The Universe Next Door Ch. 6 Beyond Nihilism
What do theists find fault with existential theists (2 points)?
1 - miracles are impossible; 2 - the Bible is historically untrustworthy
In what way are theistic existentialism's two steps away from traditional theism?
1 - to begin to distrust the accuracy of recorded history (affects the Bible also); 2 - to lose interest in its facticity and to emphasize its religious implication of meaning
Teaches that our faith is absurd unless the resurrection really happened
1 Corinthians 15:14
What naturalistic worldview questions does atheistic existentialism accept?
1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (view these in your book)
Who wrote the plague?
Camus
Famous existentialists
Camus, Sartre, Martin Heidegger
Who wrote The Brothers Karamazov?
Dostoevsky (if God is dead everything is permitted, if God is dead, ethics is impossible)
Theory that only the self exists or can be proven to exist
solipism
What does subjectivity lead to first?
solipsism (the affirmation that each person alone is the determiner of values and that there are thus as many centers of value as there are persons)
Who wrote He Is There and He Is Not Silent?
Francis Schaeffer
What is truth in existentialism in its personal dimension?
subjectivity; it is truth digested and lived out on the nerve endings of a human life
Teaches that faith without works is dead
James 2:14
Who wrote Fear and Trembling?
Kierkegaard
What is God's 'nickname' in theistic existentialism?
the Thou of Thous
What is the person who lives an authentic existence aware of?
the absurdity of the cosmos (but also rebels against it and creates meaning)
Seemingly contradictory statements
Paradox
What is the good action?
the consciously chosen action, it is part of subjectivity and is not measured by a standard outside the individual human dimension
What is our significance up to?
the consciousness of the subjective world over which we have complete control (not the objective world over which we have no control)
What does existentialism emphasize?
the disunity of the 2 worlds and opts strongly in favor of the subjective world; (Sartre, "an ensemble of values distinct from the material realm) for the people are subjective beings
Teaches that the fall impacted all humanity
Romans 5:12
What does solipsism ultimately mean?
the end of all attempts at ethics from the standpoint of atheistic existentialism
What does theistic existentialism do to the fact of the Bible?
the facts the Bible recorded was not important (what was important was its examples of the good life and its timeless truths of morality)
What is the most famous definition of the core of existentialism?
Sartre, "If God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE a being who exists before he can be defined by an concept, and ... this being is man" (man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself)
What does placing the focus of morality in each individual's subjectivity lead to?
the inability to distinguish a moral from an immoral act on grounds that satisfy our innate sense of right, a sense that says others have the same rights as I do
Who created theistic existentialism? When? In response to what?
Søren Kierkegaard; middle of the 19th century; dead orthodoxy of Danish Lutheranism
What makes the most appealing case for the possibility of living a good life in world where God is dead and values are ungrounded in a moral fromaework outside the human frame?
The Plague by Camus
How does Camus deal with the ultimate absurdity?
We must ever live in the face of the absurd. We must not forget OUR BENT TOWARDS NONEXISTENCE, but live out the tension between the love of life and the certainty of death
What is the existential version of theism?
a particular set of emphases within theism than it is a separate worldview
A term for the pointless or meaningless nature of human life action
absurd
How do we create value?
by simply choosing it (thus we can never choose evil)
Belief in Orthodox doctrine without practice
dead orthodoxy
What is the ultimate absurdity?
death
How is the Fall made to be existential?
each enters the world sinless (like Adam) and each one reveals against God (now the Fall is a mythological description of a universal experience of the race) Romans 5:12
What is the subjective world at the beck and call of?
every subjective being
What is existentialism? Is it a worldview?
existentialism is a parasite to naturalism and theism; it is not a worldview
How does Karl Barth change theistic existentialism?
he changed it to a response to the reduction of Christianity to sheer morality
Where do science and logic "have their day"?
in the objective world
Where does theistic existentialism start?
it does not start with God but with self (most important variation from theism)
How does existentialism take nihilism (especially in its secular form)
it takes nihilism seriously and is an answer to it
What does knowledge turn into?
knowledge turns into the knower
look at the comparison of 'dead' orthodoxy and existentialism on page 135
look at the comparison of 'dead' orthodoxy and existentialism on page 135
Is if sufficient to pit the objective world against the subjective world?
no
Did Camus stick with existentialism?
no, Camus gradually came to feel that the Christian explanation was true but baptism did not take place because it was believed that his childhood baptism was valid and Camus was not ready for a public display of his conversion
Does existentialism provide a referent for a morality that goes beyond each individual?
no, by grounding human significance in subjectivity, it places it in a realm divorced from reality
Do theistic existentialists accept the resurrection?
no, the reality behind the resurrection is the new life in Christ experienced by the disciples (living the "cruciform life style")
Do science and logic penetrate the subjective world?
no, they have nothing to say about subjectivity (according to atheistic existentialism)
Can we have exhaustive truth?
no, we can have substantial truth and we can discern truth from foolishness by the use of the principle of noncontradiction (according to Francis Schaeffer)
What is evil?
not choosing, passivity, living at the direction of others, being blown around by one's society, not recognizing the absurdity of the universe (not keeping the absurd alive)
What is the first sort of being?
the objective world (material, inexorable law, cause and effect, chronological, clock-ticking time, flux, and mechanism)
What do theistic existentialists emphasize as the primary value?
the personal (the impersonal is there, it is important, but it is to be lifted up to God)
What is the 2nd sort of being?
the subjective world (mind, consciousness, awareness, freedom, and stability)
How are human beings human?
they are not human beings until (or before) they make themselves so
What have full-blown atheistic existentialists have committed themselves?
they have committed themselves to themselves (they need not display overarching egotism or selfishness)
Existentialism's most important goal
to transcend nihilism
Where and what is value?
value is inner, the inner is each person's own
