| In the past 200 years, Christian theology has experienced a considerably tough period. The Enlightenment made a irrevocable division between reason and faith, followed by the unprecedented attacks to Christian thoughts originated from the rationalism, scientism, humanism, Marxism, and nihilism etc.. Although most of these critical thoughts has not discussed the ontological questions of the existence of God in a precisely academic way, however, the popularity of them have made many ordinary people to question about the existence of God, even of the ideas of God in Christianity and in some other faiths. Regarding this, Hans Küng, one of the most famous Catholic theologians in twentieth century, claims that for Christian theology, the question of God, the most important problem in Christianity must not be slid over but to be faced and defended rationally and actively.Therefore, Hans Küng regards the Enlightenment as a starting point, and discussed carefully about the question of how modern people can believe in God reasonablely, what they think of God, and what kind of God they believe. All this was done in the context of some important thoughts, which is relevant to the question of God. He did not only criticize the denial and attack to the existence of God, which originated from different atheisms and nihilisms, but also began with the existence of human being, and rebuilt the rationality of the trust in Reality and the faith in God and finally, the faith in the God of Jesus Christ. In a word, he made a clear, comprehensive answer to the modern question of God. My dissertation will try to give a full description and appraisement to the content, characters and methods of Hans Küng's reflections about the questions of God.To explore the background of Hans Küng's reflections, it is quite necessary to make a survey of his life, his theological development and his major works. Hans Küng's theological career can be divided into five stage: 1. Youth time (1928-1957), including Hans Küng's high school years in Lucerne of Swiss, the following study of theology (1948-1951) and philosophy (1951-1955) in the famous Collegium Germanicum in Rome, and finally the achievements of his theological doctorate with the thesis on Karl Barth's doctrine of justification in Catholic Institute of Paris. 2. On Ecclesiology (1958-1970). During this time, Hans Küng concentrated all his energy on the questions about ecclesiology, which includes the structure and nature of the church, and the power of the Pope etc.; his major works in this stage include The Council, Reform and Reunion (1960), Sructure of the Church (1962), The Church (1967), Infallible? An Inquiry (1970) etc,. 3. on Christian faith (1971-1982). In this period, Hans Küng primarily worked on some basic questions of Christian faith, including Christology, the question of God etc.; his major works in this stage include The Incarnation of God: An Introduction of Hegel's Theological Thought as Prolegomena to a Future Christology (1970), On Being a Christian (1974), Does God Exist? (1978), and Eternal life? (1982). 4. On Conversations and Method (1983-1988). In this period, Hans Küng committed himself to the conversation with some different thoughts of philosophy, literature and some different religions nowadays. Three books could be regarded as his representatives in this period, including Christianity and the World Religions. Paths of Dialogue with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism (1984), Literature and Religion. Pascal, Gryphius, Lessing, H?lderlin, Novalis, Kierkegaard, Dostojewski, Kafka (1988), and Theology for the Third Millennium. An Ecumenical View (1987). 5. On A Global Ethics (1989- ). In this period, he organized practically the Global Ethics, which encouraged a global ethic on the ground of religious peace, which can be considered as the ground of human's welfare. Some important books on this topic include Global Responsibility. In search of a New World Ethic (1990), A Global Ethic. The Declaration of the Parliament of the World's Religions (1993), a...
|
PDF Full Text Request