Batlogg Sets Context for Rahner's Engagement with Bishops

To understand Karl Rahner's understanding of bishops in the Church, one must grasp Rahner's own complicated relation to the bishops of his own day.  That was the thesis of Dr. Andreas R. Batlogg's presentation of  "Rahnerian Resources for the Renewal of Episcopal Ministry" to a Continuing Group of scholars dedicated to Rahner's theology on Saturday, June 9, 2007, at the annual convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America.  

Batlogg is a Jesuit and associate editor for Stimmen der Zeit.  Since 2005 he is one of five co-editors of Karl Rahner's Sämtliche Werke (together with Cardinal Lehmann, J. B. Metz, A. Raffelt and H. Vorgrimler) and is now vice chairman of the board of trustees of the Karl-Rahner-Foundation München.  The text of his handout to CTSA convention-goers is attached below.  For a full text of his remarks, click here.

Rahnerian Resources for the Renewal of Episcopal Ministry

Dr. Andreas R. Batlogg, SJ – München (Germany)

(1) As a Jesuit Karl Rahner (1904–1984) was a member of a congregation that renounces explicitly in its constitutions the office of bishop: not as a stance against bishops, but with the conviction of providing essential, so to say: indispensable cooperation in which the bishop holds a leading function. A development in the understanding of episcopal ministry resulted for Rahner mainly in the context of the Second Vatican Council with some preparation during World War II when he relished the confidence of the Viennese archbishop, Cardinal Theodore Innitzer (1875–1955), in important questions and matters.

The confidence that was placed in him by different bishops generated a lot of invitations for Rahner for the advanced training of priests, suggestions for a renewal of pastoral care and of priestly ministry (“Sendung und Gnade”: Mission and grace – “Einübung priesterlicher Existenz”). This trustfulness was important for Rahner. He inspired confidence on the part of the bishops and this was why he worked untiringly for them. That kind of image of bishop was reaffirmed when Cardinal Franz König (1905–2004), the archbishop of Vienna (1956) asked him to be his consultant in Rome during the council where Rahner was also in service to a lot of other bishops, conferences of bishops and other groups.

(2) Rahner never had to teach ecclesiology: neither in Innsbruck (1937/39, 1948/63) nor in Munich (1964/67) nor in Münster (1967/71). In a theological way Rahner’s understanding was intensified by his idea of the genesis of the church (“werdende Kirche”) out of God’s will. He described this in his Quaestio disputata about inspiration (“Über die Schriftinspiration”, QD 1, Freiburg 1957). See two scholarly studies:

The indispensable entries for Rahner is the term “ius divinum”. It is unalterable law (unveränderliches Recht). The episcopy is of divine right. This is why the Roman pontiff cannot abolish despite his primacy of jurisdiction (Jurisdiktionsprimat). Bishops must not be regarded as deputies of the Pope or his officials (Beamte). They have their own power that comes from Christ. Not in the Pope’s name, but in Christ’s name they “pasture the flock”.

See Rahner’s articles:

1. Primat und Episkopat. Einige Überlegungen über Verfassungsprinzipien der Kirche, in: Stimmen der Zeit 161 (1957/58) 321-336;
   Reprint in: Der Bischof. Primat und Episkopat, in: K. Rahner, Sendung und Gnade. Beiträge zur Pastoraltheologie. Innsbruck 51988, 235-258 (11959: 260-277); sowie in: K. Rahner / J. Ratzinger, Episkopat und Primat (QD 11). Freiburg 1961, 13-36;
2. Über das ius divinum des Episkopats, in: K. Rahner / J. Ratzinger, Episkopat und Primat (QD 11). Freiburg 1961, 60-125. (Dedicated to Julius Cardinal Döpfner);
3. Die Träger des Selbstvollzugs der Kirche: Bischof und Bistum, in: Handbuch für Pastoraltheologie. Bd. 1. Freiburg 1964, 167-179; jetzt in: K. Rahner, Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 19: Selbstvollzug der Kirche. Ekklesiologische Grundlegung praktischer Theologie. Freiburg 1995, 99-110;
4. Über den Episkopat, in: K. Rahner, Schriften zur Theologie. Bd. 6. Einsiedeln 1965, 369-422;
5. Pastoraltheologische Bemerkungen über den Episkopat in der Lehre des II. Vatikanum, in: ebd. 423-431;
6. Über Bischofskonferenzen, in: ebd. 432-454.

(3) Rahner’s suggestion to Karl Lehmann when he became bishop of Mainz (1983):

He will be a bishop of balanced serenity, a theologian in the middle also as a bishop. All these abilities do also have, as everything, dangers as well as temptations. Unavoidably, to the objective balance of mind belongs also the courage to onesidedness, the audacity to stand up for decisions that will not please everybody and that can not be justified apriori and that you will have to defend even against people you appreciate or that are even ,higher’ ranked than you are yourself. May I, as his old friend, say that I do wish him for his office and his future as an Episcopal theologian this virtue especially?