Signposts Through the Hermeneutical Labyrinth

It is a pity that theological communication so often gets bogged down because a key concept is never satisfactorily and clearly explained. The key idea then degenerates to a kind of magical word, periodically invoked, temporarily perhaps exciting, but ultimately mystifying. A few years ago the word 'existential' underwent this process of degeneration. Although the word had a clear meaning in Heidegger's early philosophy, and indeed, as 'existential analysis', signified an enduringly valuable method, the basic insight represented by it failed to shape and illuminate the popular theological discussion. (A fine example of the kind of communication that should have taken place on a much wider scale regarding this word is still Cornelius Ernst's 1961 Introduction to Karl Rahner's Theological Investigations.) Instead, the word 'existential' became used indiscriminately for anything remotely 'relevant' or 'concrete'. This inflation ended by making the word worthless and unusable-where everything had to be 'existential', nothing could be any more. And the mystifying communicators and the befogged hearers concluded about the same time that the word had become meaningless. This need not have been the case: as so often before, a chance had been missed

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