Church History and Christian Ministry

Augustine (354 – 430)

Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274)

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)

Karl Barth (1886 – 1968)

Crisis of Confidence following the Reformation

Renaissance: undermined confidence in the church

Reformation: further eroded, but no consolidation

Religious Wars:

Germany: 30 years war

France: St. Bartholomew’s Massacre

England: The Puritan Revolution

Crisis of Confidence following the Reformation

Renaissance: undermined confidence in the church

Reformation: further eroded, but no consolidation

Religious Wars:

Scientific Revolution

Produced a new approach to confidence - Reason

17th Century: The Age of Reason

Continental Philosophy

Descartes

Leibniz

Spinoza

British Empiricism

Locke

Berkeley

HumeKant

17th Century: The Age of Reason (Reason our tool)

18th Century: The Enlightenment (Reason our savior)

The great successes of science led to an even greater confidence in science, with a diminishing place for God and the supernatural – the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment generally stood for the idea that man is the solution to his own problems – his own savior, and God is either non-existent or irrelevant to the quest for human meaning and achievement

In the Enlightenment, science as a tool was exchanged for science as a god, and the impact of this change affected all subsequent philosophy

The Festival of Reason – French Enlightenment – 1793.

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

Worried about the attack of science on things religious and metaphysical

Hoped to show the limits of human reason in Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

Worried about the attack of science on things religious and metaphysical

Hoped to show the limits of human reason in Critique of Pure Reason

Kant’s philosophy produced what came to be called, “Kant’s Wall”

The things that matter most are safe behind the wall

On this side: science, nature, observation, experience, “phenomena”

On the other side: God, self, real beauty, truth, goodness, “noumena”

Truth on this side known by science; truth on the other side by faith

Kant’s Wall

Noumenal World: God, Self, the thing-in-itself (essences)

Phenomenal World: science, reason, observation, experience

Kant’s Wall

Two responses to Kant’s Wall:

1) Pessimestic: we must create a philosophy with no reference at all to transcendent (noumenal) truth

Positivism: August Comte

Kant’s Wall

The Pessimistic Approach

August Comte (1798 – 1857)

Positivism: no “why,” just “what” – description over explanation

Scientism: science alone will bring progress and save humanity

Pragmatism: the measure of worth is determined by utility

Two responses to Kant’s Wall:

1) Pessimestic: we must create a philosophy with no reference at all to transcendent (noumenal) truth

Positivism: August Comte

Pragmatism: William James

Existentialism: Fredrick Nietzsche

Kant’s Wall

Kant’s Wall

Two responses to Kant’s Wall:

2) Optimistic: The noumenal “breaks through” into the phenomenal

Two responses to Kant’s Wall:

1) Optimistic: The noumenal “breaks through” into the phenomenal

History

Kant’s Wall

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

Truth (Absolute Spirit, Absolute Ego, Reason) revealed in the “dialectic” of history – the “dialectical triad”

The Dialectical Triad

Thesis – a Great Idea

Antithesis – a GreatOpposing IdeaConflict

Synthesis – truth revealed In the Clash

Synthesis = New Thesis

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

The Marxist Triad

Thesis – the rise of capital

Antithesis–exploitation of the workersConflict

Synthesis – Revolution

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

3) Freud (1856 - 1939): Dialectical Psychology

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

3) Freud (1856 - 1939): Dialectical Psychology

The Freudian Triad

Thesis – the Id, ourbase instinct

Antithesis – the Superego – social

constraintConflict

Synthesis – the Ego, Resolution in

self-understanding

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

3) Freud (1856 - 1939): Dialectical Psychology

4) Darwin (1809 - 1882): Dialectical Biology

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

3) Freud (1856 - 1939): Dialectical Psychology

4) Darwin (1809 - 1882): Dialectical Biology

The Darwinian Dialectic

Thesis – a speciesAntithesis – a modified

species through random mutation

Conflict

Synthesis – the superior Species wins the struggle

Synthesis = Which faces a new struggle

…as reflected in his most famous title…

The Optimistic Approach1) Hegel (1770 - 1831): Dialectical Idealism

2) Marx (1818 - 1883): Dialectical Materialism

3) Freud (1856 - 1939): Dialectical Psychology

4) Darwin (1809 - 1882): Dialectical Biology

17th Century: The Age of Reason (Reason our tool)

18th Century: The Enlightenment (Reason our savior)

19th Century: Evolution (Reason our god)

Effect on Christian Theology

1) Immanentism

2) Naturalism

3) Humanism

4) Optimism

Karl Barth (1886 – 1968)

Trained in 19th century Christian Liberalism

Convinced Liberalism produced German NationalismPublished Romerbrief (1922)

Rejected basic liberal outlook

1) Immanentism: God is radically transcendent

2) Naturalism: God breaks into history supernaturally3) Humanism: Refuses to tie Christ to any human achievement

4) Optimism: Apart from redemptive work of Christ, we are hopeless

Karl Barth (1886 – 1968)

Trained in 19th century Christian Liberalism

Convinced Liberalism produced German NationalismPublished Romerbrief (1922)

Rejected basic liberal outlook

Rejected traditional view of Bible

Accused traditional view of Biblical Docetism

Bible is “witness” to revelation

Bible may “become” the Word of God – shattered mirror analogy

Karl Barth (1886 – 1968)

Trained in 19th century Christian Liberalism

Convinced Liberalism produced German NationalismPublished Romerbrief (1922)

Rejected basic liberal outlook

Rejected traditional view of Bible

Rejected traditional apologetics

Affirmed basic content of the gospel – neo-orthodox

Courageous stand against the Nazis in the 30s