Sárospataki Füzetek 2. (1998)
1998 / 1. szám - Dr. Frank Sawyer: Is there a place for God int he inn of Philosophy?
Kant and to speak honestly about the problem of relating modern reason and science to our Christian faith. We cannot fail to notice that Kant helped promote ideas which would become part of modern perspectives: for example, that reason rules over revelation, that religion should be demythologized (later stressed by Bultmann), and that knowledge of God is an unsure thing, thus morality is the closest we come to recognizing divinity. When we enter into dialogue with Kant we can as students of theology question his ideas on religion while yet appreciating his understanding of universal normativity. We notice that he lacks a feeling for individual reality and the personal side of both faith and reason. Kant rightly asked the question: what can we know and how can we know what is true? By saying that the mind imposes its order on nature, Kant took a giant step forward in the theme of ’self- development’, or autonomy of our personhood. Later, sociology and psychology would contribute to our understanding of how what we know, think and feel is conditioned by our social/cultural Umwelt. But if, as Kant says, the mind imposes its categories on reality, how then do we limit the urge of our ego to ’become like God’? We need to point out that Kant draws the circle of reason so tightly that he loses the possibility of revelation from God; and it is God’s revelation above all else which challenges the ’purity’ (pure reasoning) of our philosophy. "The Kantian impossibility of being in touch with the Ding an sich meant being trapped within one’s own mind." There are so many themes which flow out of a discussion of Kant; this shows he was truly great. His idea of autonomy is a deeply enriched theme. Yet Kant’s idea of ’autonomy’ was rather individualistic: the individual (mind) faces nature and the universal demands of ethics. Every person is capable of ’autonomously’ discovering what is right, what is true, what is reasonable. We miss here the idea of a community based on choices. You as theological students and future pastors could change the world if you would by the grace of God create a new community of people who together make the choices which Kant assigns to autonomous individuals. Such a community, knowing and doing the good, would in a double sense be post-Enlightenment. It would learn from the Enlightenment, and also go beyond the Enlightenment. S7s í/iere a piacé for TdorJ.. ? 1 Roger Scruton, Kant (Oxford-Past Masters-1996), p.78. Jaki, The Road of Science and the ways to God, p.l 19. 35
