Rethinking Fundamental Theology

Fundamental Theology for the Trinity: Karl Rahner's Contribution

“…Second, today the term ‘fundamental theology’ can mean many different things. There have been a variety of different responses to the need for fundamental theology, ranging from a kind of non‐foundationalism to a Vatican II‐inspired fundamental theology to an attempt to provide phenomenological categories for theological thinking to an outright programmatic attempt to write a new theological method based on generalized empirical methodology . This diversity is widened even further if we include less systematic attempts to respond to the problems raised by fundamental theology .…”

Revelation and love

“…20 Pentateuch, the narratives of theophanies coming to the prophets are often so truncated as to give very little clue as to how they themselves perceived the in-breaking of the divine, it is clear that the God revealed to them and whom they, in turn, reveal to the people is still 'a loving and tenderly devoted God'. 21 Prophetic warnings and promises as particular subsets of prophetic revelation must be understood in this context of a relationship of overarching divine love and the people's response (or failure to respond) to that love. Thus, although the prophets often have occasion to preach or threaten destruction (witness Jeremiah and Amos), this is not done capriciously or out of spite, rather prophetic rhetoric portrays evil consequences visited upon Israel or Judah as being the consequences of repeated failure to take seriously the loving, ethical dimensions implied in the people's pre-existing relationship with God by acting in accordance with the Covenant's demands (see e.g.…”

“…in Mark 1:11; Lk 3:22; Eph 4:6; 1 Cor 12:3; and 2 Cor 3:17). 49 This is reinforced by the fact that the Spirit was understood by the gospel writers and Paul, not only as divine power, but also as the loving presence of God the Father in relationship with God's Son and God's people (see e.g. Lk 10:21; Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:31; Acts 1:2; Rom 5:5; 15:30; 2 Cor 3:17; 2 Cor 13:13).…”

“…54 As O'Collins notes, the understanding that revelation draws us into a relationship of life and love with a personal God was fundamental to both Dei Verbum and the Faith and Order Conference in Montreal which paralleled it. 55 In light of our conclusion that special revelation shows God as both loving and calling us to love in response, this must also entail real ethical consequences for our understanding of the tradition with which it is entwined and the church founded by the Spirit as its transmitter. If the tradition which passes on the faith of scripture is not to be simply a collection of propositions (leaving the church as a mere archivist of norms and undermining the understanding of Dei Verbum of a Spirit-filled continuity with scripture) then the church and its individual members mustguided by the Spirit -enter into the relationship with God in Christ which scripture presupposes and lovingly take up the ethical demands which scripture assumes to result from an ongoing relationship with the Divine.…”

“…57 A church that ceases to fulfil this role, ceases -in a functional sense -to be the church because it loses the credibility which comes from preaching what O'Collins describes (in relation to the Vincentian Canon) as that which is life-giving and can properly direct our discernment. 58 After all, preaching life-giving norms of conduct in a manner which kills faith or which causes others to doubt one's own adherence to it, saps credibility. This is not to deny that all of us, including all within the church, are sinful and will often fail as transmitters of the love of God.…”