Hans Küng

Hans Küng emerged from the intellectual ferment of mid-20th century Catholicism as a brilliant and contentious figure. Ordained a priest in 1954, he quickly gained attention as a theological advisor during the Second Vatican Council, advocating for progressive change. His academic career was spent primarily at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Küng's sharp intellect turned into a thorn for the Vatican with his 1970 book 'Infallible? An Inquiry,' which directly challenged the doctrine of papal infallibility. The Vatican's response was to revoke his license to teach as a Catholic theologian in 1979, though he retained his priestly status and his university chair. Undeterred, Küng spent subsequent decades building bridges between world religions, founding the Global Ethic Foundation and arguing that shared ethical principles, not doctrinal agreement, were the key to global peace.