Paul F. Knitter

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Paul F. Knitter

Paul Francis Knitter (born February 25, 1939 in Chicago ) is an American Catholic theologian and religious scholar and former ordained priest. He currently teaches as a professor of theology, world religions and cultures in the renowned " Paul Tillich Chair" at the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York . He is considered, among others such as John Hick , as a representative of a ' pluralistic theology of religion '.

Education and activity

Knitter comes from a deeply religious working-class Chicago family. His father was Paul Lewis Knitter (July 27, 1915 - December 9, 1995) from Illinois and his mother Rose Georgiana (March 12, 1914 - May 31, 1980) was born Dolezal (also Doležal). He attended the Sisters of St. Francis School there before moving to high school . In Summit (Illinois) he was taught at St. Joseph Summit PreSchool-8th Grade, and then at the Divine Word Seminary, East Troy ( Wisconsin to change). After high school and after two years of novitiate , he joined the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) in 1958 to become a missionary .

In September 1962 he was ordered to study in Rome . In October after he got there, Pope John XXIII opened. the Second Vatican Council and with it the important 'reform conference' in the Catholic Church. After studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (licentiate in 1966), he went to Münster to do his doctorate with Karl Rahner . After half a year he made the discovery that another doctoral student had just published a dissertation on the same subject in Rome. He interrupted his project and went to Carl Heinz Ratschow in Marburg to do his doctorate on Protestant theology of religion, especially Paul Althaus . Knitter then completed his studies with a doctorate in Protestant theology at the University of Marburg (1972). Title of his dissertation Towards a Protestant Theology of Religions . At times he worked as an assistant to Rudolf Bultmann .

He was the first Roman Catholic theologian to be admitted to the theological doctorate at the University of Marburg . A friend from his studies in Marburg is the Protestant theologian Bernd Jaspert , the editor of his book Horizons of Liberation .

Since 1972 he taught as a professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago . Since 1975 he has been a professor of systematic theology and religious studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati , Ohio . Previously, he put in the same year, his priesthood down . Knitter had been ordained a priest in Rome in 1966 .

In 1984, Knitter signed the A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion campaign .

He has been married to Catherine (Cathy) Mary Cornell since December 31, 1982, who wrote his book No other name? which was also translated into German. They both have two children, John and Moira Knitter.

From 1986 to 2004 he was a member of the board of directors of CRISPAZ ("Christians for Peace in El Salvador"). He is considered one of the world's leading Christian exponents of the dialogue between religions and, since his book Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian was published (2009), he has also been a proponent of “religious bilingualism” ( Dual Belonging ).

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The central finding in pluralistic theologies of religion is the observation that there is not only Christianity, but several other religions. Knitters theology of religion was oriented towards a theocentric God; it described God as already pluralistic in itself, since it was trinitarian . He reinterpreted Jesus Christ's unique salvific role in such a way that his role could be understood as true, but not unique. From a Christian perspective, according to Knitter, the development from ecclesiocentrism to Christocentrism and to a theocentrism can be developed. If the theocentric approach served as the basis for a 'theology of religions' from a Christian perspective. A Christocentric attitude without theocentrism would easily turn into an idolatry in which not only the Christian revelation would be damaged, but also the revelations that could be found in other religions. Jesus of Nazareth himself saw his message theocentrically. A tradition that needs to be picked up again and carried on.

In his work “Introducing Theologies of Religions” (2002) he describes the philosophical starting points for looking at the various theologies of religions side by side. So he sees creation as diversity or plurality and expands this thought to the extent that people can also look at world views and religiosity in this way; as a created diversity in which people can relate in their own faith to what others think. Knitter describes four important religious theological models in this work. The basis for this model was provided by John Hick and his student Alan Race :

