Deus Caritas Est: The Kung Perspective

Been wondering what Hans Kung thinks about Pope Benedict’s new encyclical Deus Caritas Est? Well, there’s a surprise and a no-surprise to report.

The surprise: Kung liked the encyclical and had some positive things to say about it.

"Hans Kueng [sic], who was banned from teaching Catholic theology in 1979, hailed his former university colleague for writing a first encyclical that was ‘solid theological fare’ and ‘not a manifesto of cultural pessimism or restrictive sexual morality.’"

The no-surprise: Kung thinks the Pope’s next encyclical should be based on the Gospel According to Hans Kung.

"[Kung’s] statement, written in their native German language, then said the second encyclical he sought [from Pope Benedict] should show kindness to Catholics who use contraceptives, which the Church bans, or men who leave the priesthood because of mandatory celibacy.

"Kueng asked for more understanding for ‘critical voices in the Church’ and divorced Catholics who remarry and are therefore no longer allowed to receive communion in church.

"His last appeal was for ‘more loving treatment’ for Protestant clerics ‘whose Eucharistic services have been declared invalid.’"

GET THE STORY.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

18 thoughts on “Deus Caritas Est: The Kung Perspective”

  1. I swear, when I first read the header on this entry I thought it said “The Kung Fu Perspective”. 🙂
    And that produces all sorts of interesting mental images.
    –arthur

  2. Golly, I’m all in favor of showing “kindness to Catholics who use contraceptives, which the Church bans, or men who leave the priesthood because of mandatory celibacy.” Etc. Fine with me….huh? …what? …you say, that’s code for “change Church teaching to suit these folks”? Oh, I didnt know that. Forget the kindess.

  4. Great now I have the song “Kung Fu Fighting” stuck in my head. Thanks Arthur!
    Take care and God bless.
    J+M+J

  5. “The Kung Fu Perspective” reminds me of the scene in “The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima” where the children are in prison and Jacinta asks the criminals to pray the Rosary with them. One refuses, until Gilbert Roland says to him: “Pray or I’ll beat your brains in!” It worked in the movie, but I wouldn’t recommend it as an evangelistic tool.

  6. I didn’t have “Kung Fu Fighting” stuck in my head until you mentioned it. Thanks, Inocencio!

  9. … And no, “Küng” doesn’t rhyme with “young”. Please, no more “Kung” Fu references! (I’ll leave it to the curious to look up how to pronounce “ü”) 😉
    Chalk this one up to bad transcription. It should be “Kueng”.

  11. Everybody was Hans Kung fighting
    Those catholics were fast as lightning
    In fact it was a little bit frightning
    But they fought with expert timing
    Sorry Karen could not resist…

  12. Karen ist korrekt… err, is right. German umlauts (the two dots over the vowel) are often transliterated into English as an “e” after the vowel. So Küng is properly transliterated to Kueng.
    I’ll leave it to the curious to look up how to pronounce “ü”
    Pronunciation is a bit harder to explain without hearing it. A German ü should be pronounced halfway between a long English “u” (as in flu) and a short English “u” (as in cup). Or, you could say, something halfway between the double-o sounds in “book” and “hoop”.
    So it’s not “K-uh-ng”, and it’s not “K-oo-ng”, it’s midway between the two.
    How vonderful zee German langvage is!

  14. And, yes, I thought it said “Kung Fu Perspective,” as well.
    But, no, Inocencio, I did not have that *song* in my head until you put it there! 😉

  15. I’ve said it before, I think if people (like Kung) were surprised by the tone of this encyclical, they may be surprised yet again, not to say dismayed.
    Love is (in the words of C.S. Lewis) a high and hard discipline.

  16. The easiest way to pronounce the umlaut U and the french U is to make “oo” with your mouth and say “ee”

  18. Does Father Küng want to be recognized as infallible?
    An interesting German usage. While in Germany, I found that German Catholics traditionally address a diocesan priest as “Herr” (German for “Mister”). A priest of a religious order is addressed as “Pater” (Latin for “Father”), but not as “Vater” (German for “Father”). So, since I am a priest of the Order of St. Benedict, the Germans addressed me as “Pater Stephanos” (or, as many couldn’t get past their German ways, “SHtephanos”); but they called their diocesan priest “Herr Küng” or “Herr Schultz” etc. This may seem odd to us English, speakers. However, our use of the Latin “Monsignor” is a fancy way of saying “Mister.”
    In writing my name on documents, I use “Fr.” I deliberately avoid signing or writing “Rev.” (“Reverend”) as it comes from a Latin form meaning “he who is to be revered.”
    Back to “Küng.” Let’s be decent Catholics and refer to him as “Father Küng.”

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