Entering into otherness: The postmodern critique of the subject and Karl Rahner's theological anthropology

The critique of the subject and the subjectivity in postmodern theory serves also as a critique of the modern turn to the subject in theology. After reviewing that critique in contemporary literary and rhetorical theory, this article examines the concept of the subject in Karl Rahner's theological anthropology. This article argues that both postmodern theory and Rahner's anthropology suggest alternatives to the autonomous subject, and that Rahner's view can provide a description of an authentic, semi-permeable, and historically mediated subject.