  • Replacement model ; in it there is the clear view that Christianity is the only true religion and that it will completely or partially replace all other religions that are considered to be “sinful attempts at self-redemption” by humanity. An exclusivist position that assumes that there can only be one religion and that only one's own religion is the only source of truth. More generally, one 'true religion' supplants or replaces another.
  • Fulfillment model ; this also expresses the view that Christianity is the only true religion. However, it recognizes the presence of elements of truth and grace in other religions and advocates a mutual, if not equal, complementarity through the dialogue between Christians and the other religions or religious systems. The inclusiveist position recognizes that there can be truths in many religions, but the ultimate truth can only be found in one's own religion. In which a religion brings other religions to 'their consummation' or takes them into itself.
  • Reziprozitätsmodell ( mutuality model ); it can be said that there are many true religions, none of which necessarily have to stand above another, and which are all called to dialogue and cooperation with one another, especially when it comes to 'liberation projects' and it is here that they realize their true nature can. In the particularist position it must be accepted that all religions claim to be the best in each case. Therefore it is necessary to live with particular truth claims. Many religions are assumed and are intended for mutual dialogue.
  • Acceptance model ; the model emphasizes the fundamental diversity of the religions and rejects the search for a common ground. The acceptance model urges every religion to maintain and develop its own goals and modes of action. The starting point are many true religions and the recognition of this plurality is left.

The pluralistic position assumes a 'relative truth' of many religions, but none of them has the ultimate truth. The bottom line is that religions or religious systems can learn from each other.

Talking about God, the religious narrative, is always symbolic. His concern is the “ Kingdom of God Sermon” and the “Solidarity of God” with the suffering, the poor and battered people, they are the focus of Knitter's theological research. Therefore, theologically, “a Christology oriented towards the kingdom of God” should also be conceived.

For Knitter, and he follows the opinion of a good friend Aloysius Pieris , the special or unique contribution that Christians can make to the dialogue with other religions is that Jesus is God's defensive pact with the poor, Pieris said, or as Knitter put it:

"Christianity is a religion that reminds its followers and all other religions that knowing God means caring for the victims in our world and that we must bring about reconciliation between victims and perpetrators."

- Paul F. Knitter : I wouldn't be a Christian without Buddha. Herder, Freiburg 2012, pp. 208–209, diary entry from June 1, 2003.

While Knitter, more strongly articulates a practical-religious-dialogue concern, the approach that John Hick pursues is more that of the theoretical-religious-philosophical interpretation of religious plurality.

Self-image of Christianity

For Knitter, it's about following Jesus and not about glorifying him. In this way, the person of Jesus moves from the focus of attention to his preaching of a kingdom of God , which, according to Knitters' interpretation, was exactly what Jesus himself intended. In doing so, he designed a ' Christology oriented towards the Kingdom of God '.

Position of the Roman Catholic Church on the pluralistic theory of religion

Knitter has been a leading exponent of religious pluralism since the 1980s and was sharply criticized for this by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger , who accused him of relativism. Conservative Catholic circles also repeatedly point out that Knitter has given up the priesthood and married, and thus assumes that he is no longer really qualified as a theologian.

On August 6, 2000, the Pontifical Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a declaration with the title Dominus Iesus : "On the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ and the Church" . In this encyclical the believing Christians of the Roman Catholic Church are warned of views which deny the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ. Already at the end of the introduction reference is made to 'relativistic theories' that seek to justify religious pluralism not only de facto , but also de iure and thus in principle. These theories are problematic because in them and through them fundamental truths of the Christian faith lose their validity. The script intends to condemn religious pluralism and some forms of open-minded inclusivism. With Dominus Iesus , the Roman Catholic Church was able to take punitive measures and investigations against several pluralists.

