Hans Kung

Hans Küng , 1928-, Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and author. Ordained in 1954, he became (1960) professor of theology at Tübingen Univ. and later served (1962-65) as adviser to the Second Vatican Council. Having consistently criticized papal authority, he became the first major Roman Catholic theologian to reject the doctrine of papal infallibility in his book Infallible? An Inquiry (1971). In 1979 he was stripped of his right to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian. His other works include The Council in Action (tr. 1963), Structures of the Church (tr. 1966), Why Priests? (tr. 1972), Eternal Life? (tr. 1984), and Global Responsibility (tr. 1991).

Kung, Hans (1928– ), Swiss RC theologian. He was a peritus at the Second Vatican Council and in 1963 became Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology at Tübingen and director of the newly-established Institute for Ecumenical Research. Disappointed with the progress of the Vatican Council, he became increasingly critical of the Church and outspoken in his protests against Papal encyclicals. This criticism found expression in two books, Die Kirche (1967; Eng. tr., The Church, 1967) and Unfehlbar? (1970; Eng. tr., Infallible?, 1971), a trenchant criticism of modern Papal claims and the Papacy's exercise of authority. Other works were no less controversial, and in 1979 his missio canonica (authority to teach as a Catholic theologian) was withdrawn, though he kept his university post until his retirement in 1996.