Paul LAKELAND, ed. Hans Küng: A Revaluation. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2024. Pp. viii + 215. $32.95. ISBN: 978-0-8091-5618-4. Reviewed by Eric W. HENDRY, Oak Park, IL 60304. Reviwed by Eric W. HENDRY, Oak Park, IL

Lakeland has edited together a collection of revaluations written by a slate of distinguished theologians, several of whom knew Küng as his students or colleagues, tasked with the complexity of assessing this man’s lasting impact on the greater world, following his death just four years ago (6 April 2021).

While Lakeland suggests that Küng’s work may not now easily figure into contemporary coursework or even graduate theological studies, it is stunning to remember how Küng’s near star-like public popularity, as both a speaker and author to largely lay audiences across the globe, reflects his immense output of contributions to post-conciliar theology, implementation of the pastoral aggiornamento of the bishops and periti of the Second Vatican Council, and a sustained argument for continuing to read his contributions today, even if they seem less essential than previous generations may have once assessed.

In an interesting approach, Lakeland decided that each of the essayists in this collection would write without knowing of or contributing to the topics each other was writing about. This allows each essay to stand on its own merit. Of the eleven contributions gathered for this volume, in my opinion seven or eight of these essays present us with an extremely valuable understanding into Küng’s most prolific, influential works and perhaps limitations within his much wider oeuvre, given its specific nod to those works that were translated from their original German for the much wider English reading public.

Karl-Josef Kuschel’s obituary-like overview of Küng’s life and passing leads off this set of essays. It is a personal and warm appreciation by one of Küng’s closest colleagues (i.e., nearly fifty years), through all his fierce yet loyal critiques of the Catholic hierarchy and ecclesial limitations. What stands out in this essay is Küng’s commitment to biblical renewal as a key litmus test for any effective evangelical witness in the contemporary world. This is followed by Hermann Häring’s exploration into Küng’s 1957 doctoral dissertation on Justification (Rechtfertigung) and Karl Barth, which, when published for the general public, was immediately registered by the Holy Office onto the Index of Forbidden Books (no. 399/57/i) as going well beyond even the most progressive ecumenists of that day. But Häring describes how Küng’s gifted historical consciousness made his ontological arguments more flexible and attempted reconciliation with Barth all the more radiant in its approach and emphasis on a kind of faith-trust that endures. This historical consciousness and flexible ontology would also bear decisively upon how we are to follow Christ in Küng’s ecclesiological studies, The Council and Reunion (1960), The Structures of the Church (1962), and The Church (1967).

Roger Haight pulls Küng’s Christology primarily from On Being a Christian. In portraying how we are Christians, Küng’s existentialist approach leaves behind the scholasticism of pre-conciliar tradition, as he opts for a more experiential encounter with Jesus as mediator of God, who calls us to travel with him as a body of followers. For Küng, any successful Christology today needs a certain historical-critical biblical narrative with an application of its existential message about God and contemporary human beings; it must point out the reign of God, the centrality of the Cross, and a nuanced, accessible understanding of Resurrection. This is followed by the ethicist, legal and canonical scholar, Mary McAleese, who assessed the explosive tension between Küng and the CDF, and sharp disagreements with its prefect and one-time colleague Joseph Ratzinger over, Infallible: An Unresolved Enquiry (published at the centennial of papal infallibility), which according to McAleese “landed like a guided missile on a flustered Curia, already dealing with the shock caused by Humanae Vitae,” to which Küng’s challenging views only “added fuel to a raging fire,” and the eventual removal of his license to teach as a Catholic theologian. For Küng the link between ecclesiastical infallibility and the power structure of the papacy had become “toxic” – a view, which according to McAleese, had not changed at the time of Küng’s death. This confrontation led to his Tubingen reappointment as the newly created chair of Ecumenical Theology, from which he would eventually launch Projekt Weltethos.

Susan Ross follows with an investigation of Küng’s progressive approach toward the ministerial or ordained priesthood. She notes how Küng seemed to be decades ahead of his time, and that if a student were to unknowingly pick up his books or essays, they might be led to think they were reading an author in line with Pope Francis’ writings on synodality and its impact upon the Roman Catholic priesthood following the abuse scandals. She dives into Küng’s understanding that any ordained priesthood stems out of the priesthood of all the baptized or what Luther termed the priesthood of the believers, and how Vatican II’s emphasis on this priesthood of the baptized is a fundamental ground and launchpad for any subsequent theology of the charism of ministerial or ordained priesthood.

Hille Haker contributed a helpful essay on Küng’s Global Ethics Project and its development in keeping with his own personal evolution in heading the Ecumenical Institute. From 1980 onward, Küng became much more cognizant of the pressing need for Catholic involvement with both ecumenical and interfaith dialogues. The fruit of his ongoing research can be seen in his Paris 1989 UNESCO speech, “No Peace Among the Nations, Without Peace Among the Religions.” He began to ask if a “common ethos” existed among the world’s religions – one that could also appeal to an increasingly secular and humanistic global society; this led to his co-drafting of a Declaration on Global Ethics, and eventually the Declaration for the Parliament of the World Religions (Chicago 1993). With major funding from the Karl Schlecht Foundation, Küng was able to transform the Ecumenical Institute into Projekt Weltethos by 2012. But this did not come without its theological critiques.

One such critical essay, contributed by Francis X. Clooney, SJ, is entitled, “Hans Küng Visits the World Religions.” Clooney demonstrates that while Küng’s subsequent books on first Eastern Religions, and then the Abrahamic Religions, are each “massive” tomes which appear to display a breadth of knowledge, or what he perceived as Küng’s (then) recent foray into learning from – and simply repeating – some of the recognized experts of each World Religion. But Küng’s appeal to popular audiences misses the mark and precision of a true depth of academic study, especially as they each lack a clear penetration of the various Sacred Texts, which are “missing” from these volumes. Clooney clearly sees this as a disservice to World Religions and to Küng’s readers. For Küng, a theologian who so clearly appreciated the benefits of the biblical and liturgical renewals preceding the Second Vatican Council, renewals which informed and impacted his Christology and his Ecclesiology, the lack of penetration into the Sacred Texts of these World Religions can be considered a well-earned critique, and one that deserved substantive explanation.

Readers will undoubtedly learn something new from each of the eleven contributors to this volume. I recommend its addition to your theological collection. It will, in fact, serve as helpful reader to any special topics course on Küng himself, the periti of the Council, or postconciliar ecclesiologies.