Kapabel till Guds salighet : Ett theosisperspektiv på katolsk tro och fromhetsliv i pedagogisktsyfte - utifrån Karl Rahners essäer om Jungfru Maria

Sammanfattning: In this essay I argue that the christian doctrine of deification (theosis) is a valuable foundation for teaching the Roman Catholic faith. By examining the very rich dogmatic essays by german theologian Karl Rahner on the the assumption of the Virgin Mary as well as the Immaculate conception I explore, firstly, if the doctrine seem to be present in Rahners thought and, secondly, if it seem to be useful for explaining and bringing clarity to various beliefs of the Roman Catholic church.To be able to identify theosis in these text, I draw knowledge from- and compare the content to how the doctrine is presented in the swedish translation of ’Essai sur la theologie mystique de l'Eglise d'Orient’ by russian orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky. The thesis of this essay stems from a belief that theosis was a central belief of the ancient christian church, and that theological construction and speculation, at that time, served to explain and defend this very doctrine. This belief is supported fundamentally by french philosopher Pierre Hadots study of the nature of ancient beliefs and philosophy, in his book ’Etudes de philosophie ancienne’.As will become clear, The Virgin Mary and her role in roman catholicism has a lot to do with deification of the human person. Karl Rahner refernces a variation of catholic doctrines as well as metaphysics to show this in his attempt to get to the content of the mariological dogmas.