The God of Jesus Christ Read online

  The God of Jesus Christ

  The God of Jesus Christ

  New Edition

  Walter Kasper

  Bloomsbury Academic

  An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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  © Walter Kasper, 2012

  For the German original edition:

  © Verlag Herder GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2008

  This translation is published with kind permission.

  www.herder.de

  Walter Kasper has asserted his right under the Copyright,

  Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

  No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.

  British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: PB: 978-1-4411-0361-1

  ePUB: 978-1-4411-1896-7

  ePDF: 978-1-4411-7740-7

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

  CONTENTS

  Introduction to the New Edition

  PART ONE

  The God-Question Today

  I God as a Problem

  1. The traditional formulation of the problem

  2. The formulation of the problem today

  3. The theological formulation of the problem

  II The Denial of God in Modern Atheism

  1. The autonomy of the modern age as the basis for contemporary atheism

  2. Atheism in the name of the autonomy of nature

  3. Atheism in the name of human autonomy

  (a) Ludwig Feuerbach

  (b) Karl Marx

  (c) Friedrich Nietzsche

  III The Predicament of Theology in the Face of Atheism

  1. The traditional apologetic position

  2. The new attitude of dialogue

  3. Dialectical relationship between Christianity and atheism

  IV Experience of God and Knowledge of God

  1. The problem and concern of natural theology

  (a) Natural theology in the Greek philosophers

  (b) The Christian form of natural theology

  (c) Natural theology in the Enlightenment

  (d) Contemporary problematic

  2. Experience of God

  3. God in human language

  4. Knowledge of God

  (a) The cosmological argument

  (b) The anthropological argument

  (c) The argument from the philosophy of history

  (d) The ontological argument

  V Knowledge of God in Faith

  1. The revelation of God

  2. The hiddenness of God

  PART TWO

  The Message about the God of Jesus Christ

  I God, the Father Almighty

  1. The problem of an almighty Father-God

  2. The Christian message of God the Father

  (a) God as Father in the history of religions

  (b) God as Father in the Old Testament

  (c) God as Father in the New Testament

  (d) God as Father in the history of theology and dogma

  3. Theological definition of the essence of God

  (a) The definition of God’s essence in the horizon of Western metaphysics

  (b) The definition of God’s essence in the horizon of the modern philosophy of freedom

  II Jesus Christ, Son of God

  1. The question of salvation as point of departure for the God-question

  2. The salvific proclamation of Jesus the Christ

  (a) The messianic promise of salvation in the Old Testament

  (b) Ministry and preaching of Jesus of Nazareth

  (c) The Son-christology of the New Testament

  (d) The explanation of the divine sonship of Jesus Christ in the history of dogma and theology

  3. Theological interpretation of the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ

  (a) Logos-christology

  (b) Kenosis-christology

  III The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life

  1. Problem and urgency of a theology of the Holy Spirit today

  2. The Christian message of God’s life-giving Holy Spirit

  (a) The Spirit of God in creation

  (b) The Holy Spirit in the history of salvation

  (c) The Holy Spirit as a person

  3. Theology of the Holy Spirit

  (a) Different theologies in East and West

  (b) Suggestions for a theology of the Holy Spirit

  PART THREE

  The Trinitarian Mystery of God

  I Establishment of the Doctrine of the Trinity

  1. Preparation in religious history and in philosophy

  2. Foundations in revealed theology

  (a) The unity of God

  (b) The living God (Old Testament preparation)

  (c) The basic trinitarian structure of the revelation of God (establishment of the doctrine in the New Testament)

  (d) The trinitarian confession as rule of faith

  3. History of theological and dogmatic development

  II Exposition of the Doctrine of the Trinity

  1. The point of departure

  (a) The Trinity as mystery of faith

  (b) Images and likenesses for the trinitarian mystery

  (c) The unity of immanent Trinity and economic Trinity

  2. Basic concepts of the doctrine of the Trinity

  (a) The classical basic concepts

  (b) The language of ‘three persons’

  3. Systematic understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity

  (a) Unity in trinity

  (b) Trinity in unity

  (c) Conclusion: The trinitarian confession as the answer to modern atheism

  Abbreviations

  Notes

  Index of Proper Names

  Index of Subjects

  Introduction to the New Edition

  New Aspects of the Doctrine of God

  Today theology is reassessing its place among the sciences, in the world of culture and in the life of the Church. Twenty-five years ago my book The God of Jesus Christ offered my contribution to this positioning. In a deliberately polemical way The God of Jesus Christ argued for a theological theology. For in order to find its own independent place among the multiple range of meanings and to be heard among the babble of opinions, theology must first and foremost know itself what it is. It can only keep its relevance when it keeps its unchangeable identity as theology – that is, speech about God – and when theology and Church do not degenerate into mere ethical-moral institutions. So it is time to speak about God.1

  This Introduction to the new edition is an attempt to make possible a re-reading of The God of Jesus Christ (1982) in the light of the enormous changes in the way the question has been formulated over the last 25 years. Even a fairly complete review of the large literature that has appeared in the meanwhile is frankly not possible for me because of my many other commitments.2
It seems more important to mention the far-reaching intellectual, cultural, religious and political changes over the last two decades. Here too I can only single out some of the problems, about which the discussion and my own views have developed. I also think it is important also to highlight the existential and pastoral meaning of the doctrine of God in this new situation. We can only speak of God when we also speak with him.

