Interruptions

J. Matthew Ashley

Description

Johann Baptist Metz is one of the most important Roman Catholic theologians in the post-Vatican II period, however there is no comprehensive overview of his theological career. This book fills that gap. It offers careful analyses and summaries of Metz's work at the various stages of his career, beginning with his work on Heidegger and his collaboration with Karl Rahner.

It continues with his work in the nineteen-sixties when he moved off in a radically different direction to found a "new political theology" culminating in his seminal work, Faith in History and Society. Metz addresses themes ranging from the situation of the Church "after Auschwitz," the future of religious life in the Church, and the relationship between religion and politics after the end of the cold war.

J. Matthew Ashley covers all of Metz's writings along with his crucial relationships to figure like Karl Rahner, Martin Heidegger, Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin and the social critics of the early Frankfurt School. Interruptions shows that despite the dramatic turn in the nineteen-sixties there is an underlying continuity in Metz's thought. Ultimately, however, the underlying continuity in Metz's career is defined by a spirituality, a spirituality that is painfully yet hopefully open to the terrible suffering that characterizes our century, a spirituality founded in the Prophets, in Lamentations, and in the figures of Job and the Jesus of Mark's Gospel.

This book shows how Metz has tried to find theological concepts adequate for expressing this spirituality—which he calls a "Mysticism of open Eyes" or of "suffering unto God"—and to work out its political implications. To this end the book has an opening chapter on the relationship between spirituality and theology, and a closing chapter that shows that the most fundamental difference between Rahner and Metz is rooted in the different Christian spiritual traditions out of which the two operate. Interruptions is essential reading for anyone interest in Spirituality and Mysticism and in their relation to political philosophy.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Jesús de Nazaret
• Mysticism
• Philosophy
• Jesus
• Catholic Church
• Cold War
• Theology
• Catholic
• Christianity
• Religion
• History
• Guerre froide
• Ernst Bloch
• Karl Rahner
• Lamentations
• Walter Benjamin
• Job
• Jésus de Nazareth
• Martin Heidegger

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 08 décembre 1998
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268074883
• Langue: English

Extrait

STUDIES IN SPIRITUALITY AND THEOLOGY 4
Lawrence Cunningham, Bernard McGinn, and David Tracy
SERIES EDITORS
INTERRUPTIONS
Mysticism, Politics, and Theology in the Work of Johann Baptist Metz
JAMES MATTHEW ASHLEY
University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 1998 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 http://www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Paperback edition published in 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ashley, James Matthew, 1958–
Interruptions : mysticism, politics, and theology in the work of Johann Baptist Metz / James Matthew Ashley.           p.     cm. — (Studies in spirituality and theology ; 4)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-268-01185-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-268-01195-8 (pbk)
1. Metz, Johannes Baptist, 1928–.   I. Title.  II. Series. BX4705.M545A74    1998 230'.2'092—dc21
98-9193
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper .
ISBN 978-0-268-07488-3 (electronic)
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
CONTENTS Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction 1. The Relationship between Spirituality and Theology A Turn to Spirituality? Spirituality: A Definition The Relationship between Spirituality and Theology Methodological Conclusions 2. Dangerous Memories: The Dynamism of Metz’s Thought Reading Metz Memory and the Other Metz, the Turn to the Subject, and the Kantian Heritage A Map of Metz’s Theological Journey 3. Metz and the Transcendental Method Metz and Heidegger Metz’s Collaboration with Karl Rahner Christian Anthropocentricity Conclusions 4. The Birth and Development of Political Theology New Interlocutors, New Directions Encounters with Marxism Encounters with Judaism and the Emergence of the Spirituality of “Leiden an Gott” A Summary of Metz’s Mature Theology 5. Metz’s Theology: In Defense of the Human Purpose and Structure of a Fundamental Theological Anthropology Starting Point for a “Political Hermeneutics of Danger” Metz’s Categories of Being a Subject Authentic Being in History: Leiden an Gott Summary: The Endangered Subject and Apocalyptic Temporality 6. The Mystical-Political Structure of Christian Spirituality and Theology Rahner and Metz Revisited: The Mystical-Political Dimensions of Their Theologies Critical Appreciation and Questions Conclusions: The Mystical-Political Dimension of Christian Faith Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index Back Cover

