以卡爾．拉內之人「回歸奧秘」論聖奧斯定之「回歸」

The Holy Mystery Led St. Augustine Back to Him: A Case Study Based on Karl Rahner’s “Reduction into Mystery”

卡爾．拉內（Karl Rahner，1904-1984）在其思想中提供了人「回歸奧秘」的觀點，該論點指向人在世上具有其獨特的角色，以及與神聖奧秘（天主）之間有不可分割的關係。

 

本文藉由文獻分析法（Document Analysis）發掘在拉內的思想中，每個人都會受到該奧秘的吸引，並在不知不覺中歸向祂。另一方面，聖奧斯定（St.Augustine，354-430，又譯：奧古斯丁）在其《懺悔錄》（Confessions）中，記載了他回歸天主正途的經驗。該過程起於他在自己生活中，不斷地尋找真理，並在不知不覺中被天主（神聖奧秘）吸引，而逐漸走上歸向天主的正途，並在正途上發現，自己所尋找的一切都在天主之內。

 

前者指出，人在生命中具有歸向奧秘並與之互動的觀點，而後者則是提供了實際人「回歸奧秘」的行動之心路歷程；二者雖使用不同的方式，但均是指向神聖的奧秘在現實中持續地吸引人歸向祂。同時也顯示了天主教／基督新教等基督宗教所藏寓的深奧神學，最終都是與人的日常生活經驗結合，而人是在藉由神學的協助下，使自己得以更深入奧秘以及更清楚祂給予自己的獨特使命。

 

Karl Rahner (1904-1984) proposes the idea of human beings’ “Reduction into Mystery” that points out human beings’ unique role in this world, and their inseparable relationship with the Mystery (God).

 

Using the method of Document Analysis, we find out that every human being is being attracted by the Mystery, and being led back to Him unknowingly. In this paper, we probe into Confessions, in which St. Augustine (354-430) recorded his experience of how he was led back to the right path towards God. This process was started when he attempted to find the Truth in his life, and while he was looking for it, he was attracted by the Mystery unknowingly until he was led back on the right path to the Mystery. Finally, he discovered that everything he had been searching for is in God, the Mystery itself.

 

According to Karl Rahner, human beings are being led back to the Mystery and interact with each other in our life, and meanwhile St. Augustine had his own experience in such action. Even though Rahner and St. Augustine used different ways to show how the Mystery leads human beings back to Him, both of them indicated that the Mystery is constantly attracting and leading human beings back to Him. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the profound Theology is still connecting with our everyday life experience, and the Theology is a way to help human beings go into the Mystery deeper and understand their unique role given by God more clearly.