Thomas M. Kelly Love of Neighbor in Karl Rahner's Anthropology: Implications for a Theology of Marriage (summary) The article explores a theology of marriage based on the presumption, articulated by the theologian Karl Rahner, that love of God and love of neighbor are unified and that one's experience of self, one's experience of God, and one's love of neighbor are intimately bound. It contends that a consideration of these two experiences, along with a reflection on love of neighbor, grounded in the history of theology, will provide a necessary foundation for a theology of marriage that will open new vistas in Christian spirituality. The first part of the article presents Rahner's transcendental anthropology, showing how, for Rahner, the person actualizes transcendence in and through the particularities of existence. Human experience moves beyond itself in the presence of holy mystery precisely in our encounter with other people. Human beings actualize their existence in relation to other subjects in history. Personhood is realized through questioning and knowledge, through responsibility, and thus through freedom to decide for the whole of the self – all of which only occur in the context of relationships. Further, the love that is expressed in relationships is one with the love of God; it is in the love of another that our love of God is concretized. The second part of the article develops this theme in regard to married love. The different modalities of love (philia, eros, agape) are explored to show how they each operate in marriage. It is the marital relationship that integrates these three loves the best – and can thus be considered a radical form of Christian discipleship – when lived out intentionally and responsibly. Eros, as both free and responsible, moves married persons toward each other in and through sexual desire. Philia maintains the distance necessary to "recognize, respect, and respond" to the other as other. Agape characterizes the entire relationship not only when eros and philia are oriented to the effective willing of the good of the other but also in those moments of sacrifice and self-gift, present through forgiveness, acceptance of finitude, and a commitment to the other even in the context of brokenness. Marriage thus provides the harmonization of the various aspects of love and a privileged expression of love of neighbor and thus love of God.