Schuldbewußtsein-Inkarnationsgedanke-Glaubenssprung

Abstract

The article attempts to shed light on the Concluding Unscientific Postscript as a thought-project in which Climacus analyses the rational thinking and willing of the individual in such a way that its antinomical structure becomes clear. This antinomy causes reason to grasp at the Christian paradox. However, it is not capable of taking hold of this paradox since this is possible for faith alone. This thesis is developed by way of an elucidation of the structure of ethical-religious existence under the demand of the ‘ought’, against the background of which the meaning of the Christian paradox is conceived – a paradox according to which salvation is realised ‘from the outside’. Climacus’ thought-project is examined, further, in the context of the question of the relation between faith and the historicity of the person Jesus, a question passed on to modern theology by Lessing. Furthermore, a parallel is drawn with Kant’s concept of radical evil and the function of the idea of salvation in his Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone.