Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Oktober/2021 |
Spalte: | 953–955 |
Kategorie: | Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Phillips, Jacob |
Titel/Untertitel: | Human Subjectivity ›in Christ‹ in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theology. Integrating Simplicity and Wisdom. |
Verlag: | London u. a.: Bloomsbury T & T Clark 2019. 224 S. = T & T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology, 31. Geb. £ 90,00. ISBN 9780567688606. |
Rezensent: | Hans Burger |
Is it possible to be simply obedient to Christ, and at the same time engage in self-reflection? In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Nachfolge, the answer is »no«. However, in his Ethik, the answer is »yes«. In this book, Jacob Phillips tries to solve this problem, using the philosophy of Wilhelm Dilthey. His aim is to integrate the unreflective and the reflective, bringing simplicity and wisdom together.
Ph. is the director of the Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts of St. Mary’s University (London). Originally, this book was his PhD thesis (King’s College, London). Four groups of statements constitute the starting point of his quest (chapter 2 gives a detailed analysis). Two have a cognitive character, the other two are of a practical nature:
1. A disciple has to focus on Christ alone, and no longer focus on themselves;
2. Self-reflection is an activity of the sinful flesh; as a disciple, one is hidden from oneself.
3. Simple obedience is unreflective; Christ alone is its ground;
4. Reflection implies self-legitimization and an autonomous knowing of good and evil, whereas the disciple follows the will of Christ with purity of heart.
For a first step towards integration, Ph. uses Bonhoeffer’s Akt und Sein (chapter 4 and 5). In the philosophical part of this book, Bonhoeffer defends a ›genuine transcendentalism‹. This transcendental-ism implies that the self is hidden to its own reflective gaze. Here, Bonhoeffer does not value a self-reflective split as negative. Accord-ing to the theological part, the believer receives the intentionality to Christ of the actus directus in faith. Still for Bonhoeffer this act of faith is open to reflection in the actus reflectus, even if the revealed object of the actus directus cannot be found in this reflective act. In Akt und Sein, seeing Christ in faith does not exclude reflection.
In chapter 6, Ph. turns towards Bonhoeffer’s Ethik. Here, the concept of »Gestaltung« proves fruitful. In the »Gestaltung«, the believer is formed according to the »Gestalt« of Jesus Christ. This concept, with its openness to the other, makes it possible to understand how acts do not flow from an autonomous decision about good and evil, but from the »Gestalt« of Christ. At the same time, reflection can serve the Christian life, when believers try to discern what it implies to live in Christ.
Next, Ph. turns to philosophy. A chapter on Kant leads to two questions to continue with, when reading Dilthey: how can the unity of the self (experienced in the flow of life) be reflected on, maintaining its situatedness and preserving its hiddenness (cognitive)? And how can ethical absolutes orientate practical discernment without self-validation or self-legitimization (practical)? In both cases, the Kantian ahistorical and abstract absoluteness must be avoided. Here, Wilhelm Dilthey gives the input for a more his-torical, holistic alternative (chapter 8–11).
From Dilthey’s work, Ph. employs some concepts to interpret and reinforce Bonhoeffer’s position. In the cognitive part, he uses Dilthey’s unreflective »I« that is not abstract as in Kant, but con-crete and temporal. It apprehends only the object; the »I« with its epistemic acts remains hidden to the subject itself. At the same time, a continuity exists between lived experience and self-reflec-tion. This continuity can be explicative, when the significance of an »Erlebnis« is partly disclosed. An example is a sermon on »take up your cross and follow me«. What does that mean in a very testing relationship? The continuity can also be implicative: experiences have a formative effect on the structural conditions of our consci-ousness. Here, baptism serves as an example. Being baptized as a child (unreflectively) still can influence one’s self-understanding, but also impact one’s attitudes to others (chapters 10 and 12.1). This is a helpful way to preserve the focus of the disciple on Christ and the hiddenness of the disciple, while integrating simplicity with reflective wisdom (in the cognitive).
In the moral field, Dilthey’s reflections on »Gestalt« help Ph. to develop Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on the »Gestaltung« of the believer by Christ. Seeing the »Gestalt« of Christ can lead to the experience of an absolute and concrete obligation. At the same time, this unreflective experience does not exclude reflection, discerning how to enact the »Gestalt« of Christ (chapters 11 and 12.2). Simple obedience and purity of heart do not exclude reflective wisdom.
This book presents valuable insights for the integration of simplicity and (reflective) wisdom. However, building on the work of a philosopher, Ph. remains merely within the realm of anthropological possibilities. For Bonhoeffer, the hiddenness of the believer has to be understood in the light of the hiddenness of Christ which, for example, Paul writes about in Colossians 3:1–4. A theological-eschatological perspective is needed to understand the hiddenness of the Christ-reality, and the problematic character of reflection when it serves self-justification. To really understand Bonhoeffer and solve the problems of subjectivity »in Christ«, Dilthey’s philosophy does not suffice.