Theological Journal – August 11 Karl Rahner, "Christian Humanism,"

     (Theological Investigations IX (Herder and Herder, 1972), 187-189) 

"Love of one’s neighbor must not be the mere inclination of the affections or private intercommunication, which can be the most sublime form of egoism precisely because it can be so intimate and bring such happiness, but must become the sober service of ‘political’ love as well, whose concern is the whole of mankind, turning the most distant person into the nearest neighbor and having occasion to hold the nearest person sternly at a distance." 

How’s this for a description of neighbor love? - “. . . the sober service of ‘political’ love as well, whose concern is the whole of mankind, turning the most distant person into the nearest neighbor and having occasion to hold the nearest person sternly at a distance.” How does it make you feel? Does it spark your imagination to serve Christ differently? 

"The inescapable responsibility for oneself, which Christianity proclaims, must take the shape of self-forgetfulness in the love of one’s fellows, or else it becomes the hell of one’s own egoistic isolation. This love of one’s neighbor must be so radical and absolute, and must overcome subjectivity itself (as the possession of oneself) in its very essence to such an extent that it is henceforth only possible as something which happens, which comes to us from an absolute origin which is not ourselves, but which rather sends this love of our neighbor to us as its own love." 

Or this as a description of a responsible self? - “. . . must take the shape of self-forgetfulness in the love of one’s fellows, or else it becomes the hell of one’s own egoistic isolation.” Or as a gift from outside ourselves? Does this mean a responsible self is related to both God and others as a condition of genuine humanity? 

"From the example of the man who struggles and dies on the cross, Christianity knows that the most ultimate and radical love of others in God implies this very fate: one only passes from death to life by loving the other person; and in loving him one knows that it is only with God’s help that one can avoid withholding oneself ultimately from the other person, that one must carry on loving, right to the very end of a pointless death."

“A pointless death” – what do you think Rahner means by that? Could you die a “pointless death” for the love of the other with God’s help?

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