A Theological Anthropology of Self-Realization

The book addresses the intriguing problem of human 'self-realization' precisely because of the diverse uses of the term, which ranges from abstract philosophical-theological theories to practical psychological-spiritual applications. Jennifer Slater draws the concept from Karl Rahner, the twentieth German theologian, who uses the term self-realization in his theology on 'freedom' and 'symbolism', relating it to the basic free choice, which the human person makes to be for or against God/Divine. Jennifer Slater explores this fundamental free choice, which is at the same time a basic choice about oneself. She writes from the understanding that the human person is radically free to become the choices she or he makes and freedom is the capacity for definitive self-realization. In the book, she shows that in the exercising of freedom, humans, precisely as historical beings, are also transcendent beings. Jennifer grapples with the perception that since human self-realization involves the power to make decisions, which in reality actualizes a person's own reality, how then does this self-realization come about and where does the Divine fit into the process? If self-realization is related to the human self and to the Divine Self, she then questions what constitutes the self and self-realization? This struggle practically employs the woman in general and in particular the woman consecrated to a vowed life. The pervasive question throughout is: What constitutes the self-realization of a human/woman being?