Hans Küng

Hans Küng (; 19 March 1928 – 6 April 2021) was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author. He was a leading and often controversial figure in modern Catholic thought, known for his critique of papal infallibility and his advocacy of a re-examination of Catholic doctrine. He served as a theological adviser (peritus) at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and was Professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Tübingen from 1960 until his retirement in 1996.

His views led to prolonged conflict with Church authorities, and in 1979 the Vatican revoked his authorization to teach Catholic theology. Küng later focused on interreligious dialogue and global ethics, serving as president of the Foundation for a Global Ethic from 1995. He remained a Catholic priest throughout his life and received numerous honors, including the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in 2008.

Life and work

Education

Küng was born in Sursee, Canton of Lucerne. He was the eldest of seven siblings; his father managed a shoe store. He said his first Mass in St. Peter's Basilica preaching to the Swiss guard, many of whom he knew personally. He then did pastoral work in Lucerne for two years. At the invitation of Karl Barth, he delivered a lecture on the prospects for reform of the Catholic Church—he was very optimistic—just a week before Pope John XXIII announced his plans for a council in January 1959.

During a 1963 tour of the United States, Küng gave the lecture "The Church and Freedom" to audiences of more than 25,000 at several universities around the country, but was not allowed to appear at the Catholic University of America. He received the first of many honorary doctorates from the Jesuits' St. Louis University that year, but the school was chastised for not getting Rome's permission to do so. where Kennedy introduced him to a group of politicians saying "this is what I would call a new frontier man of the Catholic Church". Veteran newsperson Patricia Lefevere, writing for the National Catholic Reporter, says the Holy Office "opened a secret file (the infamous 399/57i) on Küng shortly after he wrote [this book]". Sixty American and Canadian theologians protested the Vatican action and contradicted the Vatican's ruling by saying: "We publicly affirm our recognition that he is indeed a Roman Catholic theologian." A thousand students at Tübingen held a candlelight vigil in protest. Küng later described the Vatican's ruling as "my personal experience of the Inquisition". Lefevere writes that:

While a guest professor at the University of Chicago for three months in 1981, he was invited to only one Catholic institution, the University of Notre Dame. He appeared on The Phil Donahue Show. In October 1986, he participated in the Third Buddhist–Christian Theological Encounter held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Küng said his inter-faith studies "solidified his own roots in a living faith in Christ" which he said lasted his entire career. "Indeed, Küng long held that steadfastness in one's own faith and a capacity for dialogue with those of another belief are complementary virtues".

In 1986, he met in person with Charles Curran, a theologian who was then being threatened with the loss of his license to teach as a Catholic theologian. He encouraged Curran to continue his work and shared his experience of support and betrayal by his colleagues. In the 1990s, Küng spoke out on behalf of fellow Catholic theologian Eugen Drewermann who lost his license to teach Catholic theology and was suspended as a priest because he, like Küng, challenged dogmatic structures. Küng delivered the laudatio when Drewermann was awarded the Herbert-Haag-Prize for Freedom in the Church in 1992 at the University of Tübingen. Years later when the possible beatification of Pope John Paul II was under consideration, Küng objected that his was "an authoritarian pontificate which suppressed the rights of both women and theologians". He said John Paul's treatment of Latin American liberation theologians like Gustavo Gutiérrez and Leonardo Boff was unchristian.

In March 1991, he gave a talk titled "No Peace Among Nations until Peace Among the Religions" at UCSD's Price Center. He visited the nearby Beth El synagogue and spoke there on modern German–Jewish relations.

In 2003, Küng saw the beatification of Pope Pius IX as evidence of the degeneration of canonizations to "gestures of church politics".

Küng made more than a dozen attempts to meet with Pope John Paul II without success. The pope acknowledged his efforts to contribute to a renewed recognition of crucial human moral values in dialogue between religions as well as with secular reason.

In a 2009 interview with Le Monde, Küng sharply criticised Pope Benedict for lifting the excommunications of four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. He blamed the pope's lifelong isolation from contemporary society and said that as a consequence of Benedict's desire for a smaller and purer church "the church risks becoming a sect". His remarks drew a rebuke from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals.

In April 2010, he published an open letter to all Catholic bishops in which he criticized Pope Benedict's handling of liturgical, collegial, and inter-religious issues and also the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. He further called on bishops to consider six proposals, ranging from speaking up and working on regional solutions to calling for another Vatican council.

He was a signatory of Church 2011, "The Need for a New Beginning", a German-language memorandum demanding reform of the Catholic Church that was promulgated by Catholic theology professors.

Küng died at home in Tübingen on 6 April 2021 at the age of 93. His fellow theologian Charles Curran, who had experienced similar treatment by the Vatican, described Küng as "the strongest voice for reform in the Catholic Church during the last 60 years" and wrote that he was so prolific that "I do not know of anyone who was ever able to even read all that he had written."

