Disputed Truth: Memoirs Volume 2

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? An Enquiry (1971), 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 his reputation—notably On Being a Christian (1974) and Does God Exist? An Answer for Today (1980) 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. On being appointed to the Holy See, 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.

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 Kung is Emeritus Professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Tubingen and President of the Global Ethic Foundation. He is the author of numerous best selling books including On Being a Christian (Harper Collins).

Review :
In this second installment of his memoirs, Kung spares no modesty in giving his rendition of some of the most harried events of the post-conciliar Church, many of which found him at the center of the controversies. The first volume (My Struggle for Freedom, 2003) explored his life in the years leading to the Second Vatican Council and Kung's role as a peritus. In Disputed Truth, Kung focuses on the extensive lecturing tours he has made in the Council's aftermath, the personalities and places he has encountered, as well as his numerous publications and the vicissitudes of his exchanges with the hierarchy. What comes through on every page is that this is his side of the story. Kung and Joseph Ratzinger were the youngest priests participating in the Second Vatican Council. One of the two committed himself to the Catholic hierarchy and became Pope Benedict XVI; here the voice of other continues his story through a period when his calls for reform were leading ever closer to the punitive measures that would eventually be taken to silence and discredit him. His major works during this time were Infallable? An Enquiry, On Being a Christian, and Does God Exist?. He stops to take another breath at 1980. Review in The Tablet. A book which makes absorbing reading for anyone interested in the course of 20th century Catholic history or the development of modern theology. On the evidence of this book, Professor Kung is a just and congenial guide in this post-Vatican II age. Brilliantly written in snappy style and full of vim. This volume begins with Küng as a young theologian making his mark at Vatican II and ends with the Vatican taking away his credentials as a Catholic theologian. As with virtually all memoirs, this is an exercise in self-justification. Küng offers his account of his decades-long struggle with the Vatican and in particular with Joseph Ratzinger, who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI. Küng likes a good fight, and his account of his theological skirmishes makes for engaging reading. Review in Times Literary Supplement. Many will be fascniated by a blow-by-blow account of Kung's struggle with the vatican, and for the insight the book gives into the man himself. Kung's great strength lies in the sheer weight of his scholarship, his openness to evidence, and his passion for truth. This book of memoirs is an attempt by Kung to insure his legacy. They are testimony to the dimensions that the search and disputes for truth assumed in his life. As with all memoirs, Kung's Disputed Truth presents a life from one perspective. Given all that he's undergone though it's not mean-spirited. Rather, it is an act of self-defense by someone who has been one of recent Catholicism's most influential theologians.