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Title: 'Den Hochmut der Theologie reizen'
Subtitle: Jesuitische Streifzüge durch die ignatianischen Exerzitien und die Frage nach einer (Existential-)Ethik in Amoris Laetitia
Author(s): KIESLINGER, Kristina
Journal: Marriage, Families & Spirituality
Volume: 24    Issue: 1   Date: 2018   
Pages: 54-71
DOI: 10.2143/INT.24.1.3284966

Abstract :
It seems to be endemic to the Jesuit tradition to provoke or try to provoke the arrogance of theologians in order to cause them to reflect more deeply. This is especially true of both Jesuit theologians discussed in this article: Karl Rahner and Jorge Mario Bergoglio. It is worthwhile to shed more light on their thought and, above all, to make clearer the synthesis of their thinking. The article presents the points of convergence between the existential ethic of Rahner and the central points of Amoris laetitia. Their common roots in the tradition of Ignatian spirituality are brought to light. It then draws out the implications of these similarities for theological ethics. The tertia comparationis between the thoughts of the two Jesuits consists first of all in their formal orientation, in which both – more or less explicitly – develop their ethics. Secondly, it is present in their own method of inductive reasoning in which this ethical approach is grounded. Third, it is found in the content of this ethics in regard to an irreducible humanity, which should be regarded as resulting from the greatest possible realism in their approaches. It must be said that these contextual borrowings originate from Ignatian spirituality and an interpretation shaped by the Exercises. These formal and material determinations are concretized in AL in regard to the encounter with failure and the logic of 'accompanying, discerning, and integrating' (AL 291). An analysis of the Ignatian Exercises in which attention is given to 'external events', 'inner movements', and the 'mystery of God', is paralleled with the way in which Rahner and Francis understand confrontation with reality, the search for and discovery of God in the every-day, and the focus on inner silence. This three-fold approach is useful in dealing with those couples who are separated and/or those who are civilly remarried.

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