Eternal Life? Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical & Theological Problem

by Hans Küng

English (translation)Original German

Genres: Theology, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

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 Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing," but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology.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

[Jim Mcnulty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is actually a collection of a series of lectures delivered by Hans Kung. As you would expect, the material is presented in a very well organized and lucid manner. The author leads the reader on a well reasoned look at many of the cultural, religious, philosophical, theological and scientific views of life here and hereafter. I found the book to be very interesting and thought provoking.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ENDING OF KUNG'S "TRILOGY" OF POPULAR, POST-CENSURE WORKS

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 Case of Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Kung,' 'The Kung Dialogue: Facts and Documents') and declared no longer authorized to teach "Catholic theology," though he remains a priest in good standing. He has written many other books, such as 'On Being a Christian,' 'Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today, 'etc.

He wrote in his Preface to this 1982 book, "I did not want to produce a long-winded theological treatise on eschatology; but... to answer the pressing questions of our contemporaries on the basis of present-day theological students..."

He notes early on that the question of a possible life after death "is of immense importance for life before death." (Pg. 20) The question of eternal life is "not a question settled in advance by science, but one that is again really open." (Pg. 22) He argues that our striving for happiness might have "a very REAL goal," and answers Feuerbach's objection by saying, "His atheism too is not above suspicion of being a projection." (Pg. 31)

After contrasting Eastern perspectives with Western, he suggests that the Jewish-Christian-Islamic tradition (1) "sees the world (and this life) in principle positively, as God's good creation," (2) "knows of only a SINGLE LIFE of man," and (3) "sees the final state of man ... as being and fullness," rather than "nonbeing and void." (Pg, 55-56) Later, he notes that there is no "intellectual reconciliation" that is possible between the conception of a single life, and reincarnation. (Pg. 60) He adds, "Is the problem of theodicy really solved by reincarnation?" (Pg. 61)

While admitting that it is impossible to positively refute someone who asserts that "Death is the end of everything," he notes that this negative claim "transcends the horizon of our experience." (Pg. 77) He asserts that the resurrection is "not an event in space and time... (it is) not a public event and cannot be pinned down or objectified." Then he suggests that the resurrection "is not then a historical, but certainly a REAL EVENT." (Pg. 105)

This is one of Küng's most interesting books, even thirty years after it was written.

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kung è stato uno dei più grandi teologi del XX secolo prolifico, ha toccato con i suoi scritti tutti temi della cristianità. Questo fa parte di una trilogia.
Autore da leggere e studiare.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The German is readable; the ideas worth a moment's thought.