Faithfully Seeking Understanding

Title Page

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Copyright Page

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Contents

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Acknowledgments

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pp. vii-viii

Many people provided assistance throughout the production of this text. The prior editor at the Catholic University of America Press, Greg LaNave, deserves thanks for encouraging the project and facilitating a helpful blind-review process. Along those lines I would like to thank the...

Introduction to Selected Writings

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pp. 1-44

This volume gives the first published translation into English of any of the writings of Johannes Evangelist von Kuhn (1806–1887), long considered the greatest speculative and systematic mind of the Catholic Tübingen School. Spanning Kuhn’s academic career, the...

The False Choice between Faith and Rational Understanding

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pp. 45-69

Now what is true for philosophy must be true for theology as well. This sentiment was voiced by representatives of the Christian faith, who in so doing conceded more to rational understanding than philosophy nowadays grants to faith. Under the guidance of...

The Precedence of Faith over Reason

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pp. 70-83

Let us first address philosophy. Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, famously declared doubt to be the principle of investigation into truth. For Descartes, this doubt extends to everything given immediately (by this I mean what precedes speculative...

The Finality of Christian Revelation

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pp. 84-100

Since New Testament revelation is doubtlessly further along than Old Testament revelation, one might suppose that New Testament revelation could move in another direction. At the very least such a notion should not be dismissed out of hand. If the...

Revelation and Its Salvific Import

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pp. 101-117

In the broadest sense, revelation implies the emergence of God from the “unapproachable light, in which he dwells” (1 Tim 6:16); it also implies his visible representation or manifestation in an other. From the midst of this, God is perceptible, knowable, and...

Revelation as History

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pp. 118-121

It appears that our task here will consist in determining more precisely the limits of human intelligence in the realm of Christianity and in the realm of nature. We shall also clarify the concept of speculative theology. Since speculative theology is a part...

Grace and the Problem of Freedom

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pp. 122-126

The person is dependent on God not simply in that the person wills and wills freely to the degree that God has given him this free will and has created him. The person’s dependence also consists in the fact that he wants the good to the degree that...

Neo-Scholasticism and the Misunderstanding of Grace

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pp. 127-149

Building on this notion, the Christian faith holds a definitive position concerning the condition of the first man [Mensch]. Christianity considers this first man to be the head and representative of the entire species. It maintains that this relation is not...

Sources of Revealed Truth: Scripture and Tradition

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pp. 150-185

This is the doctrine of the Church and, at least from our own position, the truth concerning the sources of faith. According to the principle of the dogmatic science [theology], we must recognize this truth as such and repudiate as unprincipled and untenable the...

Authority and Interpretation

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pp. 186-211

One should distinguish the two concepts of tradition, as in the previous chapter. However, one should not separate them and regard them as independent concepts. One should regard the attack on this concept as applying differently according to the...

Is History Mythic? A Biblical Response to D. F. Strauss

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pp. 212-245

Such a serious objection demands a deliberate and sober examination. While there are branches of human understanding in which it brings honor to chance a clever attempt and to demonstrate the buoyancy of the mind through bold hypotheses and...

Religion as Feeling or Illusion? A Contrary Position

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pp. 246-254

In this straightforward unity, in the total equilibrium between knowing, feeling, and doing, religion cannot fail to make itself known. Religion can be brought to light only by manifesting itself as religious belief (theoretical religion, i.e., doctrinal assertion), as...

The Newness of Tradition

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pp. 255-265

The tradition also reveals itself in the proper use and correct interpretation of scripture. Therefore the proof from tradition will primarily follow the course of historical investigation, and, through linguistic and critical research of the relevant literature...

The Personhood of God

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pp. 266-276

Reason knows God on the basis of the immediately present idea given by God. This knowledge of God (the content of the first part of the Dogmatics) is the pretext and foundation that we are building on by introducing the positive, Trinitarian content...

The Place of Theology in a University: A Response

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pp. 277-286

Excepting the school system, many aspects of life are much better than they were earlier, especially since von Andlaw’s youth. One cannot explain this solely as a result of human merit, but also divine grace. Should things truly and continuously improve, then...

Selected Bibliography

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pp. 287-289

General Index

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pp. 291-297

Index of Biblical Citations

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pp. 299-301