Controversial Swiss Theologian Hans Küng Dies at Age 93

[Michie]

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference offered a tribute saying, “With the death of Prof. Dr. Hans Küng, theological scholarship loses a renowned and controversial researcher.”


BERN, Switzerland — The influential and controversial Swiss theologian Hans Küng died Tuesday at the age of 93.

Küng served as a theological adviser at the Second Vatican Council but repeatedly clashed with Rome in the years that followed.

The tensions culminated in a 1979 declarationby the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) that Küng had “departed from the integral truth of Catholic faith, and therefore he can no longer be considered a Catholic theologian nor function as such in a teaching role.”

The CDF cited his opinions on the doctrine of infallibility, expressed in his 1971 book Infallible? An Inquiry, as one of the reasons for the move.

Continued below.
Controversial Swiss Theologian Hans Küng Dies at Age 93

 

[Michie]

ROME — Despite his profoundly dissenting views that included questioning the divinity of Christ, rejecting papal infallibility and undermining doctrines on the Virgin Mary, warm tributes were paid yesterday by some prominent Church leaders to Swiss theologian Father Hans Küng, who died Tuesday at age 93.

Father Küng never repented of his positions, which caused him to be formally censured more than 40 years ago by the Vatican as an individual whose views are so contrary to key Church teachings that it was impermissible for him to be considered as a Catholic theologian at all.

Continued below.
Despite Flagrant Dissent of Father Hans Küng, Some Church Leaders Pay Glowing Tribute

 

[Michie]

Küng died on the fifth day of the Divine Mercy Novena, the day dedicated especially to “the souls of those who have separated themselves from my Church.”
Praying for Salvific Ignorance for the Clever Hans Küng

 

[chevyontheriver]

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference offered a tribute saying, “With the death of Prof. Dr. Hans Küng, theological scholarship loses a renowned and controversial researcher.”

Kung had one good book. That was 'Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection' published in 1962. Cardinal Cushing supplied the Imprimatur for the English edition published in 1964. My copy was a presentation copy given by cardinal Cushing to somebody who will remain nameless. Anyhow. To the glory of good used bookstores.

I re-read Karl Barth's letter to Kung included in the introduction to the book. Barth thanks Kung for actually understanding what Barth was saying. And Barth expressed surprise that Kung found Barth's position to be quite Catholic. Barth suggested that it was up to other Catholic theologians to look into that to see if it was really so.

Was it? Maybe. Sorta. I'm not totally sure even after reading it. If it were not I doubt the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogues could ever have come to an agreement on justification. So maybe. I think it is still a provocative thesis. My take home from it is that we agree on a lot more than our differing language would make it appear. If only we had good translators.

Anyhow, one good book by Hans Kung among the rest of the dreck he wrote. Maybe there will be enough of a retrospective after his death that that book will be analyzed a bit more. Far better to do it on that book than on the infinitely more well known but much shallower book 'Infallible: An Inquiry'. That one I figured out in 1975 was a wreck of a book. Funny that 'Infallible' was the book that made me look at 'Humanae Vitae' seriously for the first time only after I had found Kung's book lacking. So thank you Hans Kung in a backhanded way for convincing me that Humanae Vitae was right.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Küng died on the fifth day of the Divine Mercy Novena, the day dedicated especially to “the souls of those who have separated themselves from my Church.”
Praying for Salvific Ignorance for the Clever Hans Küng

Hans Kung was formally censured and forbidden to be called a Catholic theologian.

But he was never excommunicated.

He hadn't separated himself from the church.

 

[Michie]

Hans Kung was formally censured and forbidden to be called a Catholic theologian.

But he was never excommunicated.

He hadn't separated himself from the church.

Yes he did. He did that on his own.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Sorry, but I don't see fit to set myself up as his judge.

 

[Michie]

Sorry, but I don't see fit to set myself up as his judge.

Neither do I but I know he willingly separated himself from the Church. That’s the difference.

 

[Michie]

Hans Küng and the perils of fame - Denver Catholic

 

[zippy2006]

Neither do I but I know he willingly separated himself from the Church. That’s the difference.

Hans Kung was never excommunicated.

Was Theologian Hans Küng Ever Excommunicated?

 

[Michie]

Hans Kung was never excommunicated.

Was Theologian Hans Küng Ever Excommunicated?

He pretty much excommunicated himself.

 

[zippy2006]

He pretty much excommunicated himself.

No, the Catholic Church never excommunicated him nor claimed that he had incurred latae sententiae excommunication.

Maybe you are thinking of some other Church?

 

[Michie]

No, the Catholic Church never excommunicated him nor claimed that he had incurred latae sententiae excommunication.

Maybe you are thinking of some other Church?

No I’m thinking of the RCC. But his history speaks for itself. Even questioning the divinity of Christ. We are able to excommunicate ourselves by our actions. RCIA 101.

 

[chevyontheriver]

He pretty much excommunicated himself.

He was declared unfit to be called a Catholic theologian but he was not excommunicated. If he did excommunicate himself there is no way to know. Which is exactly what's wrong with automatic excommunication. It's too subjective. You can't say he excommunicated himself and others can't say he didn't.

 

[chevyontheriver]

No, the Catholic Church never excommunicated him nor claimed that he had incurred latae sententiae excommunication.

That's the whole problem with latae sententiae excommunications. Did he excommunicate himself? Nobody really knows. He might have. I can't say.

 

[chevyontheriver]

No I’m thinking of the RCC. But his history speaks for itself. Even questioning the divinity of Christ. We are able to excommunicate ourselves by our actions. RCIA 101.

I would not like to be Hans Kung going before the Lord for judgment. But then I'm praying my own judgment will not be a disaster. I'm at the age where I'm cramming for the final.

 

[Michie]

That's the whole problem with latae sententiae excommunications. Did he excommunicate himself? Nobody really knows. He might have. I can't say.

I think when someone is questioning the divinity of God they have to know there is an issue when they propagate that to the flock looking for direction. Teachers are judged With a stricter measuring stick. Scripture is clear on this point.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I think when someone is questioning the divinity of God they have to know there is an issue when they propagate that to the flock looking for direction. Teachers are judged With a stricter measuring stick. Scripture is clear on this point.

Kung was a work of art. Weigel has him figured. But there's a lot we can't know, that God knows, and now Kung can't deny knowing.