Unnecessary colour - Soren Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard

Pre Notes:

Catholic natural theology claims that belief in God is not opposed to reason. Indeed the existence of God is something you can argue for-see Aquinas' Five ways and other ways such as Anselm's ontological argument.

Natural theology, it is claimed by the catholic church, is able to arrive at the existence of God and certain basic knowledge of Gods attributes by the use of the reason alone. Revealed theology (theology based on the doctrine that all religious truth is derived exclusively from the revelations of God to humans.) can further amplify the findings of natural according church.

This position however, was rejected by Kierkegaard and Karl Barth who in protestant tradition, rejected any attempt to arrive at the existence of God using reason.

Faith went beyond reason.

Kierkegaard thought that the entire premise of Christianity is based on an Absolute Paradox. This is the paradox of how Jesus is both man and God. He asks the question:

How can the creator be the created ? How can the infinite be finite   ?

Philosophy and reason he claimed, cannot understand why this paradox occurs. When reason comes into contact with the absolute paradox only two approaches are possible .  

1) Offense

In which case reason rejects the absolute paradox and says that this cannot be true. Jesus was one or the other but not both. This as a result is also a rejection of the key creeds of Christianity and ultimately the religion its self.

The above does not have to necessarily have to be true. Gnosticism is the heresy of Christianity believes that Jesus is a messenger of God rather than God himself. Gnosticism however has the problem of-  if Jesus is not the son of God. then is Gnosticism really Christian ?

There is the example of paradox in nature, the electron when not observed exists in a super position. This means it has no set state of matter it is a partial it is a wave and it is other things. If Aquinas' 5 ways comes from observations of nature then why can't God exhibit the same properties as something which is inside nature. If the creator created something which such a paradox then why can't he exhibit such a feature himself.

2) Faith

In which case reason accepts that it cannot understand something that goes far beyond reason i.e. God. This is where faith comes in it involves the acceptance that reason is limited and that it to believe in God you are always going to have to take a intellectual leap of faith.  

Kierkegaard would say that faith is not irrational but may however be Non-rational . The faith may be based within reason but this does not mean that it is reasonable. Faith goes beyond reason.