Works (selection)

  • Towards a Protestant Theology of Religions Marburg Theological Studies. 11, NG Elwert, Marburg 1974 (dissertation from 1972).
  • One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue and Global Responsibility. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 1995, ISBN 9781570750373 .
  • Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 1996, ISBN 9781570750533 .
  • The Myth of Religious Superiority: multifaith explorations of religious pluralism. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 2005, ISBN 9781570756276 .
  • Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian. Oneworld, Oxford 2009, ISBN 9781851686735 .
  • Jesus and Buddha: Friends in Conversation. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 2015.
  • Introducing Theologies of Religions. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 2002 ISBN 978-1-57075-419-7
  • The Myth of Christian Uniqueness SCM PR 1988 with John Hick
  • Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility. Orbis Books, Maryknoll 1996
  • Overcoming Greed: Buddhists and Christians in Consumerist Society. Buddhist-Christian Studies 24 (2004), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Press, pp. 65–72 ( [16] on academiccommons.columbia.edu)
  • Buddhist Emptiness and Christian Trinity Essays and Explorations. Paulist Press, Mahwah , NJ 1990 with Roger Corless

German translations

  • Without Buddha, I wouldn't be a Christian. Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-451-30278-7 (Original: Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian. 2009, ISBN 978-1-85168-673-5 )
  • The future of the earth. The shared responsibility of religions. Kösel, Munich 1998 (Original: One Earth, Many Religions. Multifaith Dialogue and Global Responsibility. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 1995)
  • Religion and liberation. Soteriocentrism as an answer to the critics. In: Reinhold Bernhardt (Ed.): Horizons exceeded. Mohn Media, Gütersloh 1991, pp. 203-219.
  • Horizons of Liberation: Towards a Pluralistic Theology of Religions. Otto Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 978-3-8747-6313-4 .
  • One god - many religions. Against the absoluteness of Christianity. Kösel-Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 978-3-46620-295-9 (Original: No other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes toward World Religions. Maryknoll, NY 1985)

literature

  • Reinhold Bernhardt : Literature report "Theologie der Religionen" In: Theologische Rundschau, Mohr Siebeck Volume 72 (2007), pp. 1–35, ISSN 0040-5698 ( [17] on core.ac.uk)
  • P. Peter Mendonsa OP : Christian Witness in Interreligious Context. Approaches to Interreligious Dialogue. Dissertation, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich 2006 ( [18] on edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de) here pp. 123–137
  • Ulrich Winkler : For a pneumatological theology of religion. Salzburger Theologische Zeitschrift (SaThZ) 11 (2007), pp. 175–200 ( [19] on sbg.ac.at) here pp. 187–190
  • Klaus von Stosch : Transcendental Criticism and Truth Question. Pp. 1–35 [20]

Web links

  • Extensive bibliography (as of July 26, 2010) on Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Paul F. Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture. [21]
  • Union Theological Seminary, Paul F. Knitter
  • Detailed bibliography (as of 2011) [22]

Documentation

  • Guest Author. Paul F. Knitter - Theologian. An Interfaith Dialogue with Theologian Paul F. Knitter: The God Within & Beyond All Our Symbols for God, 2011 [23]
  • Paul Knitter's lecture "Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian" was part of the 2014 Baldwin Wallace Faith & Life Lecture Series. [24]

