This document discusses the challenges and methods of effectively proclaiming the Christian kerygma in modern society, emphasizing the need for adaptation to diverse audiences, as demonstrated by the apostles in the New Testament. It suggests that the kerygma should address modern existential needs, such as the search for meaning and purpose, rather than predominantly focusing on sin. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to share the good news in a way that resonates with contemporary individuals, particularly youth and young adults, by understanding their spiritual inquiries.

1. Kerygma for the Modern World
Jason J. Simon
Masters of Divinity Program
Fr. Michael Connors, C.S.C.
March 28, 2007
Synthesis Seminar Project
University of Notre Dame

2. Introduction
Christians have the duty and privilege to preach the Good News to all the world.
It is a service to all of humanity because the world is “oppressed by fear and distress.”1
In the Church’s teaching and public prayer, the great events and truths of the Gospel are
proclaimed to the People of God. Outside of these occasions, however, proclaiming the
Christian message, or kerygma, is more difficult. Obviously, the Gospel’s proclamation
should not be confined to the Christian assembly. Jesus’ mandate is universal, even to
“all creation” and “every nation”.2 But how can we most effectively proclaim the Good
News to modern humanity? In a cultural context that is well-acquainted with quips such
as “don’t preach at me” and “don’t judge me”, proclaiming the Christian kerygma
requires careful discernment.
In this paper I will examine the evangelical task of proclaiming the Christian
kerygma in the modern world. First, I will contextualize proclamation within the overall
task of witnessing to the Gospel. Next, I will show that the early Christian kerygma was
shaped by the apostles according to their particular audience. Following this, I will look
broadly at the modern American audience and suggest some important points of
emphasis and de-emphasis in our shaping of kerygma for them. Finally, I will suggest a
method for sharing the Good News that begins to integrate the results of this discussion.
Proclamation as Witness
The act of verbally proclaiming the Gospel is but one part of evangelical witness.
John Paul II, in Redemptoris missio, taught that Jesus’ mission was effective because of the
1 Evangelii Nuntiandi 1
2 Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19.
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3. unity he displayed between the message and the messenger. Jesus was the Good News.
Because of this, he witnessed to the Good News not only through his words and actions,
but through his very being.3
John Paul writes that Jesus revealed the kingdom of God through his words,
actions, and person. People learned both the demands and characteristics of the
kingdom through his witness. He showed that the kingdom of God is meant for all
humankind, even victims of oppression and rejection. The kingdom transforms
relationships and grows through sacrificial love. Jesus summed up the whole Law with
love and gave the people a new commandment to “love one another.” Building the
kingdom involved liberating people from physical and spiritual evils. Because of this,
John Paul II points out that Jesus’ kerygma was the Kingdom of God.4
The apostles and early Christians, on the other hand, preached the kingdom of
Christ. The New Testament books of Ephesians, 2 Peter, and Revelation all refer to the
kingdom of Christ or of our Lord Jesus Christ.5 This is not an example of a sort of
supersessionism, however. John Paul says that the kerygma of the Kingdom of God and
that of the Kingdom of Christ are complementary and should be held together in our
evangelical witness.
John Paul II wrote that proclaiming the Kingdom of God could be seen as the
promotion of the kingdom values that Jesus exhibited and taught during his ministry,
such as peace, justice, and freedom. He saw this kingdom is not a concept or doctrine,
3 Redemptoris Missio 13.
4 Ibid., 14-15.
5 Ibid., 16.
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4. but as a person with a name and a face.6 Therefore, he wrote that the Kingdom of Christ
cannot be separated from the Kingdom of God, and vice-versa. The Kingdom does
demand the promotion of human values; they are intimately tied to the Gospel and are
central to the mission of the Church. However, without Christ, the pursuit of these
ideals becomes a merely ideological goal. Therefore, the promotion of these values must
not be separated from the proclamation of Christ and his Gospel. Spreading and
promoting “gospel values” serves the Kingdom, but this effort remains incomplete
without the eschatological promise of Christ’s salvific life.7
John Paul’s teaching, then, provides a strong case for maintaining the unity of
word, deed, and being in Christian witness. Karl Rahner taught that if the proclaimed
kerygma was a reality within a Christian, her proclamation of it would make the Gospel
tangibly present to her listener. Revelation, he taught, was actualized in its proclamation.
In this way, proclaimed kerygma is not the communication of a truth from the past.
