Knowing God, Knowing Emptiness; An Epistemological Exploration of Bernard Lonergan, Karl Rahner and Nāgārjuna; Robinson

John N.C. Robinson [+–]

Independent Scholar

John N.C. Robinson holds a B.A Hons in Theology and Biblical Studies from Trinity College Dublin, and an M.Phil in Ecumenics and a PhD from the internationally known Irish School Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin. He was vice-chair of the Young Leadership Council of the International Council of Christians and Jews for three years, and chair for a further two years, facilitating interfaith encounter between Jews, Muslims and Christians from Europe, the United States and the Middle East. He is also involved on an ongoing basis with the European Network for Buddhist-Christian Studies, and is a member of a number of international ecumenical and interfaith networks. He is particularly interested in the role of epistemology in interfaith dialogue, liberation theology, and the interaction between theology and gender, particularly in terms of how this affects marginalised communities.

Knowing God, Knowing Emptiness examines the viability of the epistemology proposed by Bernard Lonergan in his seminal work Insight, particularly with regard to its possible application in the field of interreligious dialogue. This book scrutinises Lonergan’s claim to comprehensiveness in the light of an awareness of the epistemological questions raised by the various dialogues taking place between different religions.

Lonergan claims in Insight that because his epistemology is based on, and corresponds directly to, the structure of human cognition, it is therefore intrinsic to all instances of thought. Accordingly, it is ideally placed to mutually relate any combination of differing positions. This book tests his claim by applying Lonergan’s epistemological categories to Karl Rahner’s Foundations of Christian Faith, and Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Having critically reconstructed Lonergan’s position, this book does the same for both of these texts and parses them on the basis of Lonergan’s epistemological system. It examines whether the thought contained in these two works could be fruitfully related on the basis of Lonergan’s epistemology, and what the implications are for the field of interreligious dialogue. These implications are considered in terms of the theology of religions and of the more recently developed comparative theology, typified by the approach taken by thinkers such as Francis X. Clooney. The book concludes by considering the developments that result from this dialectic.

Prelims

Preface vii-viii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction

Introduction [+–] 1-8

The introduction sets the argument of the book against the backdrop of the epistemological questions emerging from the Theology of Religions and explains the rationale behind the choice of the texts analysed in this volume (Bernard Lonergan’s Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, Karl Rahner’s Foundations of Christian Faith, and Jay Garfield’s translation of, and commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā).

Chapter 1

Bernard Lonergan’s Insight – A Methodological Examination [+–] 9-50

This chapter critically reconstructs the argument advanced by Lonergan in Insight in which he seeks to examine the structure of knowing consisting in the three stages of experience, insight and judgment. His argument is compared with that advanced in Newman’s A Grammar of Assent and preliminary consideration is given to its implications for interfaith dialogue.

Chapter 2

Karl Rahner’s Foundations of Christian Faith: A Lonerganian Analysis [+–] 51-100

This chapter reconstructs the transcendentalist argument rooted in human self-interpretation advanced by Karl Rahner for Christianity in his Foundations of Christian Faith. This argument is then analysed in terms of the epistemology and metaphysics laid out by Lonergan in Insight. Rahner’s argument is parsed in terms of Lonergan’s categories of intelligent knowing, central potency, central form and higher viewpoint.

Chapter 3

Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā: A Lonerganian Analysis [+–] 101-194

The third chapter examines and reconstructs Nāgārjuna’s arguments in his seminal Mūlamadhyamakakārikā in which he examines the nature of śūnyatā. Jay Garfield’s translation from the Tibetan text and commentary is used to heighten the dialectic with Rahner’s argument. The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā is then parsed according to Lonergan’s epistemological and metaphysical structure.

Chapter 4

Dialectic Application of Lonergan’s Epistemology [+–] 195-216

This chapter considers whether Lonergan’s claim that his epistemology is intrinsic to all arguments advanced has been shown to be true in the case of the two texts analysed. The arguments advanced by Rahner and Nāgārjuna are then dialectically interrelated according to Lonergan’s categories, and the implications for the Theology of Religions and Comparative Theology are considered.

Conclusion

Conclusion [+–] 217-221

The conclusion considers the results of the epistemological experiment undertaken in this book and seeks to examine their application to the field of interreligious dialogue. These are considered in the context of the rival truth claims that characterise religious pluralism, and wider questions pertaining to Lonergan’s argument in Insight are also considered.

End Matter

Bibliography 223-227

Index 229-247

Reviews

A markedly original piece of work. The hard-worked clarity of his arguments makes the reader’s task a pleasure. The book is an authoritative, highly informative and generous contribution to philosophical theology and interreligious dialogue. Its readers are likely to be philosophical theologians, readers with an interest in Lonergan, Newman, Rahner and Nāgārjuna, separately or conjointly. It will appeal to comparative theologians who seek deep learning from putting religious others into dialogue with one another. And it will appeal to theorists of peace-making as Robinson argues also for the relevance of his work to those who build peace between the religions.
John O’Grady, Vice-President, European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies

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Knowing God, Knowing Emptiness

An Epistemological Exploration of Bernard Lonergan, Karl Rahner and Nāgārjuna

John N.C. Robinson [+–]

Independent Scholar

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