  1. Place and relevance of the doctrine of God

  In a situation like ours, in which talk about God is both constantly challenged and topical again, theology must first of all determine its own position. For there are many ways of speaking about God and he has been spoken about in many ways throughout the history of religion. Over the course of history hardly any other word has been so misused, so besmirched and dragged through the mire, and no other word has been so fiercely fought over. In Church piety God has often been tamed and trivialized. In the ‘dear God’ of popular piety it is hard to recognize the living God who appeared to Moses in blazing fire. That is why the title of this book wants to make plain what God we are talking about: the ‘God of Jesus Christ’. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Mk 12.26), the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Ex. 3.6,14), who finally shone forth from the face of Jesus as a God friendly to humanity, whom Jesus addressed as ‘his Father’. No one has ever seen God; the Son has made him known (Jn 1.18); whoever sees the Son sees the Father (Jn 14.9).3

  The focus on the ‘God of Jesus Christ’ is not Christian particularism. For Jesus Christ is the ‘image of the invisible God’, through whom and for whom all things were created (Col. 1.15). He is the Light of the World (Jn 1.4f, 9; 8.12). In him shines the mystery of the world and humanity, as it was laid down ‘from the beginning of creation’ (Mk 10.6). Through him humanity’s dignity and highest calling is newly and finally revealed and the mystery of pain and death, which would otherwise oppress them so sorely, becomes clear (Gaudium et Spes 22). Jesus Christ, the image of God, reveals and gives us back our likeness to God (Gen. 1.27). In his light it becomes easier for us to recognize the many traces of God in creation. The christological starting point of The God of Jesus Christ reveals God to us again as the ‘creator of heaven and earth’ and as the Father of all humankind (cf. Mt. 5.45).

  By taking for granted this historical – that is, christological – approach to God,4 The God of Jesus Christ caries on from what was set out in more detail in Jesus the Christ: the core of Jesus’ ministry and preaching was God and the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 1.14f). Jesus claimed he was speaking and acting in God’s place, God was the heart of his whole existence. Ultimately, Jesus can only be understood from his inner unique relationship to his Father. As God’s eternal Son, he revealed God to us as his Father and ours, as well as the Father of all humankind (cf. Mt. 5.45). So The God of Jesus Christ starts from God’s historical self-revelation to Abraham, Moses and the prophets, which, according to Christian belief, reached its final, unsurpassable historical climax in Jesus Christ.

  More precisely, The God of Jesus Christ starts from the confession made by everyone who is baptized into the discipleship of Jesus and the community of the Church: ‘I believe in God the Father almighty.’ This confession which unites Christians, otherwise divided and separated in many ways, is founded on the joint witness of the Old and New Testaments. As the first sentence of the Creed, it is the foundation upon which the whole confession of faith and being a Christian stands or falls. So Jesus’ first and greatest commandment is to love the one true God with our whole heart, whole soul and strength which, in accordance with God’s own nature, includes loving our neighbours as ourselves (cf. Mk 12.29f).

  Therefore what true theology ought to stress is passion for God and his Kingdom. Thomas Aquinas could say that theology deals first with God, and then created reality in so far as it relates to God as its origin or goal (Summa Th. 1 q. 1 a. 3 ad 1; cf. a. 7). So the many ‘genitive theologies’ (theology of nature, theology of society, liberation theology, theology of culture, of art, etc.) only have legitimacy and meaning in so far as they see their particular subject in the light of God, or as Thomas Aquinas would say, from the standpoint of theology’s formal object. Theology wants to honour God in everything and above all.

  Such theological passion is not at all remote from the world or from life. In the footsteps of the whole patristic tradition, Thomas Aquinas made clear the existential character of this theological approach. He showed that happiness – ultimate human fulfilment – does not lie in riches, power, prestige, pleasure, but in the knowledge of God (Summa Th. a. 4. c. a.; I/II q. 3 a. 1). Scripture says exactly the same: ‘This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’ (Jn 17.3). God is the final and ultimate truth about humankind and the world. God alone is great enough to fulfill the longing of the human heart; God alone satisfies (Teresa of Avila). Thus in particular situations, passion for God may lead to prophetic denunciations of idols and ideologies for God’s sake. Therefore it is also a passion for humankind and human freedom. This is not blind fanaticism. It makes clear that what appears as an act of subjugation is really a tremendous act of liberation from all worldly absolute claims and entry into a personal loving relationship with God, whom we call our Father and acknowledge as the Father of all human beings. ‘Serving God means to reign.’ (Deum servire regnare est.)

