RIP: Hans Küng
The New York Times ...
Hans Küng, Catholic Theologian With a Powerful Critique, Dies at 93
[...] As a liberal, he criticized church policy on governance, liturgy, papal infallibility, birth control, priestly celibacy, the ordination of women, mixed marriages, homosexuality, abortion, the meaning of hell and much else.
On some issues, Dr. Küng said, Buddhism and Judaism were more constructive than Catholicism. Serving Jesus Christ is what matters, he insisted — not serving the church that took his name.
Many Catholics supported him, or at least admired his effectiveness. Peter Hebblethwaite, a Vatican expert, wrote that all Dr. Küng’s proposals at the Second Vatican Council were accepted, some in modified form, in the council’s final documents.
“Never again would a theologian have such influence,” he wrote ....
And from America magazine ...
Hans Küng, influential Vatican II theologian censured by John Paul II, dies at 93
Hans Küng (b. 1928), who died on April 6 at the age of 93, was the youngest and third most influential Catholic theologian of the second half of the 20th century, after Karl Rahner, S.J., (1904-84) and Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., (1914-2009); but he was first in flair and media savvy.
Küng rose to public awareness in the events leading up to and during the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). He flourished as a Catholic theologian for more than a decade after the council by writing a number of landmark books. After being disowned by the papacy as a Catholic spokesperson in the early days of St. John Paul II’s pontificate, he flourished again as an organic intellectual of the world by mediating among religions and stimulating a global ethic ...
I liked him, read some of his articles. Typical of the church that he would be censured.
posted by crystal | 2:09 AM
4 Comments:
He was someone I admired, even while not agreeing with all his opinions. Even though he had his issues with the institutional church, especially Pope JPII, he was never "cancelled", staying a priest in good standing until his death. I thought it was interesting that he apparently had a more cordial relationship with Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. He wasn't one to be intimidated by authority.
It is interesting that I just finished an historical fiction book, "The Unquiet Bones", which featured reformer and Oxford professor John Wycliffe as a peripheral character. Wycliffe was also someone who spoke his truth, and interestingly, remained a priest in good standing until his death. I had thought he was declared a heretic, but that wasn't until nearly two decades after his death.
That sounds like an interesting book! I saw that B16 made a ststement about the death of Kung - they were friends from the time of the Second Vatican Council, when they were both theologians there. Kung was cancelled in the sense that he was censured by the CDF and after that was no longer allowed to teach theology at any Catholic university (1979). He was still a priest, but when you consider how unusual it is to defrock someone .... most priests who molest children are not defrocked ... that's not a high bar.
I thought it was interesting that after he got his theology teaching faculties removed, he continued to teach at the same university as before, just in a different part. Apparently Tubingen University had both a religious and a secular side.
The Jesuit who wrote the article about King at America magazine, Roger Haight SJ, was himself censured in 2005 by the CDF. He had to give up his teaching job and he couldn't anymore publish on theology. What censure does is basically take away a person's career in Catholic-world and tells the faithful that his work can't be trusted. Here's an article from NCR about Haight ... https://www.ncronline.org/news/rome-orders-roger-haight-stop-teaching-publishing ... The CDF has done this to a number of people since I've been a Catholic, including Jon Sobrino SJ (2007).
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