THEOLOGY AS THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: KARL

RAHNER
Introduction
The title Theology as Theological Anthropology of Karl Rahner simply reflects on the
relationship between theology and anthropology i.e. how important it is to understand human
beings in order to understand God and vice- versa.

Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner (1904-1984) is considered to be the leading theologians of the 19th century. The
scope of Rahner’s theology includes biblical theology, patristic, systematic theology and
other interests that bear on the life of a human person. He brings in another theological
dimension i.e. ‘Revelation’ which has a connection with human beings in his/ her existence.
He asserts that there can be no proclamation of revelation without theology; and there can be
no theology without philosophy. For him non- philosophical theology is bad theology.

Anthropological Presuppositions of Karl Rahner

The following are some presuppositions put forward by Karl Rahner:

 Human spirit is transcendent i.e. even though it is bound to this world it can still
come in contact with God.
 Human existence as oriented towards God i.e. God can be known or encountered in
the world through history.
 Human being is an embodied spirit and also a historical spirit i.e. intellectual
knowledge is possible through senses and we are part of history respectively.
 Rahner also takes into consideration the Holomorphic theory (Theory of matter &
form) and uses this to explain where two things though different can be one in the
same way spirit and matter are two different things and yet are one in being.
From these above presuppositions Rahner tries to uncover an underlying human spiritual
structure from his transcendental analysis and he calls it a priori. Therefore he establishes
that theology assumes theological anthropology i.e. to understand and answer transcendental
questions we need human beings.

The Place and Figure of Jesus Christ

Here Karl Rahner affirms that incarnation of Jesus the Son of God was not a freak event in
the history, it did happen. To prove the above he uses the view of transcendence. Wherein
Human beings are transcendental beings that are seeking for God, longing for God and are at
the same time historical beings therefore god responded to this human orientation in a
meaningful way in history through Jesus Christ.