Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Christian existentialism is a theo-philosophical movement which takes an existentialist approach to Christian theology. The school of thought is often traced back to the work of the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) who is widely regarded as the father of existentialism.
The Sickness unto Death (Danish: Sygdommen til Døden) is a book written by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in 1849 under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. A work of Christian existentialism, the book is about Kierkegaard's concept of despair, which he equates with the Christian concept of sin, which he terms "the sin of despair".
[25]: 322 Christianity is based on "the salvific value of suffering". [ 26 ] Philosopher Eve Garrard suggests that the term evil cannot be used to describe ordinary wrongdoing, because "there is a qualitative and not merely a quantitative difference between evil acts and other wrongful ones; evil acts are not just very bad or wrongful acts, but ...
Romans 8:18–30 shows that suffering is temporary and set within the context of God's eternal purposes. Hebrews 12:1–6 sets suffering within the concept of "soul-making," as do 2 Peter 1:5–8, James 1, and others. Exodus 17:1–7 (and the book of Job) characterize suffering as testing and speak of God's right to test human loyalty.
Logic and human reasoning are inadequate to comprehend truth, and in this emphasis Dostoevsky speaks entirely the language of Kierkegaard, of whom he had never heard. Christianity is a way of life, an existential condition. Again, like Kierkegaard, who affirmed that suffering is the climate in which man's soul begins to breathe.
The Christian God is spirit and Christianity is spirit, and there is discord between the flesh and the spirit but the flesh is not the sensuous-it is the selfish. In this sense, even the spiritual can become sensuous-for example, if a person took his spiritual gifts in vain, he would then be carnal.
Christianity is not a doctrine about the unity of the divine and the human, about subject-object, not to mention the rest of the logical paraphrases of Christianity. In other words, if Christianity were a doctrine, then the relation to it would not be one of faith, since there is only an intellectual relation to a doctrine.
Christian existentialism is a trend within the greater tradition of existentialism, founded by Søren Kierkegaard. This category is for authors, philosophers, and theologians whose work constitutes an intersection between Christianity and existentialism.