top-level symposium … I am delighted that all the contributions are objective and informative, and the discussion is faith and friendly. This is the way to reach agreement. But one person stands apart and amazes everyone, Karl Rahner… [He] addresses me quite directly… ‘Herr Küng… I feel that your book is a deadly threat to my Catholic faith!’ … None of the other professors feels that his Catholic faith is under ‘deadly threat,’ although of course all present their critical questions, along with endorsements… So I go home with the feeling that I have withstood the first fiery trial over the question of infallibility well. Yet Rahner’s direct attack on my Catholic orthodoxy doesn’t bode well for the future.” (Pg. 154-155) Later, he wonders, “perhaps we who have committed ourselves to fundamental reforms in the Catholic Church have lost the battle for power in the church. But does that mean we have also lost the battle over the truth? By no means!” (Pg. 239)

Of the controversy over his book ‘On Being a Christian,’ he records, “not a single bishop with whom I have to do, directly or indirectly, is interested in a real theological discussion of controversial questions, in real solutions to problems. They imagine that by virtue of their office they are in possession of the truth, so they don’t recognize the legitimacy of the questions. They won’t see that there are problems which call for new solutions, new formulations. For them the only truth is the unqualified confession of the traditional formulae repeated word for word, not critical investigation, reinterpretation and implementation in accordance with the results of modern scholarship. They don’t expect thought but obedience---in accordance with the truth that they possess.” (Pg. 346)

He explains, “If I am concerned always to write in a lively style, it isn’t in order to shine but in order to have an effect. It isn’t the style but the subject-matter that should shine. I don’t write without art but without artifice; as a writer I don’t want to be admired but understood. My concern isn’t with literary effect but with the message that I have to present.” (Pg. 383)

He notes that in November 1979 “Ratzinger suddenly expresses himself in a completely different way… Ratzinger said: ‘The reality is that Küng, with whom I have always got on personally very well, quite simply no longer represents the faith of the Catholic Church… and so cannot speak in its name.’ I am completely perplexed: how can my former Tübingen colleague suddenly dismiss me in public as un-Catholic?” (Pg. 437)

He says of infallibility, “Basically, all Catholics are to accept that Vatican I was right because it said it was right… So too the proceedings against a theologian are just because no proceedings of the magisterium can be unjust… the argument always goes in a vicious circle and presupposes what needs to be proved. With good reason the churches of the Reformation and the Orthodox churches of the East have rejected this doctrine of infallibility from the start. No wonder that that longer this dispute goes on and the episcopal pseudo-arguments are repeated, the fewer are the Catholics who believe in this truth of the faith.” (Pg. 479)

Ultimately, in February 1980, “When I enter the Rector’s room the President tells me… that he has sad information to give me. The next morning an extended statement from seven of my colleagues in the faculty will appear in the [newspapers]… they will argue that I should be excluded from the faculty of Catholic Theology. This is a betrayal which shakes me deeply. All seven were once called to the faculty with my vote. Unfortunately they now form a majority in the twelve-member faculty… Why might I not have expected that these seven colleagues would also stand at my side in the hour of need?... evidently the pressure from the church hierarchy… has become so strong that they have resolved on this fatal step. How far personal resentment, above all envy, played a part in the case of individual members can only be guessed…” (Pg. 490)

But ultimately, “The outcome of this conflict freed me of a great deal of baggage… since I no longer needed to give perhaps boring series of lectures on dogmatics … quite other intellectual adventures became possible… So I was as delighted as a professor can be with academic freedom. I could even spend every fourth semester in America and get to know the whole world, its cultures and religions better.” (Pg. 514-515)

He concludes, “Today a Christian theologian has to find the way between a relativism of truth for which there is no abiding truth and an absolutism of truth which identifies itself and its position with the truth.” (Pg. 522) He goes on, “I will continue to resist for the sake of the truth, to prize freedom, advance my research and fight: for a church which doesn’t regard itself as infallible… which despite all possible errors bears witness to the truth of the gospel, open to the honest debate of disputed questions and well prepared to enter into truthful dialogue with the various religions, philosophers and cultures… So I hope, God willing, to be allowed to live a little longer and to be able to give an account of the third part of my life, which has broadened out in a totally unexpected way…” (Pg. 524)

This book will be “must reading” for anyone interested in Küng, or contemporary [Catholic and ecumenical] theology.

[Harry Allagree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume of Küng's memoirs has helped me understand some of the dynamics at work during the time I was going through the laicization process from the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1968-69. In fact, my process involved correspondence with the same cardinal of the Congregation for Faith & Doctrine (Küng calls it by it rightful name "Inquisition"!), Cardinal Franjo Seper, with whom Küng dealt. I, too, learned that Curia rarely answers you directly, and that "delays" happen, such as my rescript which reached me 1 1/2 months after it was granted by Paul VI.

The book confirms, for anyone who's open-minded, how courageous, loyal & committed a Catholic priest Küng was through his whole career & still is. I found myself wondering how it was possible for a man like him to be as betrayed, maligned, devalued, as a person & as a truthful & devoted theologian, by the Vatican, the Popes (Paul VI/John Paul II/Benedict XVI), the German & Swiss bishops, and theologians, some of whom had been Küng's students, colleagues & friends. Though he suffered much in the process, in the end he is still standing, still producing good work as a Catholic theologian, and, remarkably, still a member of the Catholic Church. I think he's quite unique, and I doubt that we'll see someone of his stature in theology for a long time to come. One shudders to imagine, given his story, how much worse the Church (and world) would have been without him!

[John Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Hans Küng's memoirs, Disputed Truth, is once again, full of insight. It's a shame (and somewhat inexplicable) that Piper Verlag have yet to translate the third and final volume, Experienced Humanity, into English.

[Anavie]

Not rated.

[Marcfavreau · Rating 1 out of 5]

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