German Idealism's Trinitarian Legacy

Dale M. Schlitt

Description

Dale M. Schlitt presents a study of trinitarian thought as it was understood and debated by the German Idealists broadly—engaging Schelling's philosophical interpretations of Trinity as well as Hegel's—and analyzing how these Idealist interpretations influenced later philosophers and theologians. Divided into different sections, one considers nineteenth-century central Europeans Philipp Marheineke, Isaak August Dorner, and Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov under the rubric "testimonials." Another section studies twentieth-century Germans Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, and Wolfhart Pannenberg, who share "family resemblances" with the Idealists, and a third addresses the work of twentieth- and twenty-first century Americans, Robert W. Jenson, Catherine Mowry LaCugna, Joseph A. Bracken, and Schlitt himself, whose work reverberates with what Schlitt terms "transatlantic Idealist echoes." The book concludes with reflection on the overall German Idealist trinitarian legacy, noting several challenges it offers to those who will pursue creative trinitarian reflection in the future.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Identifying Idealist Influences

Part 1. The Idealist Trinitarian Adventure

Introduction to Part I
Johan Gottlieb Fichte: Setting the Stage

1. Georg W. F. Hegel: A Daring Claim
The Shape and End Result of Hegel’s Efforts
How Hegel Argued His Trinitarian Position
Systematic Concerns Motivating Hegel’s Reconceptualization

2. Friedrich W. J. von Schelling: A Radically Free and Personal God
The Radically Free and Personal Trinitarian God
What Schelling Has Done

Part II. Early European Testimonials to Idealist Influence

Introduction to Part II

3. Philipp Marheineke: A Trinitarian Dialectic of Being and Thought
Marheineke on Trinity
An Early Testimonial to Idealist Influence

4. Isaak August Dorner: An Ethical Trinity
Dorner on Trinity
A Later Testimonial to Idealist Influence

5. Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov: A Trinitarian Metaphysics
Solovyov’s Lectures on Divine Humanity
An Eastern Testimonial to Idealist Influence

Part III. German Idealist Family Resemblances

Introduction to Part III

6. Karl Barth: A Self-Revealing Trinity
Barth on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances

7. Karl Rahner: A Self-Communicating Trinity
Rahner on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances

8. Wolfhart Pannenberg: Reciprocally Self-Distinguishing
Divine Persons
Pannenberg on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances

Part IV. American Idealist Echoes

Introduction to Part IV

9. Robert W. Jenson: A Narrative Trinity
Jenson on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes

10. Catherine Mowry LaCugna: One Trinity of Communion among Persons
LaCugna on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes

11. Joseph A. Bracken: A Panentheistic Process Trinitarian Society
Bracken on Trinity and the God-World Relationship
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes

12. Dale M. Schlitt: An Experiential Trinity
Schlitt on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes

Conclusion: Idealism’s Enduring Trinitarian Legacy
Recalling the Idealist Trinitarian Adventure
Testimonials, Family Resemblances, Transatlantic Echoes
A Challenging Legacy

Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de la religion
• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christianity
• Philosophy of religion
• Theology
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438462233
• Langue: English