Rather, it is the promise of God made present in the moment. Through the kerygmatic
proclamation, all of salvation history, from beginning to end, becomes present in Jesus
Christ. Rahner saw this evangelical message as a committing and judging power. It has
an inner-dynamism that not even the most resistant person can completely destroy. It
opens up reality and seeks not to be merely valid, but to elicit a decision in favor of the
salvation offered. It seeks to be fruitful. While the message is dependent on its witness,
there is an otherness about the message. It is as if the proclaimer is the vessel for a living
presence that reaches out to the listener and invites them to embrace this saving
presence. Proclaimed kerygma becomes an event of love that is offered by God and can
6 Ibid., 18.
7 Redemptoris Missio, 20.
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5. be received by the listener in faith. For this reason, Rahner states that ultimately
“kerygma has the character of a call to a decision.” 8
Kerygmatic Adjustments
In order to facilitate the actualization and invitation of Revelation through the
message proclaimed, the message must resonate with the audience. But how can the
same message resonate with modern ears the way it resonated with individuals in
antiquity? Is the Christian message something that can be updated or even changed
according to the whims of a new generation? Both of these concerns are legitimate and
should be taken seriously. However, the New Testament book of Acts illuminates this
issue with its testimony of the apostle’s shaping of the kerygma according to their
audience.
The book of Acts contains a total of eight missionary discourses.9 Five of the
speeches are delivered to Jewish audiences and three to gentiles. Both Peter and Paul
preach the Gospel to the Jews; their sermons look remarkably similar in shape and
content. The kerygma proclaimed to the Jewish audiences is fairly standard. These
speeches commonly include the following points: Israel’s history with God, God sending
a message of salvation to Israel in the person of Jesus, the Jews incriminated in Jesus’
death, God raising Jesus from the dead, and a call to repentance and conversion. The
kerygma to the Jews also relies heavily on Scripture to show Jesus as the fulfillment of
God’s revealed promises.
8Karl Rahner and Karl Lehmann, Kerygma and Dogma, p. 19.
9Raymond Brown et al, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 724. These discourses are listed as 2:14-19;
3:12-26; 4:9-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43; 13:16-41; 14:15-17; 17:22-31.
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6. Interestingly, the kerygma changes substantially when Peter and Paul proclaim it
to Gentiles. Obviously, Israel’s history is not recounted, but there are other important
differences. In Peter’s kerygma to Cornelius’s household, he emphasizes God’s
impartiality. Peter explains that God is not a local or national deity, but a God of all who
has no favorites. Peter also names the desire that Gentiles have for God and identifies
Jesus as the visible and audible expression of the God to which they are attracted.10 In
Lystra and Derbe, Paul also abandons the kerygma he used when preaching in the
synagogue. Instead, he appeals to his audience to turn from “worthless things,” i.e.
polytheism, to the “living God,” whom he describes as the Creator God. This Creator
God can be seen in nature and is the sustainer of human life. Paul does not explicitly
mention Jesus, but proclaims biblical understandings about idols (worthless), God as
Creator, and God’s revelation through nature.11 He proclaims these truths in a way that
can be received by his audience without introducing religious jargon that would distract
them.
Paul’s speech in Athens is another example of kerygma being shaped in order to
appeal to and be received by a particular audience. Space limitations do not allow a
thorough exposition of this text, but several points deserve mention. First, Paul’s
sermon to the Athenians is rhetorically crafted in a manner that would have been
appropriate for the Athenian discursive culture.12 Paul also seems to use classical Greek
when addressing this crowd. This is juxtaposed against his use of Aramaic when he
10 James L. Mays; HarperCollins Bible Commentary, p. 1001.
11 Ibid., p. 1005.
12 Ibid., p. 1005.
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7. preaches in Jerusalem.13 He makes several moves in order to build bridges between his
religious framework and that of the Athenians. First, he links himself to the Athenians’
cultural religious experience by referring to their unknown god. Gone is the recounting
of Israel’s history or expositions of Scriptural texts that are fulfilled in Christ. Instead,
Paul refers to an altar dedicated to an “unknown god.” Making a similar move as Peter
did at Cornelius’s house, Paul identifies the god they already know as present to them
with the God of Jesus Christ and offers to teach the Athenians about him. Finally, he
introduces Christian-specific theological concepts without mentioning Jesus Christ
explicitly. He preaches a call to repentance as well as the judgment of the world by the
man whom God appointed and raised from the dead. Paul’s method of shaping the
kerygma for the Athenians proved to be effective for many who desired to hear more
from Paul following the end of his speech. This, surely, was the effect Paul intended by
the manner in which he shaped his proclamation of the kerygma.
