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My Struggle for Freedom : Memoirs

ISBN: 0826470211
Author(s): Hans Küng Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Sep 2003)

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Hans Küng 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 infallibility had his permission to teach revoked by the Vatican. Yet at seventy-five years of age Küng is also something of a senior statesman, one of the "Group of Eminent Persons" convened by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a friend of heads of government like Britain's Tony Blair and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

In this fascinating autobiography Küng 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, of his doubts and struggles as he studied in Rome and Paris, and of his experiences as a professor in Tübingen, where he received a chair at the early age of thirty-one. Most importantly, as one of the last surviving eyewitnesses of Vatican II, Küng gives an authentic account of the conflicts behind the scenes. 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.

Küng's book offers an acute analysis, compelling in 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 around the world. With its rich thought and vivid narrative, it paints a moving picture of Küng's personal convictions, including his relentless struggle for a Christianity characterized not by the domination of an official church but by Jesus.

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Disputed Truth : Memoirs II

ISBN: 9781441180285
Author(s): Hans Küng Publisher: Continuum (July 2008)

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Hans Küng has been a major influence on post-war Christianity by any reckoning. A peritus for the Second Vatican Council, he then went on to publish a number of controversial books, including Infallible?, which enraged the Vatican and caused him to lose the ecclesiastical approval of his teaching at the university of Tübingen. However, he remains a respected priest in good standing with his bishop.

Throughout all the upheavals that the Catholic Church has undergone in recent decades, Küng has been an outspoken observer, turning himself from enfant terrible to béte noire. However his world influence has been great. Whether speaking at the United Nations or consorting with politicians and religious leaders, he is always listened to with respect and enthusiasm. A string of recent books has added to the reputation—notably On Being a Christian and Does God Exist?

What is not so well known is that, as a young man, Küng was a close friend and confidant of Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI). Over the years, however, they increasingly came to represent exactly what the other most despised. But on being appointed Pope, Ratzinger had a long private meeting with Küng, the consequences of which may resonate within the Catholic Church for many years. In these thrilling memoirs Küng gives his personal account of all these struggles and ambitions. The result is a book of major importance for any student of the Church in the 20th century. This second volume covers the period following the close of the Second Vatican Council right up to the present day.

The Catholic Church: A Short History

ISBN: 9780812967623
Author(s): Hans Küng Publisher: Anchor/Random House

BOOK DESCRIPTION
In this extraordinary book, the controversial and profoundly influential Hans Küng chronicles the Roman Catholic Church's role as a world power throughout history. Along the way, he examines the great schisms—between East and West, and Catholic and Protestant—as well as the evolving role of the papacy, the stories of the great reforming popes, and the expansion of a global church infrastructure. The book concludes with a searching assessment of how the Catholic faith will confront the immense challenges posed in the new millennium by those seeking reform of traditional strictures.

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On Being a Christian

ISBN: 038519286X
Author(s): Hans Küng Publisher: Image Doubleday (1984)

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Why should one be a Christian? Is there something more to being a Christian than to being human? Just what does it mean to be a Christian, especially in today's modern world?

Hans Küng, one of the greatest theologians of this century, ponders these questions and, from a lifetime of study, suggests the answers. He looks carefully at the evidence in the Bible, at the challenges of modern humanisms and of the world-religions, at the questions concerning death, at the local and the universal church, at the individual's own personal decisions, and at the freedom that Christianity brings, including the freedom to serve.

On Being a Christian is a vital and important statement about what it means to be a Christian. Hans Küng has himself said of the book, which he regards as his magnum opus, that it intends to "clarify and challenge Christian faith and life at a time when the churches have unfortunately lost rather than gained in credibility. It seeks to bring to light for this present time the original Christian message and particularly the figure of Jesus of Nazareth." The book continues to offer a strong message to today's Christians. As Küng says in the closing of the book, "By following Jesus Christ, people in the world today can live, act, suffer and die in a truly human way; in happiness and unhappiness, life and death, sustained by God and helpful to fellow men and women."