Hans Kng

Hans Kung is undoubtedly one of the most important theologians of our time, but he has always been a controversial figure, and as the result of a much-publicized clash over papal infallability had his permission to teach revoked by the Vatican. Yet at seventy-five he is also something like a senior statesman, one of the 'Group of Eminent Persons' convened by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and a friend of heads of government like Tony Blair and President Mubarak of Egypt. In this autobiography he gives a frank and outspoken account of the first four decades of his life. He tells of his youth in Switzerland and his decision to become a priest, his doubts and struggles as he studied in Rome and Paris, and his experiences as a professor in Tubingen, where he received a chair at the amazingly early age of thirty-one. Most importantly, as one of the last surviving eye witnesses he gives an authentic account of the struggles behind the scenes at the Second Vatican Council, in which he took part as a theological expert. Here it becomes clear just how major an influence he was, to the point of shaping the Council's agenda and drafting speeches for bishops to deliver in plenary sessions. Kung's book offers an acute analysis, compelling its drama, of meetings with presidents like John F. Kennedy, popes like John XXIII and Paul VI, great theologians like Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, and journeys round the world. With its rich thought and vivid narrative, it paints a moving picture of Kung's personal convictions, and his struggle for a Christianity characterized not by the domination of an official church but by Jesus.

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