Divine mystery and human freedom: A study of Karl Barth and Karl Rahner

Much contemporary theology focuses on the specific beliefs and practices of Christian communities. Given this focus, the argument can be made that a primary problem now facing theologians is not the crisis of cognitive claims--that is, the task of legitimating Christian belief in the face of intellectual criticisms--but rather the appropriate use of the power, that is, the theological or spiritual power, enacted in the beliefs and practices of these communities. But if this is indeed a central problem, then does such belief and practice contain within it the means for engaging in criticism, both of practices within the Christian community and the broader culture at large?; In a close reading of Barth's and Rahner's work, this dissertation isolates a thoroughly critical moment in their theologies. Specifically, it focuses on how these theologians use the concept of divine "mystery" and argues that this concept is best understood not as a concept or theory but after the pattern of either a medical or linguistic analogy. But what makes this 'therapy' or 'grammar' especially interesting is that Barth and Rahner both--in different ways--define its use in terms of the very beliefs and practices it is attempting to test or measure. Precisely how they do this will be the focus of our analysis, the theme we will keep returning to throughout this study.; By way of such a reading of Barth and Rahner, this study offers a critical, practical conception of the theological task. Such a reading conceives of theological reflection as a therapy of piety; further, such therapy is also self-critical and therefore requires revisions in the work of Barth and Rahner itself. Thus, on the one hand, this dissertation offers, by way of a reading of Barth and Rahner, a way of incorporating a critical moment into a theology rooted in practice. On the other hand, it will challenge the abstraction found in Barth's and Rahner's work. In brief, what is offered is a way of conceiving of theological reflection as being both rooted in the piety of specific communities and yet also critical, even self-critical, and in that sense, public.