Hugo Karl Erich Rahner SJ (3 May 1900 in Pfullendorf – 21 December 1968 in Munich) was a German Jesuit theologian and ecclesiastical historian.
He mentions Tertullian: "GREAT is the emperor, because he is smaller than the heavens,“ and Ambrose of Milan, "It is not imperial to deny freedom of speech, it is not priestly to withhold one's opinion."
His interpretation, based solely on the early writers,[3] greatly influenced Vatican II's treatment of Mary in chapter VIII of the Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, and Pope Paul VI, quoting Ambrose, declared Mary the "Mother of the Church," a title actively promoted by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
The book received great praise not only from Pope Benedict XVI but also from the American Jesuit theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles, who said of it: "With engaging clarity, this pioneering study sets forth the vast range of biblical metaphors the Fathers applied to Mary and the Church: ark of the covenant, valiant woman, treasure-laden ship.
Together with Otto Karrer, Rahner contributed by means of several works to a revised view of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of his Order.
[7] In examining the various stages of Ignatius' development, he applied critical historical method to the surviving documents rather than a hagiographical approach.
According to this view, the presence of Roman cults which dominated the environment in which the early Church gained its footing and eventually gained supremacy was not necessary for the Church's foundation but merely helped shape features and rites of the institution without invading or influencing Christianity's core tenets.
For example, Rahner's analysis notes the centrality of celestial bodies including the Sun (Helios) and Moon (Luna)- both longstanding entities of cultic devotion- in Roman paganism and the early Church's intentional, analogous use of the Sun and Moon as symbols of Jesus Christ and Mary (or, alternatively, the Church), respectively.