Extrait

German Idealism’s Trinitarian Legacy
German Idealism’s Trinitarian Legacy
DALE M. SCHLITT
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2016 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Eileen Nizer
Marketing, Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schlitt, Dale M., author.
Title: German idealism’s Trinitarian legacy / Dale M. Schlitt.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016005980 (print) | LCCN 2016037205 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438462219 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438462233 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Trinity. | Idealism, German—History. | Philosophical theology.
Classification: LCC BT111.3.S35 2016 (print) | LCC BT111.3 (ebook) | DDC 231/.0440943—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016005980
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Identifying Idealist Influences
P ART 1
T HE I DEALIST T RINITARIAN A DVENTURE
Introduction to Part 1
Johan Gottlieb Fichte: Setting the Stage
1. Georg W. F. Hegel: A Daring Claim
The Shape and End Result of Hegel’s Efforts
How Hegel Argued His Trinitarian Position
Systematic Concerns Motivating Hegel’s Reconceptualization
2. Friedrich W. J. von Schelling: A Radically Free and Personal God
The Radically Free and Personal Trinitarian God
What Schelling Has Done
P ART 2
E ARLY E UROPEAN T ESTIMONIALS TO I DEALIST I NFLUENCE
Introduction to Part 2
3. Philipp Marheineke: A Trinitarian Dialectic of Being and Thought
Marheineke on Trinity
An Early Testimonial to Idealist Influence
4. Isaak August Dorner: An Ethical Trinity
Dorner on Trinity
A Later Testimonial to Idealist Influence
5. Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov: A Trinitarian Metaphysics
Solovyov’s Lectures on Divine Humanity
An Eastern Testimonial to Idealist Influence
P ART 3
G ERMAN I DEALIST F AMILY R ESEMBLANCES
Introduction to Part 3
6. Karl Barth: A Self-Revealing Trinity
Barth on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances
7. Karl Rahner: A Self-Communicating Trinity
Rahner on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances
8. Wolfhart Pannenberg: Reciprocally Self-Distinguishing Divine Persons
Pannenberg on Trinity
Idealist Family Resemblances
P ART 4
A MERICAN I DEALIST E CHOES
Introduction to Part 4
9. Robert W. Jenson: A Narrative Trinity
Jenson on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes
10. Catherine Mowry LaCugna: One Trinity of Communion among Persons
LaCugna on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes
11. Joseph A. Bracken: A Panentheistic Process Trinitarian Society
Bracken on Trinity and the God-World Relationship
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes
12. Dale M. Schlitt: An Experiential Trinity
Schlitt on Trinity
Transatlantic Idealist Echoes
Conclusion: Idealism’s Enduring Trinitarian Legacy
Recalling the Idealist Trinitarian Adventure
Testimonials, Family Resemblances, Transatlantic Echoes
A Challenging Legacy
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 is a slightly modified version of my article, “The Whole Truth: Hegel’s Reconceptualization of Trinity,” The Owl of Minerva , Biannual Journal of the Hegel Society of America 15 (1984): 169–82, included here with the kind permission of Ardis B, Collins, Editor-in-chief of The Owl of Minerva . A previous version of parts of chapters 2 through 8 appeared in my chapters, “German Idealism’s Trinitarian Legacy: The Nineteenth Century,” “German Idealism’s Trinitarian Legacy: The Twentieth Century,” in The Impact of Idealism: The Legacy of Post-Kantian German Thought , ed. Nicholas Boyle and Liz Disley, vol. 4, Religion , ed. Nicholas Adams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), respectively 48–68 and 69–90.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Andrew Kenyon, Acquisitions Editor, Philosophy, State University of New York Press, for his encouragement and for wise professional guidance through the process of review and publication. Sincere thanks to Ms. Maria M. Garcia, Director of the Oblate School of Theology’s Donald E. O’Shaunessy Library, for overall support and research help and to Ms. Carmen Rodriguez, Library General Services Manager, for so diligently hunting down and obtaining often hard-to-find items through interlibrary loan. A special word of thanks to Prof. Peter C. Hodgson for translation of one of Hegel’s remarks, particularly difficult to translate, in the margin of one of Hegel’s texts; to Prof. Renata Furst for discussion and insight concerning aspects of the notions of narrativity and plot; and to Prof. Dr. Martin Wendte for insightfully drawing attention again to Hegel’s and Schelling’s development of their thought on Trinity in relation with their thought on various religions of the world.
Introduction
Identifying Idealist Influences
The German Idealists Georg W. F. Hegel and Friedrich W. J. von Schelling are two outstanding thinkers in the overall Greek-Western tradition of reflection on Trinity. Following upon Johan Gottlieb Fichte’s proposal to see subjectivity as triadic in structure, they each in his own way developed at great length philosophical readings of Trinity as movement of inclusive divine subjectivity. For Hegel that movement took on a more monosubjectival formulation and for Schelling a more intersubjectival structure. It has been rather widely accepted that they individually and together have significantly influenced many trinitarian thinkers who came after them.
Two previous, shorter studies have confirmed in an initial way that Idealist trinitarian thought, particularly that of Hegel and Schelling, has indeed had a considerable impact on much subsequent trinitarian thinking. 1 These studies led to the discovery that we can document further and more closely such impact in several ways by reviewing in detail specific texts from selected trinitarian thinkers. We can as well note what these thinkers themselves have often enough written concerning Idealist trinitarian thought and recall remarks made by others regarding possible Idealist influence on their thought. We can, furthermore, more directly reflect on what these thinkers have said about Trinity, considering it in relation to and comparing it with what the Idealists had said. When we make such comparisons in the context of various indications of Idealist influence on the thinkers concerned, we can recognize and reasonably affirm specific cases of Idealist influence on their trinitarian thought. 2
The present study brings together the results of further research and reflection concerning the German Idealist trinitarian legacy. In order properly to appreciate and evaluate these results it will be helpful first of all to present in somewhat more summary fashion particularly characteristic aspects of what Hegel and Schelling have in fact said about Trinity. This initial overview in part 1 , combined with points concerning their trinitarian thought highlighted in the first part of the conclusion to the present study, will alert us to Idealist themes and approaches potentially influencing subsequent trinitarian thinkers. In this overview Schelling will require greater attention and, consequently, a slightly longer presentation than that on Hegel since Schelling’s trinitarian thought seems less well known, especially in the English-speaking world, than that of Hegel.
To confirm the existence of, and further identify, the overall Idealist trinitarian legacy it is not necessary and perhaps not desirable to aim at more or less comprehensive coverage of potentially relevant trinitarian thinkers following after the Idealists. Rather, I have found that an approach focusing on a number of selected thinkers who in their trinitarian thought exemplify Idealist influence has proven more useful. This approach can help us avoid, so to speak, missing the forest for the trees. For there is a certain, dare we say, elegance in economy. Such economy involves making an argument in relatively succinct fashion, a variant on Occam’s razor. 3 In the present case, we of course need to work with a sufficient number of thinkers permitting us to argue to, and exemplify Idealist influence on, subsequent trinitarian thinking. And, naturally, selecting such thinkers who may be expected to reflect something of that legacy is quite a delicate task. It inevitably leaves room open for further discussion as to whom we should include and why we should include them. But that is, in a way, the beauty of scholarly research and writing. More generally stated, one makes an argument. Others make counter arguments. And in the process they come to a deeper insight. Perhaps, then, more important than any specific decision taken here about who is to be included in the study is the discussion these decisions may encourage, thus bringing to light further possible indications of Idealist influence on later trinitarian thought.
A fuller consideration of reasons for including certain thinkers in the present study will surely require noting what is said about their thought in the various chapters and in part 2 of the conclusion. But perhaps it will be helpful at this point to summarize my “due diligence” in deciding which trinitarian thinkers to include here. In a first step, the selection process began with reference to a doctoral seminar on the notion of the Trinity offered during the academic year 1997–98 at Claremont