Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner: Similarities and Contrasts
Abstract
Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner were Christian theologians who thought out of a modern perspective: transcendental, existential, and historical. One was from a Protestant church joining Calvinist and Lutheran traditions, and the other belonged to the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus; both studied Immanuel Kant and learned from Martin Heidegger. Tillich's theology unfolded amid and after the two World Wars with marked cultural changes, while Rahner's years were particularly marked by the changes of Vatican II and cultural shifts after 1960. Both are known for fashioning a theology of the Kingdom of God wider than church membership. This comparison looks at their audiences, the structure of the major systematic work of each, similarities illustrated in a few themes, and contrasting orientations