sign in sign up
<<
Home , Papal infallibility, Pope Francis

Hans Kung (1928-2021) Priest, Religious Scholar, and Global Ethic Leader

President Gerry Grudzen’s statement on the passing of Hans Kung, often considered the most important theologian of the past century. Hans Kung died at his home in on April 9, 2021, at 93 years of age.

I first learned of the writings of Hans Kung as a college student at Sacred Heart in Detroit before the start of the in October of 1962. I became a keen student of the Protestant and took additional summer classes in the history of the Renaissance and Reformation at the University of Detroit in addition to my studies at Sacred Heart Seminary.

At my college graduation in June of 1962, I was asked to give the valedictory speech to faculty and students of my seminary. The theme for my presentation was the possible transformational role of the upcoming Second Vatican Council proposed by John XXIII. My preparation for this talk drew heavily from Professor Kung’s book, Council, Reform and Reunion, which had been published in 1961 and led to Kung’s appointment as the youngest Roman Catholic scholar serving as a theological expert for the Second Vatican Council. After the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council Kung began to expand his scholarly writings to include an investigation into the key tenets of the Roman Catholic that he felt needed revision or reform. One of the most important areas that he challenged was the teaching on papal which was promulgated at the in 1870 by Pope Pius IX in the dogmatic constitution, . Kung claimed that the was not a perfect society with a leader who could not err but rather a historical body that needed continual review and reformation much as Martin Luther and Karl Barth had taught (“ecclesia semper reformanda est” ).

Kung’s public challenge to the doctrine of became fully developed in his 1971 book, Infallible? An Inquiry. For most of the decade of the 1970s, Kung came under investigation by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the . In 1979 Kung was forced to give up his position as a Roman Catholic theologian at the University of Tubingen. Kung moved to a new position within the University of Tubingen as a professor of ecumenical theology and as Director of the university’s Institute for Ecumenical Research. Kung remained a Catholic priest in good standing for the remainder of his life, but his focus began to turn toward more universal religious and ethical concerns that led to his eventual role in becoming a key consultant to the Parliament of the World’s Religions when it met in Chicago in 1993 after a 100-year hiatus. Kung was tasked with developing what became known as the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic. Professor Kung worked extensively with a consortium of representatives from most of the major world religions to develop this Declaration. The result of these deliberations and the vote in favor of the Declaration at the 1993 meeting of the Parliament became a signature program of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

The Declaration Toward a Global Ethic includes a set of four irrevocable directives:

1) Commitment to a culture of nonviolence and respect for life. 2) Commitment to a culture of and a just economic order 3) Commitment to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness 4) Commitment to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women

Kung retired as a professor at the University of Tubingen in 1995 and founded the Global Ethic Foundation which continues to promote and encourage the expansion and the application of the Global Ethic to many contemporary issues and problems such as the present global climate crisis. In April of 2005 Santa Clara University’s Markkula Ethics Center sponsored a symposium on “Human Rights and Human Responsibilities in the Age of ” at which Hans Kung was a featured speaker along with Robert McNamara, the former Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war. I was a participant in this symposium which took place over several days. In this symposium, Kung emphasized the importance of global responsibility for the common good of the world and planet earth.

Kung worked not only with religious leaders after the resumption of the Parliament of World Religions but also with many secular groups and secular leaders to promote world peace and understanding.

The election of Jose Mario Bergoglio of to become the leader of the Roman Catholic Church as in 2013, took up many of the reform efforts promoted by Hans Kung particularly regarding global ethical considerations such as the challenge posed by the global climate crisis. In 2016 Hans Kung and Pope Francis entered into a private dialogue about papal infallibility. Kung indicated his surprise and delight in the discourse he had with Pope Francis:

I could not have foreseen then quite how much new freedom Francis would open up in his post- synodal exhortation, . Already in the introduction, he declares, "Not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the ." He takes issue with "cold bureaucratic " and does not want to continue behaving as if they were "arbiters of grace." He sees the Eucharist not as a reward for the perfect but as "nourishment for the weak."

He repeatedly quotes statements made at the episcopal or from national bishops' conferences. Francis no longer wants to be the sole spokesman of the church.

This is the new spirit that I have always expected from the magisterium. I am fully convinced that in this new spirit a free, impartial, and open-ended discussion of the infallibility , this fateful key question of destiny for the Catholic church, will be possible.

I am deeply grateful to Francis for this new freedom and combine my heartfelt thanks with the expectation that the bishops and theologians will unreservedly adopt this new spirit and join in this task in accordance with the Scriptures and with our tradition. (National Catholic Reporter: May 9, 2016)

The contributions of Hans Kung to the reform of the Roman Catholic Church will continue to impact such issues as the call for a married Catholic priesthood and the approval of women as priests. Kung also felt that Church renewal might come from new forms of intentional communities not necessarily linked to traditional church structures such as the model. Kung developed a solid foundation for the collaboration of the world’s religions around the Global Ethic movement.

Global Ministries University will partner with an interfaith consortium based in Kenya in August of 2021 to Identify new models of human and spiritual solidarity linked to the teachings of Pope Francis in his latest , . We will call upon the spirit of Hans Kung to be our guide as well as that of Pope Francis.

Gerald Grudzen

April 11, 2021

Pope Francis has opened the door to further dialogue on most of the issues upon which Kung has focused his attention as a theologian. He and Pope Francis and in almost total agreement on the need to embrace a Global Ethic supported by the world’s religious leaders.

w