The twentieth century, contrary to popular myth, has hosted a number of great theistic philosophers and theologians. Unfortunately, too many of these thinkers are known only within academic circles. Theological philosophy has been “free” of Church restrictions, allowing a variety of views to be published.
Theology, Philosophy, and Individualism
Existential theology is a recognition that real faith and
spiritual meaning cannot be found in organized religions, rituals, or texts.
Adhering to religious rules, even those called “laws” within a religion,
is not a sign of true faith. Existential theology demands that faith be individual.
Because most people are born into a religion, they do not have a faith so
much as a sense of community identity. The religion is a way to connect to
other people, not a way to connect directly to the metaphysical. This does
not mean that every person born into a religion lacks faith, but few people
are genuinely spiritual.
Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero,
without all the sanction and support of religion or society.
— Anita Brookner (b. 1938), British novelist, art historian.
Interview in Writers at
Work, Eighth Series, ed. George Plimpton (1988).
Within existentialism, the theologians have been overshadowed
by Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert
Camus, and other atheists. Though there are modern theistic philosophers within existentialism, most are unfamiliar to the general public. One has too look back to Søren
Kierkegaard to locate a popularly known religious thinker within existentialism.
Existential thinking, both theistic and atheistic, was
and is influenced by questions of faith. Even the atheists must address
questions concerning the absence of any Creator and what that implies for
human existence. The suggestion that issues of God don’t matter to many
atheistic thinkers seems slightly mistaken, as denying any deity still
requires acknowledgment of religions’ roles in our societies.
It may seem strange that for a philosophy so often characterized
as atheistic, its origins are so rooted in questions of the individual’s
relationship with God, or how we might live in a world where God is absent
or dead. For later Existentialist writers and thinkers the issue may not
arise at all — it is assumed that there is no God, and the matter is of little
or no importance. But for those writing in the deeply religious nineteenth
century, such as Kierkegaard,
Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, the place of mankind and the place of the individual with respect to God underpinned all musings.
— Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed; Steven Earnshaw, p. 5
Any discussion of theology’s role in existentialism must
begin with the works of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55). Like Martin Luther before him, Kierkegaard was calling on a dominant Christian church to reform, to be truer to the teachings of Jesus and the authors of the New Testament. The Lutheran Church, in Kierkegaard’s opinion, had mistakenly taken the same path as the Catholic Church from which it had separated.
The established or state church of Denmark was the Lutheran Church.
The nation considered it a God-given duty to protect the Church, to promote
its welfare by instituting compulsory religious training in all schools,
and to safeguard the clergy by assuring them a respectable economic level
and by giving them the status of civil servantsIt was against this system of security and state control that Kierkegaard
rebelled. The security of a Christian Church meant to him the betrayal
of every tenet of Christ’s teaching and example. … The anonymous early
Christian followers were martyred, not honored, paid, and respected for
belonging to the Church.
— Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche & Kafka; Wiliam Hubben, p. 25
According to Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and even the anti-religious Nietzsche, the Christian churches of nineteenth-century Europe were not aligned with the teachings of Christ. For Kierkegaard, restoring Christianity to its origins became something of an obsession.
Kierkegaard believed himself to live in an age which had seen a decline
in the true meaning of Christianity, and he saw it as his mission —
increasingly so in later life — to restore the human
race to a central Christian philosophy.
— Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed; Earnshaw, p. 20
Only the individual willing to question and challenge
the churches could appreciate how far from the teachings and example of
Jesus the churches had strayed. This was nothing new. Geoffrey Chaucer
had mocked the clergy several hundred years earlier. What was potentially
new was the existential description of faith. Religious existentialists
are, in many ways, fundamentalists seeking a return to the earliest practices
of faith.
Like Kierkegaard, the original Christian existentialist, they reject
the notion that faith and reason can or need to be reconciled. Reason
has its place, but it shouldn’t be allowed to trump the personal, the
individual, and the free choice to believe, to have faith, in the absence
of a complete and final rational proof. Like so much of human life, faith
and the experience of the love of God are essentially irrational. and
these existentialists see no reason to try to apologize for or cover
up that fact. In many ways, their philosophies are a call to return to
an earlier time — to a time when religion was a personal, immediate,
and passionate experience, as opposed to an overly structured and overly
intellectualized pursuit of the proper procedures and the proper belief
with regard to some obscure point of theology.
— Existentialism for Dummies; Panza and Gale, p. 20
Before Kierkegaard
The writings of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and Blaise Pascal (1623-62) are often cited as exhibiting existentialist ideals and concepts. St. Augustine’s Confessions (c. 400) has been called the earliest example of existential theology, primarily because it is a self-reflection on personal choices, including the author’s eventual embrace of faith. However, St. Augustine’s theology is not radical, as some of the most famous Biblical figures had to prove their free choice of faith in scriptures. The Confessions influenced most prominent Christian theologians through the nineteenth century, so no one school of thought can claim Augustine.
Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher, is a step (or maybe a half step) closer towards existentialism than Augustine. Again, Pascal might express some questions of free will and choice, but he is not an “existentialist.” Pascal was a scientist, and his pursuit of philosophical truth was grounded in natural science. There was nothing inherently phenomenological in Pascal’s theological philosophy.
Few characters are associated with existential free will
as strongly as John
Milton’s (1608–74) Satan from the epic poem Paradise
Lost. The English poet was not attempting to express a theological existentialism, though. Reading Satan as a heroic figure runs counter to Milton’s theology. The famous lines actually emphasize the dangers of free will.
… Here at least
We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
— Paradise Lost Book 1; Milton
In Milton’s theology, humanity is sinful and corrupt, free will resulting in “The Fall of Man” from the Creator’s grace. Human failability is also a theme in the works of Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749–1832), German poet, playwright, novelist, philosopher, and scientist. Goethe’s works are not a celebration of free will, but rather warnings against its temptations.
Dostoevsky’s Questions
Before considering the “modern” forms of theological
existentialism, we should pause to recognize that many of the questions
still being contemplated were best framed by the novelist Fyodor
Dostoevsky. As with Milton and Goethe, we should not ascribe existential ideas to Dostoevsky merely because his characters present certain questions or puzzles about existence.
Whereas Kierkegaard wrestled with his Christian faith, struggling
from within its boundaries, the works of Dostoevsky, particularly the
novels Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), question the very notion of there being a God, and envisage what a world looks like without him. Without a God there is no given meaning to the world, there are no set moral standards by which we are to abide. But what does that signify? Does it mean we are free to do whatever we want, without moral constraint? Are we free to murder, for instance? Without a God all our rules can be understood as mere conventions — arbitrary decisions we as humans have made, which we can unmake and replace if we so choose. After all, who is there to tell us otherwise? Without a God there is no authority for any particular law or moral, or at least, no authority higher than each individual. Does that then mean individuals are free to set their own moral standards, their own values, become their own gods? Who has the right to say ‘Thou shalt not kill’? This is the question at the heart of Crime and Punishment when the main character, Raskolnikov, decides to test his individual values against social morality by murdering a malicious pawnbroker; in The Brothers Karamazov it leads to the conclusion that ‘nothing would be immoral’.
— Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed; Earnshaw, p. 3-4
Modern Theists and Existentialism
Spirituality and religion were important within existentialism
throughout the twentieth century, though many still associate existentialism
with atheism. Many
of the major figures within existentialism were not only theologians, but religious
leaders within their faiths. Several of the existentialists were ordained
ministers,
for example.
We cannot ignore faith, therefore, as part of any study of existentialism.
… [T]here is a very strong spiritual current that carries through
into Existentialist writing well into the twentieth century and why there
is often a desire to go beyond the present material, physical being and
to achieve some kind of transcendence.
— Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed; Earnshaw, p. 5
The following individuals are key figures in modern theological
discussions of existentialism:
The Leap of Faith
In Kierkegaard’s works, there is a moment when the believer realizes that faith is not reasonable, logical, or scientific. Trying to defend faith actually proves the believer has doubts. Faith is a surrender to something beyond what can be known. That churches and religious zealots try to prove the existence of the Creator(s) is evidence these individuals care more about what others think than what is personally experienced. Theological existentialism tends to view faith in the following light:
- Faith is a personal experience that can never be fully explained to
others; - Faith requires sacrifices emotionally and socially;
- Faith is usually damaged by religious organizations; and
- Faith is preceded by doubt and a quest for answers.
None of these concepts is alien to organized religion,
but the theological existentialists see the alienation as far from extreme
than previous philosophers. True faith is so apart from a group understanding
that it can only be damaged if the believer entrusts his or her spirituality
to an organized church. Even explaining faith reduces its purity, to some
degree, but it is important to be authentic and honest about believing.
Religious existentialism does not attempt to escape the
absurdity of life. An existentialist seeking a system has to admit that
the system itself does not give his or her life meaning. If there is a
Creator, an existentialist assumes that this Creator is beyond human logic
and reason. It is the fact we cannot understand the Creator that causes
us to feel anxiety and despair within religious existentialism.
The Contradiction
Existentialism by its nature suffers a contradiction:
if the individuals defines meaning, it seems strange that various existential
figures found meaning in organizations, political theories, and religions.
At least unlike some of the social and political theories embraced by some
figures, religion does not claim to be easily understood. However, religions
still impose an external understanding of life and morality on adherents.
