On Being a Christian by Hans Küng

First published:Christ sein, 1974 (English translation, 1976)

Edition(s) used:On Being a Christian, translated by Edward Quinn. New York: Pocket Books, 1978

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Subgenre(s): Church history; critical analysis; theology

Core issue(s): Daily living; faith; Jesus Christ; truth

Overview

Hans Küng, born in Switzerland, is a Catholic priest and a prolific author. The appearance of On Being a Christian in English in 1976 brought a primarily academic theologian to wide public attention. At the time, Küng was a professor of theology at Tubingen, Germany. The book’s perspective, which can now be appreciated as expressing a moderate theological liberalism, added to the official Vatican concern about Küng’s 1970 book, Unfehlbar? Eine Anfrage (Infallible? An Inquiry, 1971). In 1979, he lost his license to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian but continued teaching at Tubingen until his retirement in 1996. In his retirement he has explored the concept of a “global ethic,” drawing on insights from all religious traditions.

In On Being a Christian, Küng’s first response is to turn to the world situation as he sees it, to a secular world apparently in the throes of great change, and to its social and political claims on human beings. He wonders if the Catholic Church, in the midst of all this, has lost its relevance, or more possibly, its soul. He begins with the claim that “to save man’s humanity . . . there must be genuine transcending, a genuinely qualitative ascent to a real alternative (to) one-dimensional thinking, talking and acting.”

Küng next moves to the question of the world religions. “Not only Christianity, but also the world religions are aware of man’s alienation, enslavement, and need of redemption,” he writes, and he sees in this shared knowledge a confirmation of the need for transcendence. However, he does not accept a universalizing “religion” in general: Similarities exist but serious differences must be acknowledged. The telling distinction is to be found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He identifies the distinctions among the world religions and the various secular humanisms as follows: “Christianity only exists where the memory of Jesus Christ is activated in theory and practice.”

Küng then turns to the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity and the memory of Jesus Christ must be firmly rooted in the understanding that Jesus was a Jew. Küng sensitively describes the “Judaisms” of Jesus’ historical period and the ways in which Jesus diverged from them. What then, he asks, was the center of Jesus’ proclamation and his actions? Küng understands that center to be the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, which he calls “the designation of God’s cause.” Küng sees the Jesus of the Gospels not proclaiming himself but rather an “oddly radical identification of God’s cause with man’s.”

This examination of Jesus leads to a discussion of the debate about the nature and being of God, especially in the problematic designation of “Father” used in the Christian creeds. Again, Küng sees a radical revision. “Father” is not used in the Greek sense of physical progenitor (Zeus), nor in the patriarchal sense of the exerciser of sovereign rights. This is instead the “Father” of the parable of the prodigal son, “who meets men as a God of redeeming love.” Jesus, it follows, is God’s “personal ambassador, trustee, confidant, friend of God . . . when he proclaims God as Father . . . he rises above the religious fears and prejudices of his time [and] identifies himself with the people who are ignorant of religion.” Here Küng finds the alternative to one-dimensional life, “a real alternative with different values, norms and ideals.” However, this alternative is not without cost.

Küng turns to the death of Jesus. The opening question must be why he had to die. By asserting that “Jesus’ violent end was the logical conclusion of his proclamation and behavior,” Küng carefully lays out the political and religious provocations of Jesus’ ministry, and what interest each group had in seeking his death. In this discussion, Küng moves from historically accepted material to issues of faith. He notes the difficulties in the narratives of the Resurrection. Once again, he speaks of radicalization; “The resurrection faith is not an appendage to faith in God, but a radicalizing of faith in God.” The Resurrection, then, is another manifestation of “God’s cause.”

Küng’s concluding section is entitled, “Being Christian as Being Radically Human.” Küng returns to the secular sphere, where he is cautiously critical of “political theology.” Writing at a time when Latin American liberation theology was ascendant in many places, Küng calls for “no uncritical identifications.” Just as he views Jesus as unallied with any of the political movements of his time, Küng urges Christians not to join uncritically with contemporary political movements whether of the left or the right. Politics must be subject to the scrutiny of the Gospel. Küng concludes, repeating his question: “Why should one be a Christian?” His final answer is that “By following Jesus Christ, man in the world of today can truly humanly live, act, suffer and die; in happiness and unhappiness, in life and death, sustained by God and helpful to men.”

Christian Themes

In On Being a Christian, Küng’s first concern is to address the question of the distinctiveness of Christianity. He locates this distinctiveness in the person of Jesus Christ. From this, Küng turns to Christology, an analysis of what may be known about Jesus Christ, how it may be known, and what to do with this knowledge once one has it. This involves a discussion of the historical-critical method of biblical study, which attempts, among other things, to place the biblical narratives in their historical contexts and to realign the reader’s perception of the narratives with how a person of the period might have understood them.

Küng examines the ethical teachings of Jesus Christ within their historical contexts as well as vis-à-vis the actual content of the narratives. Suffering is one of the themes that emerges in the context of the Crucifixion. The miraculous, not only Jesus’ miracles in the Gospel narratives, but also the even more pressing questions of the Resurrection and the virgin birth, also receive careful examination. The practice of being the Church is his next theme. Küng posits that being the Church is a distinct way of being, and he works through what that means by drawing not only on the teachings of Jesus and Paul but also on the practices of the early Church. His final discussion of evangelism considers how the understanding of the Gospel that he has so far portrayed may be presented in a diverse and increasingly secularized world.

Sources for Further Study

Küng, Hans. Christianity: Essence, History, and Future. New York: Continuum, 1995. Examines Christian history through several periods from the eschatologically minded early Christian period to the contemporary ecumenical period. Diagrams, maps, and sidebars make skimming easy, but the full 936 pages are for the determined reader.

Küng, Hans. My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003. Küng’s account of his early life, vocational call, education, and faith development, written entirely in present tense. Concludes at the close of Vatican II. Illustrated.

Küng, Hans. Theology for the Third Millennium: An Ecumenical View. New York: Doubleday, 1988. An effort to create a pan-Christian theology to carry churches toward unity in the twenty-first century. Helpful but perhaps too hopeful.

Nowell, Robert. A Passion for Truth: Hans Küng, A Biography. New York: Crossroad, 1981. Written in response to the revocation of Küng’s license to teach Catholic theology, this work presents a defense of his life and work.