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Hans Küng (born March 19, 1928 in Sursee, Canton of Lucerne), is an eminent Swiss theologian, and a prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos). Küng is a Roman Catholic, but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology.
Küng studied theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained in 1954. He then continued his education in various European cities, for example at the Sorbonne in Paris. His doctoral thesis was entitled "Justification. La doctrine de Karl Barth et une réflexion catholique".
In 1960 Küng was appointed professor of theology at Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany. Just like his colleague Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), in 1962 he was appointed peritus by Pope John XXIII, serving as an expert theological advisor to members of the Second Vatican Council until its conclusion in 1965.
In the late 1960s Küng became the first major Roman Catholic theologian after the late 19th century Old Catholic Church schism to reject the doctrine of papal infallibility, in particular in his book Infallible? An Inquiry (1971). Consequently, on December 18, 1979, he was stripped of his right to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian but carried on teaching as a tenured professor of ecumenical theology at the University of Tübingen until his retirement (Emeritierung) in 1996. To this day he remains a persistent critic of papal authority, which he claims is man-made (and thus reversible) rather than instituted by God. He was not excommunicated and remains a Roman Catholic priest.
In the early 1990s Küng initiated a project called Weltethos (Global Ethic), which is an attempt at describing what the world religions have in common (rather than what separates them) and at drawing up a minimal code of rules of behaviour everyone can accept. His vision of a global ethic was embodied in the document for which he did the initial draft, Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration. This Declaration was signed at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions by many religious and spiritual leaders from around the world.
Select bibliography
- Structures of the Church (1966) (ISBN 0824505085)
- Infallible? An Inquiry (1971) (ISBN 0385184832)
- Why Priests? (1972) (ISBN 0006430155)
- On Being A Christian (1977) (ISBN 038519286X)
- Eternal Life? (1984) (ISBN 1592442099)
- Why I Am Still a Christian (Woran man sich halten kann) (1987) (ISBN 0567291340 ) (the title of the English translation echoing Russell's essay Why I Am Not a Christian)
- Paradigm Change in Theology (1989) (ISBN 0567094944 )
- Reforming the Church Today. Keeping Hope Alive (1991) (ISBN 0567095789 )
- The Church (1992) (ISBN 0860121992 )
- Yes to a Global Ethic (1996) (ISBN 0334026334 )
- A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics (1997) (ISBN 0334026865 )
- Women in Christianity (2002) (ISBN 0826456863 )
- Tracing the Way. Spiritual Dimensions of the World Religions (2002) (ISBN 0826456839 )
- The Catholic Church. A Short History (2002) (ISBN 1842124943 )de:Hans Küng