Commonalities are scarce between the kerygma preached to the Jews and that
preached to the Gentiles. However, in every missionary discourse, God’s new, decisive
action in history in a major point of emphasis. This climactic event, of course, is Jesus,
and the kerygma at least points to him as the inauguration of a new way in which God
relates to the world. In Peter’s kerygma seen in Acts 2, he focuses heavily on the
prophet Joel’s prophecy of “the Day of the Lord.” This is understood as the climactic
event of the Spirit outpoured in order to empower the mission and enact conversions.14
Of course, in other sermons to Jewish audiences, Peter and Paul recount Israel’s history
in order to point to the climactic event of Christ’s coming. Even to the gentiles we see
13 Simon J. Kistemaker; “The Speeches in Acts,” (Criswell Theological Review) 40.
14 The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 732.
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8. this point of emphasis. When Paul preaches in Athens, for example, he points to the
past when God looked past the ignorance of trying to fashion gods from silver or gold.
However, now Paul says a dramatic shift has taken place; God has appointed one to
judge the world and all peoples are called to repent.
These examples clearly show that the apostles did not hesitate to shape the
kerygma for their audience. The momentous event of salvation that is Jesus is at least
implicitly present in these discourses as the Good News and the ultimate reason for
repentance and conversion. Peter and Paul’s obvious tailoring of kerygma shows the
importance of adjusting the message for the audience.
Modern Humanity’s Felt Existential Need
The most common versions of Christian kerygma today rely heavily on the
theological concept of sin. This is, of course, consistent with the witness of the
Scriptures and Tradition. However, if the primary need that the listener feels is not sin,
the Good News might be “ok” news at best. According to a Barna research study, nine
out of ten adults already feel “accepted by God.”15 Given this, and the prevalence of
kerygma that already responds to sin as a felt existential need, exploring a shape of
kerygma that enters through a different felt need seems worthwhile.
This is not to suggest that we abandon the theological concept of sin. Instead, it
calls for an expansion of our conception of the sin that Christian kerygma addresses.
Gerald O’Collins gives three dimensions to sin. The first dimension of sin he outlines is
alienation. This consists in deficient or ruptured relationships between both God and
15Barna, George; “Most Adults Feel Accepted By God, But Lack a Biblical Worldview,”
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=194.
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9. humans. The second dimension is death, or the loss of spiritual or physical being. The
third dimension is feelings of absurdity. This refers to the absence of meaning and truth
that people feel in their life. O’Collins’ outline of sin provides a fuller view of the
existential needs of humanity.16 Christian kerygma addresses sin, in all of its dimensions.
Effective kerygma should be able to address the most prominent dimension that the
listener is experiencing. Also, given that most of our culture does not have all three
dimensions in view, one should use caution when using the word “sin” while sharing
with someone. It is also crucial that we assess the most prominent manifestations of sin
in people’s lives as we are sharing the kerygma.
Many studies and demographics could be examined to identify the existential
needs that modern humanity experiences within. This paper will limit itself to two
sources that examine the experiences and perspectives of youth and young adults in
America. Of course, this cursory look does not attempt to make claims about a primary
or defining existential need within all of humanity. It only serves to point to prominent
felt needs among this demographic.
The University of California—Los Angeles is in the process of conducting an
extensive study of the spirituality of college students. In preparation for the study, the
researchers facilitated focus groups in order to guide the formulation of their surveys.
Questions that flowed from these discussions included:
• What is the meaning of college?
• What am I going to do with my life?
• How will I know I am going in the “right” way?
• What kind of person do I want to be?
• How am I going to leave my mark when I finally pass away.
16 Gerald O’Collins, S.J.; Christology (Oxford: Oxford, 1995) 280.
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10. The study began in 2004 when more than 112,000 first-year undergraduate
students from all over the United States responded to surveys regarding their present
spirituality. It produced copious amounts of data regarding the spirituality of first-year
college students. Figure 1 shows some of the results.
Figure 1: Results relating to college students’ spirituality17
75% Searching for meaning/purpose in life
74% Feel a sense of connection with a higher being that transcends self
63% Disagree with the notion that “people who don’t believe in God
will be punished”
56% Perceive God as “love” or “creator”
<50% Feel “secure” in their religious views
49% Perceive God as “protector”
Clearly, a search for meaning and purpose defines a large majority of first-year
students in the surveyed population. Both the initial focus group questions and the study
pointed strongly to this search for meaning. These young adults are concerned with
finding the “right” path in life and with leaving a mark on history when they pass away.