… existentialism is not, or at least is not intended to be, metaphysics.
It is not a metaphysical attempt to explain and categorize what is the
world and what is the beyond, and it hence does not seek to prove or
disprove God. While ontological, cosmological and teleological attempts
to prove the existence of God may be seen to miss the point, it should
be noted that, for Kierkegaard, God is simply the unknown and he hence
avoids the trap that he thinks afflicts much theology: presuming that
rational discourse can make the religious experience comprehensible.
— Understanding Existentialism; Jack Reynolds, p. 5
Being an authentic Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or
whatever, must be more than a choice — it must be a daily choice to live
according to the teachings of the faith. Religious existentialists argue
that faiths aim to bring men closer together via rules, rituals, and doctrines.
The adherents of a faith are given a tool by which to relate to each other,
and when people relate to each other, they are also relating to creation
— indirectly as close to the Creator as men and women can get in life.
Adhering to external rules is a choice at all times,
even within a religion. As with all existentialism, the individual is constantly
aware of choices relating to faith and religion. The contradiction of external
meaning remains, to some extent, though. Tillich wrote of the struggle to be responsible to God, by choice, while not surrendering the self. It’s a basic tenet of many faiths that follows “surrender” to a Higher Power.
The most adamant atheists resemble religious zealots,
with atheism a matter of “faith” for these individuals. One of the greater
ironies is that many thinkers from a philosophical tradition that rejects
“scientism” use
evidence from science to reject religious beliefs. The more radical philosophers
argue that since all knowledge is socially constructed, then any deity
must be a creation. Once you stop believing in the created deity, the deity
itself does not exist. In effect, an individual “kills God” when he or
she stops believing in the notion of a Supreme Being and/or Creator.
Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared, “God is dead, and we killed Him.” This means that the evolving knowledge and experiences of humanity naturally resulted in a loss of faith. The death of God reflects growth and an act of free will.
Atheism for Nietzsche is not simply a statement of fact: it is also
the consequence of considerable effort to free human beings from the
idols to which they are wont to go cringing.
— Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction; Simon Critchley, p. 85
From Religious Traditions
We cannot escape the influence of our cultural traditions
and norms. Even the most famous atheists among existential thinkers were
shaped by Western ethics and ideals that evolved in a religious context.
Critics have suggested that even Jean-Paul
Sartre’s attempt to construct existential ethics was a reflection of French religious traditions, particularly Catholicism.
Alternative Non-Faith
Sometimes, even the “non-faith” of existential thinkers
and other Continental philosophers resembles theology. The metaphysical
aspects of Continental philosophy can verge of “obscurantism” — an impulse
for explanations outside science for natural phenomena.
Obscurantism might here be defined as the rejection of the causal explanations
offered by natural science by referring them to an alternative causal
story, that is somehow of a higher order, but essentially occult.Familiar candidates for obscurantist explanation are the will of God,
the ubiquity of alien intelligence, the action of the stars on human
behaviour, and so on. Less obvious, but arguably equally pernicious candidates
are the drives in Freud, Jung’s archetypes, the real in Lacan, power
in Foucault, differance in Derrida, the trace of God in Levinas, or –
indeed – the epochal withdrawal of being in and as history in the later
Heidegger. This list might be extended.
— Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction; Critchley, p. 118
Nietzsche’s discussions of eternal recurrence is an example of this theological non-belief. The concept differs little from religious belief in reincarnation.
For [Nietzsche], there is no God and the idea of the immortality
of the soul is something of a bad joke. However, what Nietzsche asks
of us with the thought of eternal return is to imagine our existence
in a universe without theological meaning or metaphysical guarantee
repeating itself endlessly, recurring eternally.
— Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction; Critchley, p. 85
For many of those considered existential theologians
it became impossible to separate the existential call to action from political
action. It was not enough to live according to religious doctrines of tolerance
and charity for Reinhold Niebuhr, for example, who felt compelled to run for public office. Because the major figures in existentialism were “public intellectuals,” it seems natural that they were also politically active even when politics was not their primary concern.
Critchley, Simon. Continental
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions, Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. [0192853597]
Earnshaw, Steven. Existentialism:
A Guide for the Perplexed. London; New York: Continuum International Pub. Group, 2006. [0826485294, 9780826485298 (hc); 0826485308, 9780826485304 (pbk)]
Hubben, William. Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard,
Nietzsche, and Kafka. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952.
Panza, Christopher, and Gregory Gale. Existentialism
for Dummies. New York: Dummies, 2008. [0470276991]
Reynolds, Jack. Understanding
Existentialism. Understanding Movements in Modern Thought, ed. Jack Reynolds, Chesham, U.K.: Acumen, 2006. [184465043X]