Volume 56, Issue 3

From 1520 to 1525 Martin Luther made some remarkable statements regarding freedom of faith and tolerance, which were centered in his reformation theology: the differentiation between the two kingdoms (or dominians) of God and the conviction that God Himself creates faith inside of man by means of the external proclamation of the Gospel. Accordingly, Luther calls for a peaceful discussion among different religious groups. From 1525/26 there are indications of an increasingly intolerant attitude of the Reformer toward »heretics« or people of other persuasions: the political authorities are called upon to take action against them, not only for the sake of maintaining peaceful conditions and civil order, but also because of »public blasphemy«. On the one hand, Luther remains steadfast in his stance that compulsory faith is not permissible or possible; on the other hand, he no longer tolerates public teaching or public cultic expression for other faiths, but instead asserts the principle: »one territory – one proclamation«. The essay analyses the reasons for Luther’s transformation and demonstrates that over against his later stance, his original reasons for religious tolerance remain highly significant, as seen from the perspective of Protestant theology.

This essay considers the relationship between sin and utter self-alienation (»Selbstentfremdung«). Self-alienation can be conceptualized either as a state of being or as a process; accordingly, it relates to sin in either one of two ways. This relationship can either be seen in the failure of the self to realize its creative freedom, or in the structural similarity between the actual process of utter self-alienation and what theology traditionally defines as »sin«.

This article focuses on beauty between the conflicting priorities of revelation and concealment. Especially in analysing Immanuel Kant’s »Analytik des Schönen«, ambivalences and paradoxes in traditional and recent aesthetic discourses and methods are named. The central thesis is, that beauty is a blank of yearning for something non-utilizable and conveys the promise of revelation of concealed items. As an open space the term is more important than its fill. Theologically, the hidden beauty of man is seen in the justification of God, the eschatological-oriented remarks plead for leaving open the question of whether God is beautiful – due to cross theological implications. Despite the necessary reservations against hasty definitions of beauty, the final considerations speak in favour of an appreciation of the Attractive and so position themselves against a cultural pessimism.

The article analyses the place and the meaning of Schelling’s philosophy of religion in the years 1802–1804 and questions its relation to Schelling’s »System of Identity«. The »System of Identity« intends to represent a differentiated reflection on determinacy with its method of »Konstruktion« that is closely connected to the theory of matter and organism. The identity philosophy describes the implicit appearance of the Unconditional in the individual by revealing on the one hand, how individuality and generality are identical in the idea as a »positive« determinacy and by revealing on the other hand, how the concrete self-affirmative individual is differenced from the idea, but nevertheless sourced from it. How the absolute identity mediates these two in nature is the central topic of the philosophy of nature of the »System of Identity«. The »Philosophie des Ideellen« continues this and differentiates between »Vernunft« and »Ichheit«. Two forms of determinacy are ascribed to the »Ichheit«. They have to be mediated by self determination. The act and the apprehension of successful mediation, in which the absolute identity is real and in which the individual is truly itself, is Religion. The »System of Identity« represents the meaning of religion. Nevertheless, it can never replace religion.

God does not exist, since He is an event. This claim will be elaborated in three steps: To begin with, I focus on the most prominent critique against predicating ›existence‹ to God (1). Fichte’s »purifying atheism« will help us to understand God’s reality not as substance, but as effect. This amounts to a new interpretation of Kant’s famous objection to existence as feature (2). Then, however, statements of existence are to be considered as multi-relational, giving the priority not to the statement itself, but to the one bringing it to the fore. The religious context of that statement is faith in the mode of confession and prayer, what brings us, finally, to the reason for God’s non-existence (3).

The article argues for an integration of East Asian religions in interreligious dialogue, which until now has focused mainly on the Abrahamic religions. This paper wants to present basic information about Taoism and Confucianism and explores a Christian perspective on similarities and differences.

This extensive review explores the hermeneutics of religious and non-religious trust which is characteristic for the ›trilogy on trust‹ edited by Ingolf U. Dalferth and Simon Peng-Keller. I analyze the three compilations which investigate the constitution and communication of trust, trust in God, and trust in one’s life or life-world (basic trust). Finally, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the hermeneutics of trust which is developed in the trilogy. In critical conversation with this hermeneutics, I sketch that non-religious trust has the potential to become religious trust, since both imply a recognition of the otherness of the other. Hence, a hermeneutics of trust has to be conceived and construed within both intra- and inter-religious dialogues.