In the midst of this search, most of the students feel a connection to a divine presence
beyond themselves. Interestingly, however, many of the students are unsure about the
nature of this presence. Slightly more than half would describe God as “love” or
“creator” – and less than half as “protector.” This seems to indicate some confusion on
the nature of God from the perspective of Christian kerygma. When combined with the
17Higher Education Research Institute of UCLA, Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College
Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose. This study is available online at
http://www.spirituality.ucla.edu/spirituality/reports/FINAL%20EXEC%20SUMMARY.pdf
9

11. results showing that less than 50% of the students feel secure in their religious views, this
data shows a real opportunity for sharing the Good News of Christianity. However, if
the kerygma is only presented as addressing humanity’s separation from God as a result
of sin, much of the student population will be unresponsive. The study revealed that
74% of the students feel a connection with a higher being. The opportunity lies, instead,
in addressing the people’s search for meaning, purpose, and God’s identity.
Christian Smith, a sociologist with the University of Notre Dame, has done
extensive research on the relationship of youth and religion. His work points to the life
angst that youth experience as a driving existential force among teens. Sociologically, he
points out that religion responds to these challenges by “enhancing well-being and the
life capacities of youth.” 18 He says that religion has Good News to offer this teen angst.
His conclusions are that such practices as prayer, meditation, confession, and small
group sharing serve as resources to address teen trials. Furthermore, belief in a loving,
omnipotent God that is in control of one’s life is of great comfort to many. Other
helpful religious beliefs are that all things work together for good, God understands and
shares in one’s suffering, ultimately good is rewarded and evil punished, and God gives
strength to confront and overcome injustice. He says that whereas a secular maxim
might offer “it will all work out in the end,” religion offers “nothing can separate you
from the love of God.” Whereas popular culture offers books such as “Chicken Soup
for the Teenage Soul,” religion offers the opportunity to participate in “millennia-year-
old” liturgy along with countless youth. Thus, Smith concludes that religion may provide
18Christian Smith, “Theorizing Religious Effects Among American Adolescents” (Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion 42:1; 2003) 23.
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12. American teens with more effective coping mechanisms for navigating through life’s
stresses and problems.19
The U.C.L.A. study and the analysis by Smith highlight the power of “boundary
experiences” and “limit questions.” Boundary experiences plunge us below the surface
of everyday life as we realize the limits of our existence and come into more explicit
contact with the mystery. 20 Examples of boundary experiences are death, suffering,
saying goodbye, accepting new opportunities, moving away from home to college, or
changing grades in high school.
Limit questions, much like boundary experiences, move us to a deeper level to
encounter mystery. Unlike boundary experiences, however, they arise out of our normal,
everyday lives.21 An example of a limit question might be a college student who
wonders, in the midst of walking to class, if there is more to life than success in making
money for herself and others. A teenager, also, might experience the limit question of
why he cares so much about what his friends think of him. These questions probe
deeper than the life he or she currently experiences and beyond the individual’s capacities
for problem solving. They probe the mystery of human transcendence and fulfillment.
A modern kerygma would do well to be shaped in a way that brings people into
contact with their own boundary experiences and limit questions. It is in these moments
that people have already come face-to-face with their finitude. In the same way, the
person has also discovered their transcendence in being able to think beyond the limits
19 Smith, p. 24.
20 John Haught; The Revelation of God in History (St. John, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1988) Chapter 5.
21 Ibid. Haught refers his readers to David Tracy’s work, Blessed Rage for Order [New York: The Seabury
Press, 1975], pp. 91-118.
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13. of their life and experience. To probe these experiences and engage these questions is to
wrestle with realities beyond our lives—an obvious doorway to the Gospel.
Modern Versions of Kerygma
In the 20th century, several Catholic thinkers have reshaped the Christian message
in order to better suit modern concerns and needs. Thomas Merton conveys a version
of kerygma that flows out of his personal struggles prior to becoming a Christian.
Johannes Hofinger was a Jesuit theologian and a leader in the post-Vatican II catechetical
renewal. He proposed a new approach to catechesis that focused and flowed out of the
Christian kerygma. Finally, Karl Rahner’s whole theological project was to outline a
systematic theology that would be salient to modern ears. His conceptualizations of the
human existential need and of the good news of the Gospel are, therefore, very useful
for this project.
Thomas Merton’s conversion came in the midst of a boundary experience. He
became very ill and in the midst of the sickness, reevaluated his life. He realized that for
all his searching for satisfaction, he remained defeated. But Thomas says that in his
defeat was ultimate victory. Figure 2 shows a version of Christian kerygma that Thomas
suggests as a result of this experience.
Figure 2: A Version of Kerygma from Thomas Merton22
1 By itself, human nature is unable to settle its most important
problems.
2 God didn’t create humans ordered toward themselves, they are
ordered to a supernatural life.
