The eternal journey of communication of Christianity, the effort of faith by Karl Rahner

Abstract

This research faces the challenge of communicating Christianism to our contemporaries, so heavily bombed by different kinds and means of information that our goal must also restrict such communication to the innermost center of the Christian understanding of existence. The world is surprised with the success of the 4 month pontificate of Pope Francis. The author found expressed in a Karl Rahner’s synthesis the nuclear point to be communicated today: “Man is the event of an absolute, free and forgiving self-communication of God”. This systensis is analyzed, through its huge production, since, for many other theologians, the theme of God’s self-communication constitutes the center and the foundation of all Rahner’s theology. In this sense, this article goes through the various theological discourses used by Rahner – spiritual, practical and anthropological – in order to make his words able to explain the experience of God that man does in the world and during the time of our lives, since such Christian existence covers the entire life of man. Although Rahner died 29 years ago, his work can still be considered “actual” as he practiced a living theology concerned both with man, in his everyday life, and the love of God. Thus, the theme of God’s self-communication in Rahner allow us to take lessons from the rich Christian Tradition, from its XX centuries passed, leaving us ready to face today’s and tomorrow’s new challenges.