Sunday, April 20, 2008

Hans Küng’s birthday celebrations

As some of you know, I recently published a review article in Zygon: "Engaging Science in the Mode of Trust: Hans Küng's 'The Beginning of All Things'." Zygon 43, no. 1 (March 2008): 195–210. (I didn't mention it before, but Ben Myers proof-read an earlier version of the article, which I basically cut and pasted from posts on this blog, and he made it much better. Thanks, Ben!)

I popped a copy of it into Küng's letterbox for his birthday, and a letter of response arrived a couple of days ago saying how much he liked my 'hervorragenden' and 'ausgezeichneten' article. He said I could name one of his books that I do not already own, and he will personally give me a signed copy! How kind of him is that?! What is more, I also received an invite to his 80th birthday celebrations tomorrow night, with presentations by Rektor Bernd Engler, and Karl-Josef Kuschel. Awesome! *Does a little dance*

5 comments:

Ben Myers said...

Hey, that's terrific! If you haven't yet got his two early books on Barth and Hegel, I reckon they're two of his finest...

I hope you'll go along to the birthday celebrations, too. These 80th-birthday-parties-for-theologians tend to become the stuff of legend — something you can relate to your wide-eyed students forty years from now.

Jim said...

Lucky git, well done! Take photos and post them or when we next meet I shall thrash you.

Chris Tilling said...

Thanks again, Ben.

A while ago I picked up second hand copies of his Menschwerdung Gottes, Rechtfertigung (and the little Große christliche Denker, which also has a chapter on Barth), - though I am yet to read either, but I don't yet have a copy of the second volume of his memoirs, Umstrittene Wahrheit, so I think I'll choose that one. I actually have most of his books, apart from the big works on Judaism and Islam (which don't interest me as much, for some reason)

Jim, I will do. Anja and I will both go - should be fun.

One of Freedom said...

Party like a Rock Star! Hans Kung style! :-)

I'm so jealous.

Chris Tilling said...

We will do - off in a couple of hours.