Common Ground

[flowperson]

I have had this on my fridge for about 10 years now. To me it quite simply states what I believe all human beings are really after in this life, or at least what most of us give lip service to.

 

But after Mr. Kung started this movement and wrote this book he was summarily dismissed from his professorship at a Gernman university and relegated to direct the religious affairs of an obscure parish in Swizerland.

 

It is difficult to reconcile such a pure vision and such true words with such harsh treatment, but then exile has always been the modern version of punishment for those who refuse to fit in with the group dynamic.

 

Do you believe that this treatment of Kung by the Church was justified and fair?

 

 

 

COMMON GROUND

 

" Bahai, Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jew, Muslim, Shintoist, Zoroastrian, and others - we have come together in peace out of a common concern for peace.

 

As we sat down together facing the overriding issues of peace, we discovered that the things that unite us are more important than the things which divide us. We found that we share:

 

* A conviction of the fundamental unity of the human family, of the equality and dignity of all

human beings.

 

* A sense of the sacredness of the individual person and his consciousness.

 

* A recognition that might is not right, that human power is not self-sufficient and absolute.

 

* A belief that love, compassion, unselfishness, and the forces of inner truthfulness and of the

spirit have ultimately greater power than hate, enmity, and self-interest.

 

* A sense of obligation to stand on the side of the poor and the oppressed as against the rich and

the oppressors.

 

* A profound hope that good will finally prevail. "

 

Excerpted from Kung, Hans. A Global Ethic. New York: Continuum, 1993, 63

[Cynthia]

Love Hans Kung - clearly unjustified tx... wish he were Pope.

 

He wrote a book called (I think) "Why I am Still a Christian" - profound to me early in this journey. Brief and highly readable... many of his are more scholarly. Anybody read much of his work? Recommendations?

[AletheiaRivers]

I've always wanted to read his works, so I too am looking for a recommendation.

[FredP]

I read Eternal Life? awhile back. I vaguely recall not getting overly excited about it. Perhaps a combination of it being pretty dry, and thinking, yeah, I already knew that. Reforming the Church Today was more direct and interesting, but mostly political. I've thumbed through The Catholic Church: A Short History, and Why I Am Still A Christian. Does God Exist? is on my shelf, but it's just way too long, and I suspect would be a rehashing of much philosophical exploration I've already done. I'll probably never get around to reading it.

 

I guess I understand his progressive appeal, and I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone not to read him, by any means. At the same time, I personally haven't his ideas all that novel or earth-shattering for some reason. When I hold his constructive theology up to Tillich's, for example, there's not even a contest.

[mystictrek]

I have had this on my fridge for about 10 years now. To me it quite simply states what I believe all human beings are really after in this life, or at least what most of us give lip service to.

 

But after Mr. Kung started this movement and wrote this book he was summarily dismissed from his professorship at a Gernman university and relegated to direct the religious affairs of an obscure parish in Swizerland.

 

It is difficult to reconcile such a pure vision and such true words with such harsh treatment, but then exile has always been the modern version of punishment for those who refuse to fit in with the group dynamic.

 

Do you believe that this treatment of Kung by the Church was justified and fair?

 

 

 

                                                COMMON GROUND

 

" Bahai, Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jew, Muslim, Shintoist, Zoroastrian, and others - we have come together in peace out of a common concern for peace.

 

As we sat down together facing the overriding issues of peace, we discovered that the things that unite us are more important than the things which divide us. We found that we share:

 

* A conviction of the fundamental unity of the human family, of the equality and dignity of all

  human beings.

 

* A sense of the sacredness of the individual person and his consciousness.

 

* A recognition that might is not right, that human power is not self-sufficient and absolute.

 

* A belief that love, compassion, unselfishness, and the forces of inner truthfulness and of the

  spirit have ultimately greater power than hate, enmity, and self-interest.

 

* A sense of obligation to stand on the side of the poor and the oppressed as against the rich and

  the oppressors.

 

* A profound hope that good will finally prevail. "

 

Excerpted from Kung, Hans. A Global Ethic. New York: Continuum, 1993, 63

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Sounds like the Good News to me. Thanks for sharing this. How I love to copy and paste and share wisdom like this.