Guest Posted January 27, 2001 Report Share Posted January 27, 2001 Christian Existentialism According to Kierkegaardian thought, God is subjective to us in that we must naturally rely on our own conceptions of Him. Because individuals only know God in the manner in which they think of Him, our various conceptions of God are subjective. The individual’s portrait of God is self-defined and self-reliant, for "God is not some externality in the sense that a policeman is. The point that must be observed is that the self has a conception of God and yet does not will as he wills."13 It is here that Kierkegaard find his focus for existentialism: the self is reliant on God, just as the individual’s concept of God is reliant on the self. He writes to this end: "the greater the conception of God, the more self there is; the more self, the greater the conception of God."14 Later, atheistic concepts of existentialism would come to regard salvation as emanating from the self. One needs only to turn inward, to rely on the self, in order to obtain universal salvation. This idea is rooted in Kierkegaard’s thought, but is a significant departure from it. Kierkegaard asserted that "faith ... saves from all sin."15 Though this saving does depend on conscious, personal acts of the self (i.e., the "leap of faith"), it depends also on external realities: that in which we have faith, namely Christ and the cross. Salvation is self-reliant in that we are saved through our faith (cf. Ephesians 2:8); it is reliant on things outside the self in that it is available only by God’s grace shown in the Incarnation and crucifixion. Self-reliant existentialism, then, is possible only through already decided reliance on God. Kierkegaard writes that "faith is: that the self in being itself and in willing to be itself rests transparently in God" [emphasis added].16 Finally, Kierkegaard’s Christian existentialism emphasizes subjective faith over objective proof. God’s existence, for example, must be taken on faith - it cannot be scientifically or philosophically proved. The Incarnation, though logically believable because of its absurdity, is also to be taken on faith. As Collins writes, "the truth of the Incarnation is reserved for the eyes of faith."17 While the external world is characterized and defined by reason, logic and scientific proof (including the philosophical argumentation which Kierkegaard so despised), the internal, self-oriented world of Kierkegaard’s existentialism is the world of faith. It is faith beyond proof, and it is faith as proof. Kierkegaard’s existential model appears to be weak only in that it is quite paradoxical. It relies on the objectivity of the Incarnation - which Kierkegaard regarded as an absurd truth - and on the subjectivity of the individual. It views faith as paradoxically related to reason: "the paradox of faith means that belief must be proportioned in inverse proportion to the evidence ... Faith and reason are mutually exclusive opposites."18 Kierkegaard’s theology is extremist in that the capacity for reason and logic given to humankind by God is dismissed as unnecessary for faith development. But this paradox can also be viewed as a strength, since it lends itself to universality. The theology of Christian existentialism has its strengths in that it can be seen to embrace both the objectivity of truth and the subjectivity of truth; God exists absolutely, but the way in which we conceive of Him is based subjectively on each individual. Our salvation is based on an objective, historical event (the Incarnation), but depends on our subjective leap of faith. It is a strong system of belief because, in questioning the method of salvation to humankind, it grants equal attention and weight to the objective act of God and the subjective acceptance of men and women. It is an idea that has much biblical support: Yes, God has saved us - but we cannot be saved unless we choose to be. We have found, then, that the most significant contribution to humankind’s theological inquiry is the concept of Christian existentialism. Though it has been distorted by later thinkers, Kierkegaard’s original concept stressed subjectivity of truth in regards to faith. Self-reliant salvation is found only in the faith we have in that which God has done beyond us and before us. The dialectical development of the individual’s life of faith - from aesthetic pursuits to ethical recognition to religious identity - is the framework for Kierkegaard’s theology of human existence. http://www.thesumners.com/bible/studies/ki...erkegaard1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 27, 2001 Report Share Posted January 27, 2001 If all things go well, I have a thought of writing an essay bridging Kierkegaard to Narekatsi. I have been searching for an English translation of Narekatsi - so far haven't found. But I know it exists. Has anybody come across? If I am not mistaken, Diana Der Hovhannesian has translated it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamavor Posted October 12, 2003 Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 (edited) Grigor Narekatsi "Lamentations of Narek" - mystic soliloquies with God Translated from the Classical Armenian by Mischa Kudian Mashtots Press - London 1977 Edited October 12, 2003 by gamavor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamavor Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Thanks Axel! I was browsing through the prayers and I found something that I was looking for a long time. Here: http://armenians.com/forum/index.php?showt...t=0entry59405 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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