Kant's Critical Religion

KANT'S CRITICAL RELIGION

by Stephen Palmquist (stevepq@hkbu.edu.hk)

嚙瞑 Copyright Stephen Palmquist

嚙瞑 Last updated on 8 February 2007.

嚙瞑 This is an online version of a book published by Ashgate Publishing Company, Ltd. (Aldershot, England), 2000.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Note on References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

PART ONE:

THE SYSTEMATIC FOUNDATIONS OF KANT嚙踝蕭S SYSTEM

I. Kant嚙踝蕭s Theocentric Metaphysics

1. Kant: Destroyer or Preserver of Metaphysics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2. Metaphysics in Kant嚙踝蕭s Philosophical Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

3. The Theocentric Orientation of Kant嚙踝蕭s Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4. The Scope of This Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

II. Kant嚙踝蕭s Dreams of a Critical Mysticism

1. The Traditional Myth of Kant嚙踝蕭s 嚙踝蕭Awakening嚙踝蕭 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2. Kant嚙踝蕭s Criticism of Swedenborg嚙踝蕭s Mystical Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

3. Kant嚙踝蕭s Four Major 嚙踝蕭Awakenings嚙踝蕭 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4. The Dream of a System of Critical Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

III. Kant嚙踝蕭s Critical Philosophy: An Overview of KSP1

1. The General Structure of Kant嚙踝蕭s System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

2. The Epistemological Underpinnings of the Critical Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

3. The Structural Elements of Kant嚙踝蕭s Three Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

4. God and Religion in the Context of Kant嚙踝蕭s Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

PART TWO: KANT嚙踝蕭S PERSPECTIVAL FOUNDATION

FOR CRITICAL THEOLOGY

IV. Theistic Alternatives to Proving God嚙踝蕭s Existence:

Kant嚙踝蕭s 嚙踝蕭Appropriation嚙踝蕭 of Lampe嚙踝蕭s God:

1. The Problem of Transcendental Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

2. Hypothetical Theology: God as a Regulative Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

3. Physicotheology: Judicial Evidence for the God-Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

4. Moral Theology: The Ultimate Rationale for Theistic Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

V. Symbolic Theology and the Nature of God

1. God嚙踝蕭s Transcendence: Human Reason vs. Divine 嚙踝蕭Reason嚙踝蕭 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

2. Philosophical Theology and the Symbolic Immanence of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

3. Reason嚙踝蕭s Theological Need: Architectonic Perspectives

on the Perspectiveless Ground of Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