Works

In On Being a Christian (1974), Küng traces Christianity to its roots, extensively using modern scholarship to extract from the Gospels what can be known of the historical Jesus. Rather than beginning with the teaching of Church councils and the highly developed theological propositions propounded from human authorities, he asked if an alternative were possible: "Would it not perhaps correspond more to the New Testament evidence and to modern man's historical way of thinking if we started out like the first disciples from the real human being Jesus, his historical message and manifestation, his life and fate, his historical reality and historical activity, and then ask about the relationship of this human being Jesus to God, about his unity with the Father?"

In 1998, he published Dying with Dignity, co-written with Walter Jens, in which he affirmed acceptance of euthanasia from a Christian viewpoint.

In 2005, Küng published a critical article in Italy and Germany on "The failures of Pope Wojtyla" in which he argued that the world had expected a period of conversion, reform, and dialogue but, instead, John Paul II offered a restoration of the pre-Vatican II status, blocking reform and inter-church dialogue, and reasserting the absolute dominion of Rome.

Based on his Studium Generale lectures at Tübingen University, in Der Anfang aller Dinge (The beginning of all things) he discussed the relationship between science and religion. In an analysis ranging from quantum physics to neuroscience, he also commented on the debate about evolution in the United States, dismissing those opposed to the teaching of evolution as "naive [and] un-enlightened".

In his 2010 book Was ich glaube, he described his own personal relationship with nature, and how he learned to observe it correctly, which meant drawing strength from God's creation without falling victim to a false and fanatic love of nature.

In 2013, Küng wrote in Erlebte Menschlichkeit ("Experienced Humanity") that he believed people had the right to end their own lives if physical illness, pain, or dementia made living unbearable. He indicated he was considering the option of assisted suicide for himself because he was suffering from Parkinson's disease and was losing the ability to see and write. Küng wrote that he did not wish to follow the example of Pope John Paul II.

Awards and honors

1991 Swiss culture prize
1992 Karl Barth prize
1998 Theodor Heuss Foundation prize
2008 Honour for civil courage by the circle of friends Heinrich Heine (Düsseldorf)
Küng is the favorite theologian of Cedar Hawk Songmaker in Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich.

Writings

English translations

Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection, (org. 1964), (40th Ann. Ed. 2004), Westminster John Knox Press,
The Council and Reunion (1960), London: Sheed and Ward
Structures of the Church (1962), New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons
That the World May Believe (1963), New York: Sheed and Ward
The Living Church: Reflections on the Second Vatican Council (1963), London: Sheed and Ward. In the U.S.A., published as The Council in Action: Theological Reflections on the Second Vatican Council (1963), New York: Sheed and Ward
The Church (1967), London: Burns and Oates
Infallible? An Inquiry (1971),
Why Priests? (1971), Collins
What must remain in the Church (1973), London: Collins
On Being a Christian (1974)
Signposts for the Future: Contemporary Issues facing the Church (1978), , 204 pages
Freud and the Problem of God: Enlarged Edition, Edward Quinn (translator), , 126 pages, Yale University Press
Does God Exist? An Answer For Today (1980)
Art and the Question of Meaning (1980, translated 1981) E. Quinn, Crossroads New York
Eternal Life : Life after Death As a Medical, Philosophical and Theological Program (1984), Edward Quinn (translator). Contents (scrollable) , 271 pages. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co.
Christianity and the world religions: paths of dialogue with Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism (1986)
Christianity and Chinese Religions (with Julia Ching, 1988)
The Incarnation of God: An Introduction to Hegel's Theological Thought as Prolegomena to a Future Christology, J. R. Stephenson (translator) , 601 pages, Crossroad Publishing Company
Theology for the Third Millennium: An Ecumenical View (1990) (Translated by Peter Heinegg)
Global Responsibility: In Search of a New World Ethic (1991), New York: Crossroad.
Credo. The Apostle's Creed Explained for Today (1993) SCM.
Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1992), New York: Crossroad
Great Christian Thinkers (1994)
Christianity : Its Essence and History (1995)
A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics (1997)
Dying with Dignity: A Plea for Personal Responsibility (1996, 1998), co-written with Walter Jens ,
The Catholic Church: A Short History (2001)
Women and Christianity (2001, new ed. 2005), London: Continuum
My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs (2003), New York, London: Continuum
Why I Am Still a Christian (2006)
The Beginning of All Things – Science and Religion (2007)
Islam: Past, Present and Future (2007)
Disputed Truth: Memoirs II (2008) New York: Continuum
Can We Save The Catholic Church? (2013) London: ISBN 978-0-00-752202-06

Life and work

Education

Works

Awards and honors

Writings

English translations

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links