22 Merton, Thomas; Seven Story Mountain (Orlando: Harcourt, 1976) p. 169-170.
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14. 3 This supernatural life is given to us as grace. It is God’s own life
that we are allowed by God to share.
4 Christ draws us to himself so that we can share in God’s life.
5 The Church was established by Christ so that we might lead one
another to Christ.
Merton compares the human soul to a crystal left in darkness. He says that the
crystal is perfect in its own nature as it sits in the darkness. However, only when light
shines on it is it fulfilled because it finally becomes what it was truly created to be.23
Merton’s kerygma hinges on the deep questions humans face and their orientation to the
supernatural life. It does not depend on a person’s understanding sin as the obstacle to
their connection with God.
Johannes Hofinger presented another path of kerygma within his catechetical
work. Hofinger’s kerygma came to the Church as he argued that the proclamation of
kerygma should be at the forefront of the catechetical task. He urged catechists to begin
their catechesis with a compelling invitation to the Gospel. Hofinger insisted that
catechesis should not assume an initial act of faith, but should invite students to it before
teaching other tenets of faith. Figure 3 shows the Good News as laid out by Hofinger.
Figure 3: Hofinger’s kerygma24
1 Christ reveals the Father’s loving plan for humans.
2 The Father set us free from the slavery of sin, law, and death
through the Passion and Resurrection of his Son.
3 The Father calls us now to the freedom of His very children.
4 With his Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to help us to live as
his true children.
5 The Holy Spirit helps us to respond appropriately to this call.
23 Ibid., p. 170.
24 Johannes Hofinger, S.J.; Our Message is Christ (Notre Dame: Fides, 1974) p. 9.
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15. It is obvious that Hofinger’s kerygma includes sin as part of the schema, but the
overall Good News does not rely on it as a hinge. In the traditional post-reformational
schema, remedying sin is easily construed as the sole impetus for the life, death, and
resurrection of Christ. Hofinger’s kerygma, while wonderfully mentioning the
subsequent victories of the Christ event in history, hinges on the Father’s loving plan for
humanity. In this, Hofinger follows Irenaeus and others in Christian tradition, who
emphasize that Christ vindicates the Father’s plan for creation and proves the Father’s
love for and goodwill toward his creation.25 It seems that Hofinger is addressing a
similar existential need as Irenaeus, namely, the threat of ignorance regarding the
Creator’s intentions. Christ reveals, definitively, that creation and all of history are most
accurately seen as part of the Father’s loving plan for humanity. This salvific truth gives
meaning and hope to those who feel confused and abandoned. The Father has a loving
plan for them individually. The encouraging words of Jeremiah 29:11 can find a home
within this kerygma, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Another approach to the Christian kerygma can be seen in the work of Karl
Rahner. His great Foundations of Christian Faith was written in order “to reach a renewed
understanding of this (Christian) message” and “as far as possible to situate Christianity
within the intellectual horizon of people today.”26 This work does not offer an
enumerated or even succinct kerygma, but does provide helpful windows of insight into
human need and redemption.
25 Against Heresies, III.XX.2, “…that He might accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man,
according to the good pleasure of the Father.”
26 Karl Rahner, S.J.; Foundations of Christian Faith (New York: Crossroad, 2000) xi. The parentheses are
mine.
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16. Rahner notices that modern people do not seem to be concerned with sin or the
need for justification. He thinks one reason for this is that modern social sciences have
offered thousands of ways of unmasking guilt as a false taboo. 27 Rahner says that rather
than blaming humanity for the misery and absurdity of the world, modern people blame
God and demand that he justify the situation. For modern people, God is the one who
is in need of “justification.” He is the one who is the cause of the world’s condition. So,
even though a person might experience fragility, finitude, and confusion in realizing the
gap between who he is and who he should be, these emotions are seen as a part of the
world’s absurdity and something for which God is ultimately responsible.28 As C.S.
Lewis also noticed, God is in the dock and on trial for modern humans.29
One of Rahner’s concerns is with the Anselmian explanation of redemption. He
worries about the idea of a removed God needing satisfaction for sin before communion
is possible. For Rahner, this puts God at too great a distance from humanity, even as
God saves humanity. Rahner’s theology of redemption emphasizes God’s closeness
prior to and especially through his redemption of humanity.
For Rahner, God is separate from humanity in that he is ineffable mystery, but
this God is also within individual humans as their deepest reality and source of being.
