Joshua Furnal is Permanent Lecturer in Systematic Theology at St. Patrick's Pontifical University, Ireland
PhD in Theology, Durham University (2013)
MA in Theology, Durham University (2010)
Advanced Certificate in Dutch, Radboud University (2017)
Advanced Certificate in Italian, Comitato Linguistico Perugia (2006)
BA in Biblical Studies & BTh in Theology, Ozark Christian College, USA (2005)
Eschatology, Kierkegaard, Rahner, Christian Theology, Ecumenical Theology
Duration
2 months, June - July 2025
Host at the University of Passau
Prof. Dr. Markus Weißer
Chair of Dogmatic Theology
This proposal explores the respective approaches of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Karl Rahner (1904-1984) to eschatology—or the doctrine of the last things: the end of history, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment—which illuminates the themes of mortality, hope, freedom, and our ultimate destiny in Christian theology. Both Kierkegaard and Rahner are significant figures even though their eschatological perspectives might by distinguished confessionally as Protestant and Catholic. My approach is ecumenical insofar as it overcomes a gap that exists in scholarship regarding the shared eschatological aims of Kierkegaard and Rahner. The underexplored constructive parallels between Kierkegaard and Rahner regarding the paradox of created freedom, hope, and eschatology are also overlooked by many German scholars with few exceptions. Thus, this proposal seeks to remedy a gap in scholarship by bringing together the Danish Protestant thinker and German Catholic theologian into dialogue on the basis of the ecumenical significance of these theological frameworks and their relevance to the hermeneutical transformation of the Catholic intellectual tradition in Europe.
Building on the ongoing the Erasmus+ connection, I propose a possible future collaboration regarding the transformation of Catholic identity in Europe. For example, I would like to organize a Blockseminar or workshop for postgraduates to share how the different perspectives of Kierkegaard's and Rahner's eschatology have contributed to the transformation of Christian identities in Europe. It would be good for me to hear their feedback and how it might link up to their own research agendas in the form of a poster or video clip sessions during a virtual meeting that allowed students to creatively use Artificial Intelligence to imagine this constructive dialogue about the role of academic theology in forming and transforming identities in relation to discourse about mortality and the afterlife.