4. God嚙踝蕭s Trinitarian Nature: Holiness, Benevolence, and Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

VI. Religion as the Synthesis of Theology and Morality

1. Kant嚙踝蕭s Reductionism: Explanatory or Eliminative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

2. Prolegomena to Kant嚙踝蕭s System of Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

3. A Preview of Kant嚙踝蕭s System of Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

4. Raising Morality to the Status of Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

PART THREE: KANT嚙踝蕭S PERSPECTIVAL FOUNDATION

FOR CRITICAL RELIGION

VII. Kant嚙踝蕭s System of Religious Perspectives

1. The Four Stages of Religion in General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

2. The Conditions of Religion in the Moral Individual (-)

A. Radical Evil (--) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

B. Conversion to the Good (+-) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

3. The Conditions of Religion in the Moral Community (+)

A. The Founding of a Church (-+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

B. Service of God (++) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

4. An Analytic Summary and a Synthetic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183

VIII. Christianity as the Universal Religion

1. Kant嚙踝蕭s Copernican Perspective on Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

2. Kant嚙踝蕭s Assessment of Biblical Religion

A. The Creation Story and the Fall of Adam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

B. The Gospel Story and the Nature of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

3. Kant嚙踝蕭s Assessment of Christian Tradition

A. The Universal Church and its Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

B. Serving God: Clergy vs. Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

4. The Harmony between System_r_-C and System_r_{-m .} . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

IX. A Kantian System of Biblical Theology

1. The Biblical Theology of a Kantian Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

2. Christian Practice: The Greatest Commandment

A. Worship and the Love of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251

B. Fellowship and the Love of Human Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

3. Christian Belief: Preaching and Teaching the Word

A. Evangelism and the Gospel of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

B. Doctrine and the Authority of God嚙踝蕭s Revealed Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

4. A Christian Critique of Kant嚙踝蕭s Critical Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

PART FOUR: KANT嚙踝蕭S PERSPECTIVAL FOUNDATION

FOR CRITICAL MYSTICISM

X. Reason嚙踝蕭s Birth in Immediate Experience

1. Mysticism and Religious Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

2. Kant嚙踝蕭s Apparent Rejection of Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

3. Kant嚙踝蕭s Disclosure of Critical Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

4. Meditative Metaphors and the Shaping of a Mystical World View . . . . . . . . . . 317

XI. The Tantalizing 嚙踝蕭Gap嚙踝蕭 in Kant嚙踝蕭s System

1. Förster嚙踝蕭s Riddle: What Prompted Kant to Write Kt9? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

2. The Tantalizing Content of Kt9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

3. Kt9 as the Grand Synthesis of Kant嚙踝蕭s System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334

4. What was 嚙踝蕭Tantalizing嚙踝蕭 about Kant嚙踝蕭s Final Dream? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

XII. Transition to the End of All Philosophy

1. Kant嚙踝蕭s Return to Immediate Experience: The Three Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

2. God: The Categorical Imperative as Philosophy嚙踝蕭s Moral End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

3. The World: Matter嚙踝蕭s Living Force as Philosophy嚙踝蕭s Technical End . . . . . . . . . . . . .367

4. The Ideal Human: Christ as Philosophy嚙踝蕭s Highest Religious End . . . . . . . . . . . . . .374

APPENDICES

AI. The Story of Kant嚙踝蕭s Critical Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

AII. Kant, Swedenborg, and Kantian Mystics

1. Kantian Mystics嚙碼Old and New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

2. Laywine嚙踝蕭s Account of Swedenborg嚙踝蕭s Influence on Kant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .395

3. Florschütz嚙踝蕭s Account of Swedenborg嚙踝蕭s Influence on Kant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399

4. Johnson嚙踝蕭s Account of Kant on Swedenborg in Kt25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

AIII. Further Reflections on KSP1

1. Three New Maps of Kant嚙踝蕭s System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .402

2. Responses and Rejoinders to Critics of KSP1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .404

3. Textual Review of Kant嚙踝蕭s Conception of Architectonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

4. Minor Corrections to KSP1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

AIV. How To Be a Theist without Proving that God Exists

1. Kant嚙踝蕭s Critique of the Traditional Theoretical Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .420

2. Recent Attempts to Revive the Ontological Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

3. Clarifications of the Nature and Status of Kant嚙踝蕭s Moral Argument 432

4. Kant嚙踝蕭s Alleged Atheism:

Can a 嚙踝蕭Fiction嚙踝蕭 Replace All Theoretical Proofs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

AV. Jesus and Kant: Four Perspectives on Moral Judgment

1. A Model for Kant-Based Dialogue

between Philosophers and Theologians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .440

2. The Transcendental and the Logical Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .443

3. The Empirical and the Hypothetical Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

4. An Analytic Map of the Four Perspectives on Moral Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

AVI. Faith in the Face of Evil: Kant嚙踝蕭s Solutions to Five Standard Theological Problems

1. Critical Theodicy and the Problem of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .453

2. Critical Soteriology and the Problem of Atonement for Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458

3. Critical Eschatology and the Problem of Assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .464

4. Critical Redemption and the Problem of Good Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

AVII. The Four Parerga: Reason嚙踝蕭s Need for Divine Assistance

1. Workings of Grace (Gnadenwirkungen) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472

2. Miracles (Wundern) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

3. Mysteries (Geheimnissen) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

4. Means of Grace (Gnadenmitteln) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

AVIII. Kant嚙踝蕭s Critical Hermeneutic of Prayer

1. Prayer in Perspective: The Copernican Revolution in Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

2. The Moral 嚙踝蕭Spirit嚙踝蕭 of Transcendental Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

3. The Paradoxical 嚙踝蕭Letter嚙踝蕭 of Empirical Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

4. Contemplation and Critique: A Framework for Assessing Prayer . 493

AIX. Kantian Christianity: 95 Theses and a Critical Catechism

1. Kantian Christianity as a Catholic-Protestant Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

2. Kant嚙踝蕭s 95 Theses for Religious Reformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .499

3. A Catechism Based on Kant嚙踝蕭s Critical Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

BIBLIOGRAPHY, GLOSSARY, AND INDEX

Bibliography

Introductory Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Part One: Kant嚙踝蕭s Works (Kt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

I. Primary Systematic Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

II. Other Publications and Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

1. The Theoretical Standpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .518

2. The Practical Standpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

A. Ethics and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .520

B. Philosophy of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .521

3. The Judicial Standpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .521

A. Philosophy of Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .521

B. Philosophical Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

III. Unpublished Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

1. Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

2. Handwritten Notes and Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

3. Reconstructions of Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .525

IV. Collections of Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Part Two: Other Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Glossary of Technical Terms

Relating to Kant嚙踝蕭s Theology and Philosophy of Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .542

Index of Citations, Names, and Selected Subjects

Scripture Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Kt (Kant Text) Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Names and Other Sources Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Selected Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .558

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This page was last updated on 8 June 2007.