I NTRODUCTION
1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY AND THEOLOGY
A T URN TO S PIRITUALITY ?
S PIRITUALITY : A D EFINITION
T HE R ELATIONSHIP BETWEEN S PIRITUALITY AND T HEOLOGY
M ETHODOLOGICAL C ONCLUSIONS
2. DANGEROUS MEMORIES: THE DYNAMISM OF METZ’S THOUGHT
R EADING M ETZ
M EMORY AND THE O THER
M ETZ, THE T URN TO THE S UBJECT, AND THE K ANTIAN H ERITAGE
A M AP OF M ETZ ’ S T HEOLOGICAL J OURNEY
3. METZ AND THE TRANSCENDENTAL METHOD
M ETZ AND H EIDEGGER
M ETZ ’ S C OLLABORATION WITH K ARL R AHNER
C HRISTIAN A NTHROPOCENTRICITY
C ONCLUSIONS
4. THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL THEOLOGY
N EW I NTERLOCUTORS , N EW D IRECTIONS
E NCOUNTERS WITH M ARXISM
E NCOUNTERS WITH J UDAISM AND THE E MERGENCE OF THE S PIRITUALITY OF “L EIDEN AN G OTT ”
A S UMMARY OF M ETZ ’ S M ATURE T HEOLOGY
5. METZ’S THEOLOGY: IN DEFENSE OF THE HUMAN
P URPOSE AND S TRUCTURE OF A F UNDAMENTAL T HEOLOGICAL A NTHROPOLOGY
S TARTING P OINT FOR A “P OLITICAL H ERMENEUTICS OF D ANGER ”
M ETZ ’ S C ATEGORIES OF B EING A S UBJECT
A UTHENTIC B EING IN H ISTORY : L EIDEN AN G OTT
S UMMARY : T HE E NDANGERED S UBJECT AND A POCALYPTIC T EMPORALITY
6. THE MYSTICAL-POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY AND THEOLOGY
R AHNER AND M ETZ R EVISITED : T HE M YSTICAL -P OLITICAL D IMENSIONS OF T HEIR T HEOLOGIES
C RITICAL A PPRECIATION AND Q UESTIONS
C ONCLUSIONS : T HE M YSTICAL -P OLITICAL D IMENSION OF C HRISTIAN F AITH
A BBREVIATIONS
N OTES
B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x xi xii xiii xiv 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 Cover Page Begin Reading Copyright Page Contents Introduction Notes Bibliography Index
INTRODUCTION
This work originated as a dissertation on the evolution of theological anthropology in the thought of Johann Baptist Metz. 1 Like many others, I was struck by the sudden change in direction that Metz took in the mid-sixties, away from the transcendental Thomism of his mentor, Karl Rahner, and into the long and difficult development of what he came to call “political theology.” While many emphasized the discontinuities, I thought it worthwhile to try to illuminate the discontinuities in terms of what I believe to be deep and significant continuities: among others, his critical commitment to the Enlightenment and its understanding of the subject, guided by the ideal of Mündigkeit; his belief that these Enlightenment themes have emerged not in spite of the spirit of Christianity but due to it, and, consequently, his advocacy of an aggressive dialogue between modernity and Christianity; his use of argumentative strategies very much like Rahner’s; and, finally, his enduring interest in spirituality. While the discontinuities in Metz’s thought are striking and important, I argued that the shifts he made derived from these deeper commitments, which could only be sustained, in Metz’s view, by changing dramatically the ways in which they had been articulated and satisfied in the theology he learned from Rahner.
The initial premise bore fruit, especially for understanding the “what” and the “how” of Metz’s theological development. I showed that the central, organizing question in Metz’s mature work is no longer the Seinsfrage —the question of being and of meaning, threatened in a secularized, one-dimensional world. Rather, it is the Leidensfrage —the question of catastrophic, massive and systemic suffering in a world supposedly come of age, allegedly possessing both the will and the resources finally to put an end to such scourges. In Gutiérrez’s well-known formulation, this is the question of the nonperson, rather than that of the nonbeliever. But Metz continued to apply the transcendental, phenomenological strategies that he learned from Rahner, and indeed, from Heidegger, to ask about how the human being must be constituted such that she or he raises, indeed is defined by, this question. The phenomenological tools by which Metz endeavored to disclose this ontological structure now came to include the resources of revisionary Marxists like Ernst Bloch and the members of the Frankfurt School. In this way Metz arrived at a set of “existentials” (memory, solidarity, narrative) that makes it clear how human beings are constituted by this question, as well as how it is that they are only thus constituted by means of a profound and grace-filled relationship to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and Jesus Christ. This underlying anthropology serves the same organizing function for Metz’s mature thought as the anthropology developed in Spirit in World and Hearers of the Word does for Rahner’s. It unites the diverse concerns that have occupied his writing over the past three decades: his dialogue with Marxism and with Judaism, his posing of the theodicy question as the question for theology, his insistence on the integrity and importance of apocalyptic traditions in Christianity, his raising of the “time question” in general, and finally his incessant and passionate resistance to postmodernism—both theoretical and practical, both in the academy and in the broader social, political, and cultural milieu of central Europe.
I am still satisfied with those results; indeed, the substance of that argument can still be found in the middle chapters of this book. The question that persisted, however, was the question of “Why?” Why did Metz take the path that he took? The straightforward response, one furthermore that is suggested by some of Metz’s own statements, is that he became convinced that Rahner’s transcendental theology was incapable of answering the question of suffering, that it could not overcome the strangling constraints of privatization that modernity had placed upon Christian faith and theology, that it could not give an account of the hope in the future that sustains Christian praxis, that, for all its talk of historicity it was, in the final analysis, ahistorical, idealist, even gnostic. On this reading, Metz abandoned the transcendental paradigm because of its constitutional inability to meet the challenges of doing theology in a still—or post—modern world. 2
This hypothesis has some value as an initial heuristic mechanism for looking at Metz’s development and at his relationship to Rahner. But, as simple and attractive as it is, it will not bear