Because of God’s presence, humans experience themselves as transcending themselves
through their life experiences and emotions. They reach beyond themselves when they
question the world in which they live. They experience both anxiety and joy that seem to
surpass their own understanding. They feel compelled by moral obligations that move
27 Ibid., p. 91
28 Ibid., p. 92.
29 See Lewis’s essay, “God in the Dock” in God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970).
15

17. them out of themselves. Finally, and perhaps most poignant of all, humans experience
their transcendence in the experience of absolute powerlessness in death.30 These
moments show humans that they are not defined by or completely at home in a life
defined by the five senses—they are driven deeper. These transcendental experiences are
crucial to humans because they have the potential to reveal God’s presence in their lives
and in their very being. When a person remembers one of these experiences and has the
courage to look into its depths to its ultimate truth, she can see this experience as an
event of God’s self-communication (grace). This means that these experiences don’t just
reveal the presence of an impersonal “higher power,” but that they have the potential to
be God’s personal, intimate communication.31 Like Merton, Rahner sees human
emptiness as God’s creative intention and desire that they find fulfillment in his self-
communication, i.e. the life of grace. Humans need to see and receive God’s life in their
life experiences in order to fill their emptiness. God created humanity with this need for
salvation so that the fullness of God could save them.32
The definitive statement of God’s will to save is his definitive self-
communication to humanity—Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus, humanity sees a person so
opened and filled with God so as to actually be God. Jesus shows humanity God’s
intention of closeness and ultimate plan of divinization. He definitively reveals God’s
will to save humanity and draw them to their ultimate homeland of sharing in God’s life
for eternity. Furthermore, he shows that this communion can and should happen within
earthly life. Jesus proclaims this communion as the Kingdom of God and says that this
30 Rahner; Foundations, p. 70.
31 Rahner, Foundations, p. 132.
32 Rahner, Foundations, p. 123.
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18. Kingdom is at hand. He embodies this communion; he embodies the Kingdom. He is
the very message of closeness that he preaches. In Jesus, God and humanity become
one in perfect communion.
The radical freedom of humanity makes them able to form themselves definitely
in or against God’s life of grace and this offer of communion. The life and death of
Jesus is a life lived out of a continual embrace of God’s presence—a life completely
oriented toward this transcendental reality within himself. This orientation is tested and
brought to fruition, ultimately, in his submission to death on the cross. The cross reveals
Jesus’ fundamental openness and obedience to the Father’s will, only possible out of his
prior life of obedience and conversion. This prior obedience definitively formed Jesus
for this radical act of surrender. As a result, Jesus became our sacrament of salvation.
He reveals humanity’s salvation while at the same time accomplishing that which he
reveals. In receiving the divine offer and revelation of salvation in Jesus, humans accept
the presence of God in the depths of their being (transcendence) and orient their lives
toward receiving God’s loving self-communication in all of their experiences. Through
this life of surrender and openness, they follow Jesus and, like Jesus, are increasingly
filled with, and definitively defined by the very life of the Trinity.
Given this brief explanation of Rahner’s schema of salvation, Figure 4 is an
attempt to outline a formula for Rahner’s version of kerygma.
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19. Figure 4: Karl Rahner’s kerygma
1 Humans are created with God at their deepest core and with an
awareness of reality beyond the corporeal.33
2 Humans were created to be fulfilled by God alone, by orienting
themselves to a continual acceptance of God’s self-communication
through life’s experiences.34
3 Humanity would not know that God desires to be so close as to
continually speak to his creation through their ordinary and
extraordinary experiences, unless God chose to reveal this.
4 Christ embodies and reveals the radical closeness of God to
humanity—truly God and truly man.
5 Christ’s life, death, and resurrection cause God’s salvific will in the
world by making it historically present, and therefore, irrevocably
offered to humanity.
6 God calls humanity to receive and become God’s closeness by
accepting God’s irrevocable call to closeness in the person of Jesus.
7 This acceptance takes place through the concrete love for the God-
man, Jesus Christ. This concrete encounter and relationship with
the man Jesus, opens the individual person to God’s infinity and
becomes an initiation into the mysteries of Christ’s life, death, and
resurrection.35
8 Through a personal relationship with Christ and the resulting
entering into the mysteries of his existence, humans follow Christ
and accept God’s self-communication as the fundamental
orientation of their life.
9 Through this orientation, initiated and sustained by God, a
Christian is filled with God’s life and eventually enjoys eternity
with God.
Obviously, Rahner’s kerygma is not as straight-forward as Merton’s or Hofinger’s.
However, contained within his system are insights that will complement their simpler
version. What follows is an attempt to move toward a version of kerygma that might be
useful to people when the opportunity arises to share the hope they have Christ.
