Kierkegaard and Transcendence

[Brian]

Is there a role that Reformed philosophers can play in helping the Academy, and the culture at large, to keep transcendence in a proper balance? It seems that transcendence, in the history of thought, is the greased watermelon that is terribly difficult to hang on to.

I wonder if this gets best played out in Kiekegaard and his followers. Among his offspring, I think you see two radically divergent schools of thought: the first takes a hyper-transcendent route (a la Barth et al.), while the second follows a more hyper-immanence route (a la Sarte and Camus). I think we clearly see a hyper-transcendence that pushes the noumenal so far away from the phenomenal that there is no God at all, and the eschatological horizon has become a dot in time, never to be encountered. So, the continuum bends over on itself, and we find Barth a hair breadth from Camus, Levinas sitting comfortably with Hegel (despite all of his complaining).

Therefore, as reformed Christians, we have an opportunity to give a hermeneutic on how to handle transcendence without losing it to the void, to the eternal form. I think this would have massive effects not only on the face of contemporary philosophy and the Academy, but also biblical studies, what with the viscious tossing about thanks to Moltmann, Pannenburg, and now even N.T. Wright.

Any thoughts on this?

Secondly, how good of a job does Merold Westphal do in his handlings?

I heartily anticipate responses!

 

[JohnV]

Brian:

I'm not up on Kierkegaard and his followers. But it seems to me that the loss is not just in the area of transcendence, but that the temporal is not really understood either. We still live is a real world, with real people, and real guilt. For all the rhetoric, what is lost sight of is their own souls' great worth in the balance of things. The very Son of God died for our souls. The eternal for the created. So the issue is that there does not exist a dichotomy in the eternal/temporal considerations, but that both the created and the Creator are reconciled to a true relationship.

I don't know if this is what you had in mind. Like I said, I haven't been following these considerations.

 

[Peters]

I like your point, John.

I think the loss of the significance of the temporal has been helped along by the loss of reading Scripture as narrative.

 

[crhoades]

Check out this lecture series by Robert Knudsen on Existentialism and the Christian Life:
http://www.wtsbooks.com/audio-lecture-cds-robert-knudsen.html
It's a little pricey but good.

Also check out his lecture series on Calvinistic Philosophy. It takes a look at Kuyper, Bavinck, Hepp, Stoker, Vollenhoven, Dooyeweerd, and Van Til. It's a great intro to all of their thought, similarities, and differences. I also think it gives better background to some of Van Til's thought. I don't know if I agree with Knudsen 100% but interesting angles to work through.