Mary E. Hines

An Ecumenical Priesthood

Theology

“Jakob Karl Rinderknecht has done a great service by making this intriguing 1973 work by Karl Rahner available in English. It offers a fascinating peek into Rahner’s thought processes as he lets his imagination experiment with possibilities for an ecumenical priesthood that go beyond church structures as they are and allow the Spirit to blow where she will. Grounded in the Catholic tradition and his understanding of the universal offer of grace, Rahner depicts an understanding of sacrament that can explicitly recognize the presence and activity of grace in Protestant ordinations. Although not a widely studied trajectory in Rahner’s thought, ecumenism is both an explicit and implicit theme that culminates in the discussion of mutual recognition of ministries in the 1983 Unity of the Churches: An Actual Possibility. “Rinderknecht’s excellent critical introduction invites the reader to continue exploring the implications of this work for today’s other pressing ecumenical issues that have intensified since the 1970s, such as ordination of women. The introduction also offers a lucid guide through the sometimes-meandering progress of Rahner’s thought experiment. “This is but a brief glimpse into a work that remains surprisingly timely for the ecumenical and ecclesial issues that continue to occupy us. Both the Rahner work and the Rinderknecht introduction introduction merit the attention of all those engaged in these issues.”