33 Rahner, Foundations, p. 310.
34 Ibid., p. 123.
35 Ibid., pp. 310-311.
18

20. Toward a Concise, Useable, Modern Kerygma
This following version of the Christian kerygma is informed by the three
aforementioned versions of kerygma. Rather than taking the form of enumeration, this
kerygma’s shape is that of an image. The image is colored in by different truths of the
Gospel, using the experiences of the listener. In this way, this mode of sharing the
Gospel can be dialogical, relying on the individual’s personal experiences to give it life.
The more the evangelist can lay her experiences on the table in the conversation, the
more effectively she can show the Gospel to be a beautiful blanket that covers the
experiences and draws them together.
Using the findings of the U.C.L.A. study, the work of Christian Smith, and the
Barna Research Group, this version of kerygma most directly addresses sin as alienation
(identity of God) and absurdity (absence of meaning/purpose). This kerygma is shaped
so as to allow the evangelist to incorporate his own stories and experiences. It also is
intended to elicit responses from the listener that drive the conversation deeper as it
progresses. Obviously, this thrust lies in Rahner’s belief that God’s self-communication
is present in all of our experiences. As experiences are shared, God’s presence will
implicitly be recalled, further preparing for the Good News of Christ. Following Merton
and Rahner, this kerygma’s starting point is the person. One could use God as the
starting point, as does Hofinger. I chose, however, to start with the person in order to
ensure a conversational tone. However, by emphasizing the ambiguity of God’s identity
apart from Christ, this message picks up Hofinger and Rahner’s concern that the Father’s
love and care for creation be revealed in Christ. In Christ, also, the waters of life are
shown not to be hostile to our existence, but rather the very means of nourishing God’s
19

21. life within us. This kerygma also relies on what Rahner calls the “supernatural
existential.” That is, the fundamental orientation of the human person toward the
infinite horizon (God). In this illustration, the vessel knows that a harbor exists and
wants to orient itself toward it. However, only in Christ is the direction clear.
The end of this kerygma leads to an opportunity for the person to open their life
to Christ’s presence. Christ’s desire to be near is conveyed, but also the freedom that
Rahner emphasizes. Throughout the illustration, the decision to be near to Christ
remains solely that of the subject. Though God offers himself in Christ, the person is
always free to reject the offer. This kerygma attempts to compel the listener to saying
yes by showing the beauty of being near to Christ. Being close to Christ, in this kerygma,
promises direction, purpose, meaning, satisfaction, wisdom, etc. Also retained in this
illustration is the initiative of God in bringing a person to salvation.
Kerygma of V.O.Y.A.J.E.
Pat
1) Vessel.
- This is us—our person—being.
? Who are you?
(write down some answers on the boat)
20

22. Pat
New job
Birth
Grandpa High
Died School
2) Outside the Boat
- This is our life and all of our experiences.
? What are some major events from your life?
? Tough events?
? Joyful events?
(put the events under different types of waves)
3) Yearn for answers to life’s questions.
? What are some questions that people have about their life?
o Why am I here? Who am I? Is there a purpose to my life?
? Do you know anyone who has asked themselves these types of questions?
There are a lot of threats and unanswered questions about the voyage.
? What’s under the water?
? Can I drink the water?
? How deep is the water?
? What else would be unknown about the water?
Pat New job
Birth
Grandpa High
Died School
Support Source Strength
4) The Answer to all our questions.
- God is the ground of our being.
21

23. ? What do you think this means?
(write some answers under the ground line)
Safe Harbor
fog
Pat
New job
Birth
Grandpa High
Died School
Support Source Strength
The boat is on its way to the Harbor – not out to sea forever. The same is true for
humans. Eventually, the boat is going to land in the Safe Harbor if it goes in the
right direction.
? What do you suppose the Safe Harbor represents?
- can’t see it for sure, but feel like there’s land out there
o this is the supernatural existential for Rahner – or Merton’s idea of being
created for the supernatural life.
- But a sort of fog blinds humanity from seeing the harbor or from knowing that it
for sure exists.
? Have you ever doubted that heaven or God exists?
? What are some things that lead people to doubt the existence of God or
heaven?
(write these things in the fog)
- Know the answer exists, but still have questions.
o How far away is the harbor, in what direction?
o How deep is the water, how far away is the ground (sea bottom)?
? How to people react to being far from God?
Safe Harbor
fog
Pat New job
Birth
Grandpa High
Died School
Support Source Strength
22

24. 5) Jesus
- Walks on water, shows that it’s safe.
- Drinks it and is satisfied.
- Shows confidence and victory over whatever might be in the water.
- Shows concern and resolve to help us in any way that he can.
- Sometimes our life experiences help us to see that there is more to life than what
our 5 senses can perceive.