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York, Union Theological Seminary Archives 1, Paul F. Knitter Papers, 1962–2012 ( [1] on library.columbia.edu)
  2. ↑ 2020 Peoplelegacy.com [2] [3]
  3. ↑ Paul Francis Knitter. Theologian university professor, Prabook, biographical data [4]
  4. ↑ see also Sisters of St. Francis
  5. ^ The Vocation of an Interreligious Theologian: My Retrospective on 40 Years in Dialogue. Gedung Sekolah Pascasarjana UGM, Floors 3-4 Jl. Teknika Utara, Pogung, Yogyakarta [5]
  6. ↑ M 3 Paul Knitter: A theologian develops from an “exclusivist” to a “pluralist”. In: Harmjan Dam : Exclusive, Inclusive, Plural: Where am I myself? [6] here p. 4–5
  7. ↑ Reinhold Bernhardt : End of the dialogue ?: the encounter of religions and their theological reflection. Vol. 2 Contributions to a Theology of Religions, Theological Verlag Zürich, Zürich 2005, ISBN 978-3-29017-391-3 , pp. 181-182 ( [7] on books.google.de)
  8. ^ Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Paul F. Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture. [8th]
  9. ↑ Ulrich Dehn : Introduction: The (inter) religious dialogue and the theology of religions. In: Ulrich Dehn, Ulrike Caspar-Seeger , Freya Bernstorff (eds.): Handbuch Theologie der Religionen, Texts on religious diversity and interreligious dialogue. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-37695-5 , pp. 11-27 ( [9] text excerpt from theologische-buchhandlung.de) here p. 20
  10. ↑ Perry Schmidt-Leukel : Truth in multiplicity. From religious pluralism to interreligious theology. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2019, ISBN 978-3-579-08249-3 , p. 54
  11. ↑ see also ecclesiology
  12. ↑ see also Christocentrism
  13. ↑ Paul F. Knitter: One God - Many Religions Against the Absolute Claim of Christianity. Kösel Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-46-6202-95-7 , p. 108.
  14. ↑ Ulrich Dehn : Introduction: The (inter) religious dialogue and the theology of religions. In: Ulrich Dehn , Ulrike Caspar-Seeger, Freya Bernstorff (eds.): Handbuch Theologie der Religionen, Texts on religious diversity and interreligious dialogue. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-37695-5 , pp. 11-27 ( [10] text excerpt from theologische-buchhandlung.de) here p. 21 f.
  15. ^ Paul F. Knitter: Introducing Theologies of Religions. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY 2002 ISBN 978-1-57075-419-7
  16. ↑ Ulrich Dehn , Ulrike Caspar-Seeger , Freya Bernstorff (ed.): Handbuch Theologie der Religionen. Herder, Freiburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-37695-5 , pp. 21-22
  17. ↑ Peter C. Phan : The intercultural and interreligious dialogue a challenge for the Christian mission. Georgetown University ( [11] on ccfmc.net) here p. 10
  18. ↑ Simone Sinn : Religious Pluralism in Becoming: Religious Political Controversies and Theological Perspectives of Christians and Muslims in Indonesia. Vol. 8 Dogmatics in the Modern Age, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-16152-756-2 , p. 13.
  19. ↑ for analysis and clarification see Perry Schmidt-Leukel : For classification of religion -theological standpoints. In: Ulrich Dehn, Ulrike Caspar-Seeger, Freya Bernstorff (eds.): Handbuch Theologie der Religionen, Texts on religious diversity and interreligious dialogue. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-37695-5 , pp. 255–260
  20. ↑ Paul F. Knitter: Without Buddha I would not be a Christian. Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-451-30278-7 , p. 172
  21. ↑ Georg Plasger : Many Religions - One God? The one gospel and the pluralistic theologies of religion. Siegen 2011 ( [12] on reformiert-info.de)
  22. ^ Paul F. Knitter: Apology of a pluralistic theology and Christology. In: Hans-Gerd Schwandt (Ed.): Pluralistic Theology of Religions. A critical sighting. Otto Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-87476-331-8 , pp. 75-95; 91
  23. ↑ Reinhold Bernhardt : Literature report "Theology of Religions". Theologische Rundschau , Volume 72 (2007), pp. 1–35 ( [13] on core.ac.uk)
  24. ^ Paul F. Knitter: Apology of a pluralistic theology and Christology. In: Hans-Gerd Schwandt (Ed.): Pluralistic Theology of Religions. A critical sighting. Otto Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-874-76-331-8 , pp. 75-95; 91.
  25. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.catholic-web.dk
  26. ↑ Belief in the Triune God. A handout from the Faith Commission of the German Bishops' Conference on Trinity Theology. The German Bishops, No. 83. Published by the Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference. Bonn May 2006 ( [14] on www.dbk.de) here p. 38
  27. ↑ Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Declaration "Dominus Iesus" ABOUT unicity and salvific UNIVERSALITY OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. ( [15] on vatican.va)
  28. ↑ Perry Schmidt-Leukel : Truth in Diversity. From religious pluralism to interreligious theology. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2019, ISBN 978-3-579-08249-3 , p. 55.
personal data
SURNAME Knitter, Paul F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paul Francis Knitter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Catholic theologian, religious scholar, former Roman Catholic clergyman, and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago