A Brief Introduction to Karl Rahner Quotes

“God’s becoming incarnate in the world is not first and foremost a response to the problem posed by sin. It is instead a climactic moment in a positive movement towards the world, a movement which would have taken place even had there been no such thing as sin. Had Adam not fallen, to put it in traditional language, Christ would still have come into the world, would still have died, and would still have risen again. Rahner does not deny the reality or the gravity of sin and evil, nor does he deny that, in fact, the incarnation, cross and resurrection have something to do with the forgiveness of sin. But this is not all that they are; Christ is not just the remedy for our sins. Sin, as Rahner sees it, cannot be allowed to be the driving motor of the story of God’s involvement with the world.”
― Karen Kilby, The SPCK Introduction to Karl Rahner: A Brief Introduction

“Jesus does not change God’s mind. Jesus does not turn God’s wrath to mercy. Christ’s death does not persuade God to be gracious, but is itself an expression, or rather the definitive expression, of God’s graciousness. The incarnation is a high point in the history of salvation rather than a turning point.”
― Karen Kilby, The SPCK Introduction to Karl Rahner: A Brief Introduction

“to be oriented towards God is what makes us human, then the one who is so oriented towards God that he is utterly given over to God, and utterly taken over by God, is actually the one who is at the same time the most fully human.”
― Karen Kilby, The SPCK Introduction to Karl Rahner: A Brief Introduction

“So God does not first create the world and then, as a kind of after-thought, in response to what goes on in the world, decide to become incarnate. Instead God from the beginning creates what is other than himself in order to give himself to it.”
― Karen Kilby, The SPCK Introduction to Karl Rahner: A Brief Introduction