Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Frank Sawyer: Immanuel Kant and Theology
Frank Sawyer But what are good works? These are stated in the Heidelberg catechism as: “Only those which are done from true faith, according to the law of God, and to His glory; and not such as are based on our own opinion or the precepts of men.” (Question 91). Kant would not have difficulty with this view as such. For, he wanted to maintain a solid standard for defining what is good. The difference enters when we remember that the classical Reformation thought on this is that we do good works out of thankfulness for God’s renewing grace in our lives. Indeed, more foundationally: only God’s grace empowers us to do good works. Further, theology had talked about the use of the divine law as an incentive for repentance (strongly emphasÍ2ed by the Apostle Paul). But Kant is clear as to why he wants to place the emphasis on our ability to do the divine commands: “To this end man busies himself with every conceivable formality [religious rites], designed to indicate how greatly he respects the divine commands, in order that it may not be necessary for him to obey them; .. .he leaves it to all-gracious Providence to make a better man of him, while he busies himself with piety (a passive respect for the law of God) rather than with virtue (the application of one’s own powers in discharging the duty which one respects) — and, after all, it is only the latter, combined with the former, that can give us the idea which one intends by the word godliness (true religious disposition).”14 Kant is rejecting false piety and rightly so. At the same time it has been noted that for Kant “regeneration is a free deed of our moral nature through which good conquers evil”.15 This is how Kant, the Enlightenment thinker, maintains optimism about the autonomy of the human subject, by emphasizing our ability to have a good will. The good will is a free choice on our part. Kant thus makes divine grace secondary, as God’s reward for our efforts, rather than understanding divine grace to be the motor of our regeneration. Kant would agree with insights that came later with the arrival of a more existential approach to doctrines. As Heschel states it, “To have faith does not mean, however, to dwell in the shadow of old ideas conceived by prophets and sages, to live of an inherited estate of doctrines and dogmas. In the realm of spirit only he who is a pioneer is able to be an heir. .. .Authentic faith is more than an echo of a tradition. It is a creative situation, an event.”16 Kant was a pioneer in rethinking the relation of reason and faith. He did not like dead doctrine. However, he did not like live theological doctrines very much, either. He uses philosophical doctrines to negate theological doctrines. Yet he adheres to some basic faith statements. For example, he can say: “A heart-felt wish to be well-pleasing to God in our every act and abstention, or in other words, the disposition, accompanying all our actions, to perform these as though they were being executed in the service of God, is the pirít of prayer which can, and should, be present 14 Kant, 'Religion Within, p.189. 15 Dooyeweerd, vol.I, p.385. 16 Heschel, Man is not Alone, p.164. 82 SÁROSPATAKI FÜZETEK2012/2
