Enlightened Spirituality: Immanuel Kant, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr (1) (Past Light on Present Life: Theology, Ethics, and Spirituality)

Synopsis

This volume presents reflections on the nature of Christian spirituality in the light of Immanuel Kant’s work Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals. It also contains two short com­ments on Kant’s work: Paul Tillich directly engages Kant’s moral philosophy, and Reinhold Niebuhr indirectly addresses him with his reflections on the role of conscience in religious experience. The whole volume rests on the constituent role that morality, and hence ethics, plays in a comprehen­sive understanding of Christian spirituality. Kant adds to that discussion by introducing the voice of the Enlightenment into the conversation. His work serves as a bridge between the spirituality displayed in the Medieval and Reformation periods and what may be called modern Western culture. Christians who are socialized into twenty-first century Western intellectual culture may be relatively unfamiliar with the cultures that spawned the characteristic accents of the spiritual languages that are learned in the churches today. When they move into the world of higher educa­tion, they will learn a whole series of ideas from science and critical modern thought that directly challenge the ordinary spiritual conceptions of church traditions. The critical discussion between intellectual culture and Christianity during the period of the Enlightenment was deep and serious, and it helps to explain how the churches in the West relate to present-day intellectual culture. Kant’s text on the metaphysics of morals presents in an exemplary way the deep questions that Christian spirituality faces today with almost laboratory precision. The two commentators neatly draw the conversation into contexts that are closer to life in the world of our time.

Copyright:

2024

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

160 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781531505721

Related ISBNs:

9781531505738

Publisher:

Fordham University Press

Date of Addition:

02/05/25

Copyrighted By:

Fordham University Press

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Religion and Spirituality

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Edited by:

null Roger Haight S.J.

Edited by:

null Alfred Pach

Edited by:

null Amanda Avila Kaminski