Memoirs (v. 2) (Disputed Truth) - Hardcover

Review in The Tablet. "Brilliantly written in snappy style and full of vim." - The Pastoral Review "On the evidence of this book, Professor Kung is a just and congenial guide in this post-Vatican II age." - Renew "Many will be fascniated by a blow-by-blow account of Kung's struggle with the vatican, and for the insight the book gives into the man himself." - Catholic Herald "A book which makes absorbing reading for anyone interested in the course of 20th century Catholic history or the development of modern theology." Church of England Newspaper "Kung's great strength lies in the sheer weight of his scholarship, his openness to evidence, and his passion for truth." - Church Times Review in Times Literary Supplement. "Kung and Joseph Ratzinger were the youngest priests participating in the Second Vatican Council. One of the two committed himself to the Catholic hierarchy and is now Pope Benedict XVI; here the voice of other continues his story through a period when his calls for reform were leading ever closer to the punitive measures that would eventually be taken to silence and discredit him. His major works during this time were Infallable? An Enquiry, On Being a Christian, and Does God Exist?. He stops to take another breath at 1980." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc. 'Kung's autobiography is an honest exposure of the politics of the Catholic Church, the foibles of recent popes, and the internal workings of the powerful Curia in Rome.' "This volume begins with Kung as a young theologian making his mark at Vatican II and ends with the Vatican taking away his credentials as a Catholic theologian. As with virtually all memoirs, this is an exercise in self-justification. Kung offers his account of his decades-long struggle with the Vatican and in particular with Joseph Ratzinger, who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI. Kung likes a good fight, and his account of his theological skirmishes makes for engaging reading." -The Christian Century, December 16, 2008 "In this second installment of his memoirs, Kung spares no modesty in giving his rendition of some of the most harried events of the post-conciliar Church, many of which found him at the center of the controversies. The first volume (My Struggle for Freedom, 2003) explored his life in the years leading to the Second Vatican Council and Klung's role as a peritus. In Disputed Truth, Kung focuses on the extensive lecturing tours he has made in the Council's aftermath, the personalities and places he has encountered, as well as his numerous publications and the vicissitudes of his exchanges with the hierarchy. What comes through on every page is that this is his side of the story." -Patrick J. Hayes, Catholic Books Review, 2009 "As with all memoirs, Kung's Disputed Truth presents a life from one perspective. Given all that he's undergone though it's not mean-spirited. Rather, it is an act of self-defense by someone who has been one of recent Catholicism's most influential theologians." St. Anthony Messenger--Sanford Lakoff "St. Anthony Messenger " "This book of memoirs is an attempt by Kung to insure his legacy. They are testimony to the dimensions that the search and disputes for truth assumed in his life." Lucien J. Richard, OMI Catholic Library World--Sanford Lakoff "Catholic Library World "

Hans Kung has been a major influence on post-war Christianity by any reckoning. A peritus for the Second Vatican Council, he then went on to publish a number of controversial books including "Infallible?", which enraged the Vatican and caused him to be unceremoniously dumped from his official teaching position at the University of Tubingen. However, he remains a respected priest in good standing with his bishop.During all the upheavals that the Catholic Church has gone through in recent decades, Kung was always there with a public comment. He turned from enfant terrible to bete noire. However his world influence has been great. Whether speaking at The United Nations or consorting with politicians and religious leaders, he is always listened to with respect and enthusiasm. A string of recent books has added to the reputation - notably, "On Being a Christian" and "Does God Exist?"It is not so well known that as a young man Kung was a close friend and confidant of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI). Increasingly, however, they came to represent exactly what the other most despised. But on being appointed to the Holy See, Ratzinger had a long private meeting with Kung, the consequences of which may still last.In these thrilling memoirs Kung gives his personal account of all these struggles and ambitions. The result is a book of major importance for any student of the Church in the 20th Century.This second volume covers the period following the close of the Second Vatican Council right up to the present day.