Horizontalism
In a few theological sources, horizontalism is an interpretation of the world and the transcendent , which in a moderate form shifts the weight of Christian existence to inner-worldly love of neighbor and, in its so-called radical form, starting from God all concepts of faith only as understands past ciphers which in the course of the history of Christianity would only have served to make understandable its real core, the love of one's neighbor.
Horizontalism and verticalism are mutually related. They form the two axes of Christian existence seen from the human perspective , verticalism stands for the human reference to God and service to God and horizontalism for the orientation of faith in the sense of lived neighborly love , or as Karl Rahner puts it in the mouth of radical horizontalists tries to lay down “socio-political and socially critical engagement” and “global responsibility”.
This topic is dealt with intensively, especially in Rahner's text "The Church's Salvation Mission and Humanization of the World". In a few other sources, mostly interviews from the time of liberation theology , the term horizontalism appears as a means of sharply differentiating it from real or supposedly too progressive Christians. It can be assumed that there has never been a group that has called itself that or that has given horizontalism as its doctrine. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten what Rahner himself admits, that one and the other, horizontalism and verticalism, cannot sustain on their own, is simply heresy .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Salvation mission of the church and humanization of the world. - First print in: Geist und Leben 44 (1971), pp. 32–48. - K. Rahner - O. Semmelroth (ed.): Theological Academy. Vol. 8. Frankfurt 1971, pp. 9-21. - K. Rahner: Writings on theology. Vol. 10. Zurich 1972, pp. 547-567