This paper is about the phenomenon known as Neg-Raising. All previous analyses of Neg-Raising fall into one of two categories: syntactic and semantic/pragmatic. The syntactic approach derives the unexpected interpretation of Neg-Raising expressions from a Neg movement operation in the syntax while the semantic/pragmatic approach derives it as an inference attributed to an excluded middle associated with Neg-Raising predicates. In this squib, I discuss a collection of novel and known data, which I argue indicate that both a Neg movement operation (...) as well as an excluded middle are necessary to account for the full range of data. I propose that Neg-Raising is an intrinsically semantic/pragmatic phenomenon and that the Neg movement operation is conditioned by the presence of an excluded middle. I offer a generalization that takes a step towards understanding this mysterious dependency. (shrink)

The personal tragedies of life as well as the horrors of genocide and plague leave many people wondering whether Christian hope is not an empty sentiment. Despite the strong incarnational thrust of his Christology which led to a kind of optimism about the human prospect, Karl Rahner recognized the problems of falsereligious hope. His “optimism” is therefore framed within a stark realism, or “pessimism” about a human condition marked by guilt, suffering and death. Hope is found not in pious escapism, (...) in evasion of darkness, but in standing squarely within and facing the tragic dimensions of life. A comprehensive understanding ofRahner’s Christian pessimism opens up both the history of human entanglement in guilt (Rahner’s rendering of original sin), and the implication of God in darkness of death (the classic issues of providence and divine suffering). Rahner’s incarnationalism is offset in his later work by a theology of the cross, where theincomprehensibility of human suffering rests in the incomprehensibility of God. An eschatological hope is thus rooted in the suffering and death of Jesus. The Christian is one who can dare to hope in the face of tragedy because the cross is where God’s saving presence is most realistically revealed. (shrink)

Karl Rahner’s “world church” turns out to be a church of significant theological and cultural pluralism in which doctrine can sometimes strain to unify disparate elements. This article examines this problem in light of Rahner’s theory of doctrinal development. First, it examines the notion of doctrine itself, suggesting a pliable model inspired by usages of “dogma” in the early church which reflect both teaching and confession of faith. Second, Rahner’s theory of doctrinal development is discussed in light of Newman’s theory. (...) Rahner’s theory shares Newman’s emphasis on “mind” or “faith consciousness.” Although both attend to the historical mediations of revelation, the truth of doctrine remains at an ideational level, an expression of abstract truth. William Lynch’s notion of the imagination of faith and dogma as a poetic embodiment of truth offers an alternative model that accommodates fundamental insights of both Rahner and Newman. Finally, this article discusses how we can find a foundation for coherence amidst a pluralism of interpretations. The ancient regula fidei is invoked. Here, Rahner’s suggestion of short creedal formulae provides a possible modern equivalent. It is also itself an example of doctrinal development appropriate for situations within the world church in which Catholics now find themselves. (shrink)