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Disputed Truth: Memoirs Vol 2

ISBN: Paperback 9781441180285; Hardcover 9780826499103
Author(s): by Hans Küng Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd

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 be unceremoniously dumped from his official teaching position at the University of Tubingen. However, he remains a respected priest in good standing with his bishop. During all the upheavals that the Catholic Church has gone through in recent decades, Küng was always there with a public comment. He turned from enfant terrible to bete 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?" It is not so well known that as a young man Küng was a close friend and confidant of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). Increasingly, however, they 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 still last. 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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
How I Tell My Life Story; 1. Two Careers – the Same Wavelength; 2. Roman Provocations; 3. 1968 Year of Decisions; 4. Tubingen in Tumultuous Times; 5. Infallible?; 6. Global Trip and Global Theology; 7. Battle for Truth or Power; 8. The Adventure of a Book; 9. Problems of Heirarchy and Problems of the World; 10. 1978 The Year of Three Popes; 11. The Great Confrontation; 12. Roma locuta – causa finita est; 13. Prospect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hans Küng is Emeritus Professor of Ecumenical Theology in the University of Tubingen and President of the Global Ethic Foundation. He is the author of a number of international best-sellers such as On Being a Christian (HarperCollins).

REVIEW:
"Küng's great strength lies in the sheer weight of his scholarship, his openness to evidence, and his passion for truth." ...Church Times

"A book which makes absorbing reading for anyone interested in the course of 20th century Catholic history or the development of modern theology" ...Church of England Newspaper
 

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My Struggle for Freedom

ISBN: 9780826476388
Author(s): by Hans Küng Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd

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 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 fascinating 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. With its rich thought and vivid narrative, Küng's book paints a moving picture of his personal convictions, and his struggle for a Christianity characterized not by the domination of an official church but by Jesus.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Roots of freedom; Education for freedom; Breakthrough to freedom of conscience; The freedom of a Christian; The Church sets out for freedom; The struggle for the freedom of theology; The struggle for the freedom of the Council; Power against freedom; A relapse into the old lack of freedom

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hans Küng is Emeritus Professor of Ecumenical Theology in the University of Tubingen and President of the Global Ethic Foundation. He is the author of a number of international best-sellers such as On Being a Christian (HarperCollins).