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Title: My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs by Hans Kung ISBN: 0-8028-2659-8 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Balanced Overview of Kung's Life and Thought Through 1968
Comment: Hans Kung, perhaps the most controversial Catholic theologian of modern times, has written a memoir of his life up to 1968. In recounting his theological formation, years of teaching, and particularly his service to the Church during the Second Vatican Council, Kung provides readers with a nuanced view of his theological method and conclusions. For North Americans, particularly those who grew up in the wake of the Council's changes, this book is a valuable historical view of the ideas, people, and institutions that formed Catholicism in a time of enormous ferment.
Despite the struggles Kung was to undergo in the 70s, 80s, and 90s (only hinted at in this first volume), he is generally well-disposed to those who opposed him and rarely slips into personal attack. This book is a valuable addition to Catholic historical thought but should also be read in conjunction with those reflective works of Kung's theological counterparts: Rahner, Ratzinger, Congar, and de Lubac.
The translation at times is a bit slip-shod ("degree" in place of "decree" on a number of occasions) but readers should have no real trouble with this editorial problem.
Rating: 5
Summary: Another fine book from Kung
Comment: My Struggle for Freedom is another fine book from this great Christian and Christian theologian, but one concentrating on his life and experiences as another way of approaching the issues central to his life. The years he covers are through the late 1960s, and include his boyhood in Switzerland, his path to becoming a priest, his education in theology and finally Vatican II. The issues, and his commitment to intellectual honesty, to Christian honesty and to Christ as the very core of Christianity, are still central. As always, he calls it as he sees it and gives his reasons for doing so. If you don't like honest and well-reasoned opinion, don't read Kung.
The book reads well, is touching at many points, and simply resounds with his famed honesty, clarity and great erudition. Reading this book is yet more of the liberal education he supplies in all his books. My Struggle for Freedom has only increased my love and admiration for him as a person, as a fellow Christian and as a leader in ethical and religious thinking today. To me, Kung is the voice of ecumenism. (Note that the publisher is a traditionally protestant book house.) While I am mainly protestant in my Christian orientation, Kung has helped me understand the Catholic Church, the mother church of Christianity, to the point where I deeply regret all the historical splits, and that another outcome had not been negotiated for the Reformation. This is ironic. He is a persistent and insightful critic of the church, yet he creates love for this church which he refuses to leave or stop loving; and after all is done, it is an ironic testament to the greatness of the Church itself that it has produced such a man.
Kung is a man of great courage, of true commitment to Christ and Christian ideals.
If you have ever wondered about the man, the person, who has the thoughts behind his many other books, you will enjoy reading this one. The best recommendation I can give is to say I await with excitement the publication of the second volume of autobiography, detailing his life up to today.
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Title: A People Adrift : The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America by Peter Steinfels ISBN: 0684836637 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints by Elizabeth A. Johnson ISBN: 0826414737 Publisher: Continuum Pub Group Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Coming Catholic Church : How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism by David Gibson ISBN: 0060530707 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church by Paul Lakeland ISBN: 0826414834 Publisher: Continuum Pub Group Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: The Catholic Church : A Short History by Hans Kung ISBN: 0812967623 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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