Controversial Theologian Hans Küng: 'I Don't Cling to This Life'

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/controversial-theologian-hans-kueng-on-death-and-church-reform-a-938501.html


Hans Küng, 85, is one of the world's most famous theologians. In 1960, the Swiss native was appointed professor of fundamental theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Two years later, Pope John XXIII appointed him to be an expert theological adviser to members of the Second Vatican Council. In 1979, after rejecting the doctrine of papal infallibility, the Vatican stripped him of his license to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian, although he continued to teach ecumenical theology at the university until retiring in 1996. This picture dates from 2004.

Swiss theologian Hans Küng has been a voice for reform in the Catholic Church for decades on issues such as papal infallibility, the celibacy of priests and euthanasia. His advocacy cost him his license to teach Catholic theology and has led many to brand him a heretic. As the 85-year-old suffers from Parkinson's disease and other ailments, he watches the church under Pope Francis contemplate many of the reforms he has long championed. He recently sat down with SPIEGEL for a wide-ranging conversation about his life and hopes for the future of the church.

SPIEGEL: Professor Küng, will you go to heaven?
Küng: I certainly hope so.

SPIEGEL: Some would say you're going to hell because you are a heretic in the eyes of the church.

Küng: I'm not a heretic, but a critical reform theologian who, unlike many of his critics, uses the gospel instead of medieval theology, liturgy and church law as his benchmark.

SPIEGEL: Does hell even exist?

Küng: Alluding to hell is a warning that a person can completely neglect his purpose in life. I don't believe in an eternal hell.

SPIEGEL: If hell means losing one's purpose in life, it must be a pretty secularist notion.

Küng: Sartre says that hell is other people. People create their own hell -- in wars like the one in Syria, for example, as well as with unbridled capitalism.

[villager]

1. Thanks for posting!

I just finished it, and have already sent along the link...!

[rug]

2. He and Schillebeeckx were giants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Schillebeeckx

[xchrom]

3. +1

[cbayer]

4. What a fascinating and inspirational man.

Thanks for the "good news" post, xchrom.

[xchrom]

5. ...

[skepticscott]

6. Ironically, his own words are proof

that theology is just BS and guesswork, with no foundation in reality.

"Professor Kung, will you go to heaven?"

"I certainly hope so"??

Wtf? After all those years "studying" theology, he has no clue whatsoever.

[struggle4progress]

7. I really got a lot from his book The Catholic Church: A Short History

It was a simultaneously critical and factual but gentle discussion of the Roman Church, in its triumphs and pretensions