KARL RAHNER

Bro Ronbin Chittilappilly

Karl Rahner is a German Jesuit priest who is widely known as a catholic

theologian of the twentieth century. He deals with various theological topics, but
expert in Christology.

Traditionally, the church teaches that the sacraments are the gifts of the
divine for spreading the divine grace. Karl Rahner echoes, “the sacraments constitute
a small sign, necessary, reasonable and indispensable, within the infinitude of the
world as permeated by God. it is the sign which reminds us of this limitlessness of
the presence of divine grace, and in this sense and in no other, precisely in this
particular kind of anamnesis, is intended to be an event of grace.”1 The divine grace
leads to the true experience of God. Therefore, the sacraments are an essential
element of Christian life.

There is a new trend that giving less importance to sacraments. Faithful

believe that the true God experience can also attain through the bitterness of
everyday life, self-prayer with God, moral life, etc. than by the sacraments. God is
filled in everywhere. So, prayers of oneself are enough to attain the God experience.
It does not mean that there is no God's experience and divine grace from sacraments.
They want to say that there is no need to receive the sacraments regularly. Karl
Rahner was well aware that "to very many people today worship is at first seen as a
kind of magical procedure and as an old-fashioned ritual now devoid of meaning.
While they have the impression that a true encounter with God (if it is possible at
all) must take place in the dull bitterness of ordinary life with its experiences of hope,
responsibility, love and death."2 For such believers, he presented his concept of
‘liturgy of the world’ to them for experiencing the spirit of the sacraments in
everyday life.

From the viewpoint of essential ecclesial context, the sacrament is an act of

the church's total self-realization with the individual human being. The sacraments

1
Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations (Volume XIV): Ecclesiology, Questions in the
Church, the Church in the World, trans. David Bourke (London, UK: Darton, Longman and Todd
Ltd, 1976), 169. Hereafter we use Rahner, Theological Investigations as short title for the subsequent
references.
2
Mathew Illathuparampil (Chief ed.), et al., The Contemporary Theologians: Context and
Contributions (Bangalore, India: Asian Trading Corporation, 2006), 398. Hereafter we use
Illathuparampil, The Contemporary Theologians as short title for the subsequent references.
are not merely means of grace in the hands of the church. Above that the church
actualizes her own nature. In other words, through the sacraments, the church
presented the way for universal salvation, salvation for all. All human beings are
seeking salvation. That is why, he offers everything for this purpose that all the
prayers, penances, and sacrifices, are called ‘liturgy of the world’. So, Rahner wants
to say the importance of the sacraments in every day connected with universal
salvation. The notion of universal salvation is expressed in Rahner’s concept of the
‘liturgy of the world’ which results in ‘the liturgy of the church’. In this way, he
announces seven sacraments essential for everyday life. He tries to connect the
world, the church, and the sacraments in his theology.

In the history of salvation, the finite being is trying to connect with the
infinite being. In searching the roots, divine grace helps finite beings to connect in
God's communication. Often, he thinks that God stands at a distance, like a mystery.
By grace, finite beings can communicate with Him and attain salvation. But, in
reality, God is not at a distance but near to us that is why finite being experiences
Him. Therefore, grace is not a path toward God, but a self-communication of God.
Rahner states, “So, grace is not a communication of the gift of God, but the self-
communication of God Himself; but God remains as the absolute mystery. God
being present in the church, she can be called the sacrament of God's self-
communication.”3 Besides, the self-communication of God is present everywhere.
According to Rahner, God communicates to the world through history by Jesus, the
Son of God. He lived, established the sacraments, and sacrificed His life on the cross.
In this way, he celebrated the ‘liturgy of the world’ for all human kind. On the cross,
Jesus brings the ultimate source of grace.4 It helps seek the supreme point of ‘liturgy
of the church’. The Church celebrates the remembrance of God through the
sacraments.

‘The liturgy of the world’ is the oldest and archetype of the liturgy. It is
presented in ‘the liturgy of the church’. God communicates to the church. In other
words, Jesus, the son of the God, made flesh, lived in the world, established the
sacraments and the Church, crucified, resurrected, and lifted to heaven by giving
mission of evangelization. Rahner blends ‘the liturgy of the world’ and ‘the liturgy
of the church’ and states, “When we say that we celebrate the death of the Lord until
he returns, we are saying that we are giving space and time explicitly in our life to

3
Illathuparampil, The Contemporary Theologians, 399.
4
Rahner, Theological Investigations, 169.
the culmination of the history of the world liturgy which is present in the cross of
Jesus... This ecclesial worship is important and significant not because something
happens in it that does not happen elsewhere, but because there is present and
explicit in it that which makes the world important, since it is everywhere blessed
by grace, by faith, hope, and love, and in it there occurred the crows of Christ.”5
‘The liturgy of the church’ includes all elements of ‘the liturgy of the world’ that
cannot separate from ‘the liturgy of the church’. ‘The liturgy of the church’ was
formed by Jesus, the Son of God, for communicating with His faithful and guides
towards salvation. Hence, there is no other the best path to communicate to God
without the sacraments (the liturgy of the church). The sacraments are primary gate
to encounter with God.

Karl Rahner expresses that the sacraments are gifts of God and sacred.
Sacraments are not merely provider of the divine grace but also a primary gate for
the communication with God. Hence, without sacraments, faithful cannot
communicate the God properly. That is why, the church insists faithful have to
receive the sacraments regularly. Karl Rahner uses anthropological approach to
explain the need of the sacraments. He gives a subjective aspect on divine grace by
connecting with ‘the communication of God’.

BIBILOGRAPHY

Mathew Illathuparampil (Chief ed.), et al., The Contemporary Theologians: Context

and Contributions. Bangalore, India: Asian Trading Corporation, 2006.

Rahner, Karl. Theological Investigations (Volume XIV): Ecclesiology, Questions in

the Church, the Church in the World, trans. David Bourke. London, UK:
Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd, 1976.

5
Illathuparampil, The Contemporary Theologians, 399.