The Single Individual and the Searcher of Hearts: A Retrieval of Conscience in the Work of Immanuel Kant and Søren Kierkegaard (T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics)

by Jeff Morgan

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2020

Overview

Jeff Morgan argues that both Immanuel Kant and Søren Kierkegaard think of conscience as an individual’s moral self-awareness before God, specifically before the claim God makes on each person. This innovative reading corrects prevailing views that both figures, especially Kant, lay the groundwork for the autonomous individual of modern life–that is, the atomistic individual who is accountable chiefly to themselves as their own lawmaker.

This book first challenges the dismissal of conscience in 20th-century Christian ethics, often in favour of an emphasis on corporate life and corporate self-understanding. Morgan shows that this dismissal is based on a misinterpretation of Immanuel Kant’s practical philosophy and moral theology, and of Søren Kierkegaard’s second authorship. He does this with refreshing discussions of Stanley Hauerwas, Oliver O’Donovan, and other major figures. Morgan instead situates Kant and Kierkegaard within a broad trajectory in Christian thought in which an individual’s moral self-awareness before God, as distinct from moral self-awareness before a community, is an essential feature of the Christian moral life.

Key Features

• Draws from the idea that God makes a claim upon us and God knows us as He sees our hearts and judges us, and to have a conscience is to share with God in this knowledge.
• Makes use of Immanuel Kant’s and Søren Kierkegaard’s theories of conscience as a biblical and theological witness to the moral life of self-examination and self-knowledge before God
• Presents the theme that other people do not give us our conscience but they can aid us to hear it, act conscientiously, and stand responsibly

Contents

• The Dismissal of Conscience in Twentieth Century Christian Ethics
• Self-Knowledge and the Approximation of Divine Judgment: Conscience in the Practical Philosophy and Moral Theology of Immanuel Kant
• Self-Knowledge and the Enormous Weight of God: Conscience in the Søren Kierkegaard's Second Authorship
• Conscience as Singular Moral Self-Awareness: An Outline

Product Details

• Title: The Single Individual and the Searcher of Hearts
• Author: Jeff Morgan
• Series: T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Logos Release Date: 09/07/2020
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780567697721, 056769772X
• Resource ID: LLS:SNGLNDVDLSRHRTS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-03-02T22:13:01Z

About Jeff Morgan

Jeff Morgan is Assistant Professor of Theology and Ethics at Saint Joseph's College of Maine, USA. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, USA, in Christian Ethics and was a Catherine of Siena Fellow in Ethics at Villanova University, USA. He lives in Portland, Maine with his wife and four children.

 

Sample Pages from The Single Individual and the Searcher of Hearts: A Retrieval of Conscience in the Work of Immanuel Kant and Søren Kierkegaard (T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics)