Chapter Six: Jesus Christ

Part 1: Christology Within an Evolutionary View of the World.

Introduction to Part 1

In the introduction to this chapter (p. 176), Rahner presents his doctrine of the “anonymous Christian.” The Hindu, Buddhist, or Moslem may well accept what Christianity wants to convey, Rahner suggests, without that Hindu, Buddhist, or Moslem professing a Christian faith. Whenever a person accepts God’s call to transcendence and responds to it, one becomes a Christian, even without knowing the name of Christ.

Still, one is only a Christian in the full sense of the word by means of Baptism and explicitly Christian faith. Rahner calls this “the historical and reflexive dimension of God’s transcendental self-communication” (176). It is “historical” because Christianity is not just an idea but has manifested itself in history. It is “reflexive” because that transcendental self-communication of God, offered to everyone in an interior way, is reflected in the life of Jesus. Without the history of Jesus, says Rahner, transcendental theology would be not be recognized for what it is.

This chapter on Jesus Christ brings two elements together: transcendental and historical theology. The point of departure is the encounter with Jesus in history. The chapter then explicates what Rahner means by an “ascending Christology” or “Christology from below.” This theology begins with the man, Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself to be the one whose life and words were affirmed and validated by God. The “ascending Christology” then connects this man with the eternal Word by whom God intended from all eternity to reconcile us to God’s own self.

We recognize in the man, Jesus, the fullest expression of a transcendental encounter with God, an encounter in comparison to which our own experiences seem incomplete. The experience of the man Jesus enables us to ascend to a recognition in him of the divine Logos. To be sure, the classical “descending Christology,” which begins with the idea of God entering human history, is also important. But the human, rather than the divine, is Rahner’s starting point.

Part 1:

Christology Within an Evolutionary View of the World.

(VI.1, p. 178). The “evolutionary view” about which Rahner speaks does not refer mainly to an evolution on the part of Jesus Christ. Rather, it has to do with our own evolution and with the self-transcendence to which we are called (A). Transcending ourselves by responding to God’s call is a kind of evolution. We evolve by opening ourselves to the God who unites all creation (B). Rahner calls this “active self-transcendence.” He means that we transcend the merely material by knowing it for what it is, namely, the vehicle of spirit (C). Our proper end, the end of both matter and spirit, is to lead the material world into a consciousness of its spiritual vocation (D). Humanity is thus the shepherd of the cosmos, drawing it to God as its own innermost life and destiny (E). In this “evolutionary view,” Christ is God’s offer of self-communication. When we accept the offer, we enjoy membership in the very life of God (F). Christ is the “absolute saviour,” embodying God’s offer and manifesting in himself the definitive acceptance of that offer by human beings (G). As divine Word, Christ established the world as the reality wherein the divine would show itself. As human being, he achieved a “hypostatic” union with God (H). This hypostatic union, accomplished definitively in Jesus alone, is part of a transcendence taking place in all human creatures (I).

A. Explanation and Clarification of the Topic (VI.1.A, p. 178). Our question about Jesus proceeds from an evolutionary view of the world. Rahner intends to avoid the theories of Teilhard de Chardin, thereby presupposing (rather than presenting) the nature of evolution. An evolutionary starting point does not mean that we are trying to view the incarnation as a consequence of evolution (as in the heretical “consciousness Christology” of the early twentieth century). Nor are we trying to say that the incarnation is incompatible with evolution (and thus embracing a intellect-denying fideism). Rather, we seek a correlation of the two, namely evolution and faith. . . .

Section 1.A continues in the printed version of The Foundations of Karl Rahner, now available from the Crossroad Publishing Company.