Hans Kung

n March 1993 Hans Kung celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday, and to mark the occasion a substantial volume was presented to him: not so much the usual Festschrift as a 'workbook' on the many aspects of his faith and thought. This translation is an abridged version of the German text, containing articles of particular interest to readers in the English-speaking world. Its seven sections cover the church, the Catholicity of Hans Kfing's theology, the ecumenical world, christology and the doctrine of God, the dialogue with Judaism, world religions and the influence of Hans Kting. The contributors come not only from Switzerland and Germany but from Britain and Ireland, the United States, Latin America, Saudi Arabia and Russia and represent Judaism, Islam and Buddhism as well as Christianity. Besides being a fascinating critical survey of the life and work of a quite remarkable theologian, the book has one further, important aim: the rehabilitation of Hans Kung as a Catholic theologian. As one of the great figures of Roman Catholic ecumenical theology, Heinrich Fries, recently asked: 'Is the Catholic church so narrow that it cannot tolerate a man like Kung, or is it so rich that it can dispense with him?'