Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: A Second Collection

Titel: A Second Collection

Stichwort: Friedrich Heiler: 7 Gemeinsamkeiten aller Hauptreligionen

Kurzinhalt: ... Friedrich Heiler had occasion to list seven principal areas of unity to be discerned, not only in Christian churches and congregations, but in all the religions of mankind:

Textausschnitt: 149a In a collective work on the history of religions published by the Divinity School of the University of Chicago almost a decade ago, the noted German scholar Friedrich Heiler had occasion to list seven principal areas of unity to be discerned, not only in Christian churches and congregations, but in all the religions of mankind: in Judaism, in Islam, in Zoroastrian Mazdaism, in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism.1 I should like to begin this paper with a brief summary of Prof. Heiler's account. For it will draw attention away from what is outward and towards what is inner and vital in religion. It will reassure us that the Christian churches and congregations, despite their many differences, have in common something that is very profound and very dynamic, that promises Christianity a future, that constitutes a basis for serious dialogue not only among Christians but among the representatives of all the world religions. It is true, of course, that Prof. Heiler's list omits what is distinctive of Christianity, but I feel sure that that omission is something that each of us will be more than ready to remedy. (Fs)

149b First, then, Prof. Heiler listed "the reality of the transcendent, the holy, the divine, the Other." Distinct from all things transient there is acknowledged "true being," the "reality of all realities," "the one without a counterpart," "the eternal truth." What is meant is what we name God. While God may be conceived rationally as the ground of the universe, and personally as the "Thou" we interiorly address, still these movements of the human mind and heart are held to be inadequate to reveal what God is. (Fs)

150a Secondly, the divine, while transcendent, is also immanent in human hearts. St. Paul has it that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Koran, that God is nearer than our very pulse. St. Augustine, that he is more inward than one's innermost being. The mysticism of ancient India, that man is one with Brahma. (Fs)

150b Thirdly, this reality, transcendent and immanent, is for man the highest good, the highest truth, righteousness, goodness, beauty. There is nothing in the world of nature or spirit to compare with this Ultimate and Supreme; and so that highest good is the final goal of all the longing and striving of the world religions. (Fs)

150c Fourthly, the reality of the divine is ultimate love. Mercy and grace are the attributes of Yahweh in the experience of the prophets of Israel. God in the gospel is outgoing and forgiving love. Goodness and all-encompassing care makeup the characteristic of the Tao of Laotse. The great heart of compassion is the inmost essence of the divine in Mahayana Buddhism. (Fs)

150d Fifthly, the way of man to God is universally the way of sacrifice. The path of salvation everywhere begins with sorrowful renunciation, resignation, the via purgatiua, ethical self-discipline, asceticism. The path to God finds its continuation in meditation, contemplation, prayer. All pious men pray, partly in words, partly without words, partly in complete solitude, partly in the community of the faithful. And the great saints of all high religions "pray without ceasing," as Paul says. Their whole life is, as Origen said, "one single, great continuing prayer." As they advance they seek not earthly good but God himself and God's rule on earth. (Fs)

150e Sixthly, the high religions teach not only the way to God but always and at the same time the way to the neighbor as well. All preach brotherly love, a love on which there are no limitations, a love that is to be extended even to enemies, a love that has its origin and source not in man himself but in God operating on man, a love that, as it comes from God, also returns to him, for in loving our neighbor we are loving God. (Fs)

151a Finally, while religious experience is as manifold and various as the human condition itself, still the superior way to God is love. It is love of God that leads the high religions to conceive bliss, the highest blessedness, now as the vision of God, now as some other union with him, now as some dissolving into him. (Fs)

151b I have been giving a brief summary of what Prof. Heiler set forth in some eleven pages. I have been doing so because such a summary seemed to me the best way of indicating realistically, though incompletely, what is meant by religion. I now propose to pursue that topic further by raising two questions. First, what is the function of religion in human living? Secondly, how may a Christian account for the great similarity in the diverse high religions without denying the uniqueness of Christianity?