- Shows us how to experience God in all of our life experiences. We realize God’s
presence with us in some of our experiences.
(Draw the ground coming above the water to form a little island around that experience.)
a. Has this ever happened to you?
Just as an island is a sort of taste of the land at the safe harbor, these experiences can
give us foretastes of God and even heaven. Even in the midst of sadness and misery,
we can realize that we are eternally cared for.
Transition to more direct Theology, using images already present.
1) God has revealed himself in history – but only periodically and only from a
distance – like out of the fog.
2) Do you think some people feel that God is far away from them? How do they
react to this?
b. They still have a lot of questions – don’t know much about the water
(their life) and how to direct their vessel toward the Harbor.
c. They’ve just been told that a Harbor exists – only half-believe it.
d. They keep their distance and do what they want
e. They feel meaninglessness in their life.
f. They don’t believe in God anymore.
3) What was needed was for God to just tell humanity that he is close to them,
right? He did better than that—he told humanity by becoming human.
23

25. g. Jesus is the picture of how close God wants to be to humans. He wants
to be one with them. Just as a husband and a wife are joined together,
God wants to be joined with humanity. He shows us this perfectly in
Jesus.
i. He walks in the water (what does this show us about our lives and
about God?
1. Water is not deep – God is close to us
2. Can drink water and taste God
3. Victory over any threats that might be in the waters of our
lives
4) Jesus doesn’t just want to show us what to do with our lives (the water), but
wants to guide us to the Harbor. Asks if we want him to be with us in our boat.
a. Won’t just climb in, waits to be invited.
b. Will show how to see the Harbor in life’s experiences. See this high
school experience you had, here’s where I was showing myself to you…
c. Will help you get through – or even overcome – the storms of life that hit
you.
5) This is the good news. Each of us is on our way somewhere. God wants to
guide us to his harbor of heaven to be with him forever. Jesus shows us that
God is not far off while we’re on our voyage. God is actively close. Receiving
Jesus into our boat is the way to salvation:
6) Our most fundamental questions are answered
7) The meaning within our lives becomes clear
8) The way to the harbor is revealed definitively
Conclusion
This paper attempted to show the need to adapt the modern Christian kerygma
for the culture. In order for the Good News to be good news, it must address needs that
are truly felt by the culture. The studies quoted here hint that people in American
culture do not strongly relate to the idea of personal sin separating humanity from God.
However, they do feel the ramifications of sin in their lack of purpose and meaning.
They also feel it in their confusion regarding God’s nature. The Acts of the Apostles
demonstrates the need to shape Christian kerygma from the earliest sermons of
24

26. Christianity. Merton, Hofinger, and Rahner showed us examples of shaping kerygma in
the twentieth century. Finally, I have outlined some guiding principles for modern
kerygma and a model that attempts to incorporate these guidelines. Whatever its
weaknesses, it is an attempt to engage the data and theological conclusions contained in
this project. One can hope that Christians will continue to explore how to engage the
world with the Christian message in a relevant way. People may no longer be as open to
messages preached from street corners, but they remain very open to thoughtful
conversations that reflect their experiences of the world.
25

27. Bibliography
Barna, George. “Most Adults Feel Accepted By God, But Lack a Biblical Worldview.”
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=194
Brown, Raymond, Joseph A. Fitzmeyer, Roland Edmund Murphy. The New Jerome
Biblical Commentary. Prentice Hall: Penguin Putnam. 1990.
Haught, John. The Revelation of God in History. St. John, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.
1988.
Higher Education Research Institute of UCLA. Spirituality in Higher Education: A
National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose.
http://www.spirituality.ucla.edu/spirituality/reports/
Hofinger, Johannes, S.J. Our Message is Christ. Notre Dame: Fides. 1974.
Irenaeus. Against Heresies.
Paul VI, Pope. Evangelii Nuntiandi. 1975.
John Paul II, Pope. Redemptoris Missio. 1987.
Kistemaker, Simon J. “The Speeches in Acts.” Criswell Theological Review. 1990.
Mays, James L. HarperCollins Bible Commentary. San Francisco: HarperCollins. 2000.
Merton, Thomas. Seven Story Mountain. Orlando: Harcourt. 1976.
O’Collins, Gerald, S.J. Christology. Oxford: Oxford. 1995.
Rahner, Karl, S.J. Foundations of Christian Faith. New York: Crossroad. 2000.
Rahner, Karl, S.J. and Karl Lehmann. Kerygma and Dogma. New York: Herder and
Herder. 1969.
Smith, Christian. “Theorizing Religious Effects Among American Adolescents.” Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion; 42:1. 2003.
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