  Hence confession of the one true God of Jesus Christ is not only a theoretical world view or ideological statement. What is being said is not only that God is, that he is one and almighty. Belief in God is not only about what is believed (fides quae creditur) but first and foremost about a personal act (fides qua creditur), by which we renounce the many gods and idols and turn to the one true and living God, trusting and keeping to him wholeheartedly with all our strength and in all situations, in order to find him in all things, above all in our neighbours, and to love him above all.5

  Of course, in this world we remain pilgrims, seeking God’s countenance (Ps. 27.8; 42.3). In this world we only know God in puzzling outlines; in eternity will we see him face to face (1 Cor. 13.12). Only then will we ‘know him as he is’ (1 Jn 3.2). Therefore theological knowledge is always pilgrim knowledge in hope (Summa Th. 1/II q. 1 a. 6). So on the one hand, theology battles against the faint-heartedness, the defeatism and resignation that has lost courage for great things (magnanimitas) and has also given up the quest for God as the ultimate ground and goal. Theology also battles against the pride, arrogance and self-assurance of ideologies that explain the world without God and life without God and think they can cope and live ‘etsi Deus non daretur [‘as if there were no God’; literally: ‘as if God were not given’.]. Theology’s hopeful knowledge, lying between faint-heartedness and pride is vital for life and survival in a situation like ours, in which worldly promises for the future have disappointed and deceived us, utopian energies are largely exhausted and hope is in short supply. For without hope no one can live, no individual and no people.6

  Of course hope whose fulfilment can be seen is not hope (cf. Rom. 8.24f). That is why the Bible speaks of God’s hiddenness (cf. Is 45.15). This does not mean that God is ultimately beyond human natural powers of knowledge or that in images and likenesses we know more about what he is not than what he is (Summa Th. 1 q. 1 a. 7 ad 1; a.9 ad 3). Rather, as The God of Jesus Christ tried to show in a reformulation of traditional negative theology, in his revelation God is the hidden God, the God who is always greater (Deus semper maior) than all the ideas and concepts, that we have of him. According to the famous formula of Anselm of Canterbury, he is not only that than which nothing greater can be thought (Proslogion 2), he is also greater than anything that can be thought (ibid., 15). He surpasses all our powers of imagining and thinking. Every likeness corresponds to an even greater unlikeness (DS [Denzinger] 806). Gregory of Nyssa speaks of the ‘dazzling darkness’ into which Moses entered upon Mount Sinai.7

  This theologia viatorum and theologia negativa is a warning against arrogant
theological knowingness and against commandeering God for our own concerns and purposes, using him for our own interest. So theology is always a critique of ideology, whether those ideologies present themselves as ‘leftwing’ attempts to change the world, or ‘rightwing’ conservative civic religion, which sanctions existing social relations and guarantees public order. By this critical tendency, theology maintains its transcendence over the world and humanity, over all that can be ascertained and all political and other systems. It stands for the truth that sets free (Jn 8.32).

  The liberating character of speaking about God also applies to ecclesiology. Since the Second Vatican Council this has become central to theology. Perhaps in the meanwhile in theology we have talked too much about the Church and its institutions, and too little about God. Henri de Lubac, who advanced ecclesiology more than almost anyone else, stressed: We believe the Church, we do not believe in the Church. We confess it in the Creed as the ‘holy Church; we believe it as Christ’s body and building in the Holy Spirit; but the visible Church is not God; it is a created and provisional reality. When at the end God becomes ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15.28), the Church as an institution will no longer exist. De Lubac expressly warns against idolizing the Church,8 although theology is firmly set within the common faith of the Church, it the Church’s preoccupation with itself.

  The Church’s confessions of faith are true but they are not the object and goal of faith in themselves; they are true, because and as they point beyond themselves to God (Summa Th. I/II 1q. 1 a. 1; a. 2; a. 6). They are thus an introduction into a personal encounter and personal conversation with God and a sharing in God’s Trinitarian life. Thus every true theology flows into doxology,9 into acknowledging and adoring praise of God. It thereby makes plain that human beings exist by ek-sisting, that is praising and adoring over and above themselves. Here we can learn important lessons from the Eastern Church tradition, rooted as it is in liturgical doxology, and thereby avoid the danger of theology becoming mere ‘headwork’.

  This insight can also ease an old controversy with the Reformation tradition. For if theology is ultimately doxology, which should flow into personal prayer, this means that the necessary mediation of faith by the Church in the Catholic view is ultimately an introduction into the immediate relationship with God, so dear to the Protestant understanding of faith. Thus mediation by the Church and each Christian’s immediate relationship with God are not opposed to one another, as they are often presented in theological polemics. It is a matter of mediated immediacy, in which we stand immediately before God, but never alone before God. Our personal faith in God is always and everywhere made possible, borne and supported by the ‘we’ of the Church’s faith.