The ecclesiology of Karl Rahner

In the years since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has struggled to renew its self-understanding and revise its relationship to the world. This book examines the contribution made to those debates by Karl Rahner (1904-1984), one of the foremost Catholic theologians of this century. The book situates Rahner's ecclesiology in the context of his whole theology, focusing in particular on the evolution of his thought over a fifty year period. Dr. Lennan shows. How Rahner's approach to the Church was radicalized by his awareness of the rate of social change in the twentieth century. Faithful to the Church's tradition, Rahner was nonetheless convinced of the Church's need to reform its structures and clarify its doctrines in order to respond to a pluralist society. Rahner's vision of the future centred on a church committed both to preservation of its heritage and an openness to change.