Kant and Nineteenth-Century Theology

Submitted to Program Units
1: Nineteenth Century Theology Unit

2024 marks the 300th anniversary of Immanuel Kant's birth. To commemorate this anniversary, the Nineteenth Century Theology Unit holds a panel exploring Immanuel Kant's legacy and influence on modern theology. Kant’s critique of rationalist metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics and his quest for a new foundation of "science" (Wissenschaft) had a major impact on theologians in the late 18th and especially in the long 19th century. The panel presents research on nineteenth-century academic theology, exploring the intersection between Kant's work and post-Kantian idealism and the theologies it influenced. While one paper examines Immanuel Kant's theological commitments, others explore his influence on the theologies of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Isaak Dorner, Albrecht Ritschl, and Wilhelm Herrmann.

Papers

Christian Danz, University of Vienna

From the Religion of Reason to Theology as an Autonomous ‘Wissenschaft’. Immanuel Kant and Protestant Theology in the 19th Century

Abstract

The paper reconstructs the reception of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy in the theologies of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Albrecht Ritschl and Wilhelm Herrmann, taking into account the modernization process in the 19th century. They used Kant’s philosophy to modernize the self-image of Protestant theology as a ‘science’. Around 1800, theologies emerged which took up the differentiation of religion in culture as an independent form. This transforms Kant’s religion of reason into the concept of the independence of religion in consciousness and determines theology as a ‘science’ that operates on the basis of the philosophy of religion. Against the backdrop of advancing cultural modernization, the special nature of the Christian religion became the focus of theology from the 1870s onwards. In these conceptions, religion is increasingly detached from the self-relationship of consciousness, and theology is understood as an autonomous Wissenschaft. This shows that in the history of the development of Protestant theology in the 19th century, it was not only the understanding of religion and theology that changed, but also the image of Kant’s philosophy that was referred to.
Matthias Gockel, University of Basel

Yes, we can (speak of God): Immanuel Kant and 19th Century Theology

Abstract

The significance of Kant’s thinking for Christian theology is fiercely contested. In the second half of the 20thcentury, Kant was regarded mostly as a theological skeptic. The last two decades have seen the emergence of a more balanced view, especially in the Anglophone world. Some interpreters challenge Kant’s epistemological dogma, others ask unapologetically for his constructive contribution to Christian theology. This paper demonstrates that a similar hermeneutical strategy is already visible in the work of 19th-century theologians, among them Friedrich Schleiermacher and Isaak August Dorner. Since Schleiermacher’s relation to Kant has received a fair amount of recent scholarly attention, the paper will focus on Dorner. His indebtedness to German Idealism, especially Schelling, is well known, but what about his direct or indirect indebtedness to Kant, whose work, after all, lay at the root of the history of German Idealism? This will be the guiding question.
Jacqueline Marina, Purdue University

The Way of Consciousness: Kant and 19th Century Theology

Abstract

By the 1790’s there were two fundamental avenues for the reception of Kant’s critical

philosophy. First, there was the way of Reinhold, Fichte, and Hegel, who sought complete closure

in the derivation of a system of reason from first principles concerning consciousness and its

possibility. The second way was that of Schleiermacher and the Romantics, who denied that such

systematization was possible. Schleiermacher located the ground of self-consciousness in an

immediate relation to the Absolute given to consciousness in feeling. This ground could not be

grasped by the intellect but could only be experienced. It conditioned all knowing and willing,

and thereby conditioned the possibility of ethics and metaphysics. This understanding of the self

lay at the basis of the existentialism of Heidegger and Kierkegaard. It also made possible a

philosophical and theological systematic appropriation of Luther’s radical insights. In this paper

I will discuss how Schleiermacher’s reception of Kant’s philosophy conditioned his understanding

of self-consciousness, and the implications of this understanding for existentialist theology

grounded in experience and praxis.
Christopher Insole, University of Durham, UK

Immanuel Kant, Theologian

Abstract

The paper argues that Kant has significant theological commitments, in relation to God and a conception of transcendence. At the same time, he is not easily regarded as a traditional Christian, because of his views about the relationship between divine action, grace, human freedom, and happiness. Kant witnesses to a perennial strand of philosophy that leans into the category of the divine at the edges of what we can say about reason and freedom. Trajectories and possibilities inherent within Kant’s philosophical theology can go in a number of directions, not all of them compatible with each other. Kant’s philosophical theology can therefore provide a resource and impetus for a wide range of theological movements in the long nineteenth century.

Responding

Nicholas Adams, University of Birmingham

Sabbath Observance

Sunday morning

Full Papers Available

Yes

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Session Length

2 Hours

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Sunday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Schedule Preference Other

Saturday afternoon (12:30 PM-2:30 PM) would be another preference.

Schedule Info

Sunday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Session Identifier

A24-223

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Kant and Nineteenth-Century Theology

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