Karl Rahner's Theology of Love in Dialogue with Social Psychology and Neuroscience

The commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 25:39) is central to Christian discipleship. How does the concrete way that we express love enhance or diminish our ability to love? This paper brings Karl Rahner’s theology of neighbor love into dialogue with a description of al...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Rahner Papers
Main Author: Thomas, Sarah A. ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Philosophy Documentation Center [2018]
In: Philosophy & theology
Year: 2018, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 549-573
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Rahner, Karl 1904-1984 / Love / Compassion / Social psychology / Neurosciences
RelBib Classification:CF Christianity and Science
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KDB Roman Catholic Church
NCB Personal ethics
ZD Psychology
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 25:39) is central to Christian discipleship. How does the concrete way that we express love enhance or diminish our ability to love? This paper brings Karl Rahner’s theology of neighbor love into dialogue with a description of altruism and compassion provided by social psychologist, C. Daniel Batson, and neuroscientists Tania Singer and Olga Klimecki. For Rahner, grace enables and sustains love. In addition, a mutually reciprocal relationship of unity exists between human love for God, neighbor, and self. Furthermore, Rahner contends prayer as one way to cultivate compassion for another. The scientific research presented here examines aspects of the relationship between self and other known as empathy and compassion. The research of Batson, Singer, and Klimecki shed light on the role of self-love in compassion as well as the ways our capacity to empathize conditions our potential for altruism.
ISSN:2153-828X
Contains:Enthalten in: Philosophy & theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5840/philtheol201963115