Kant New Christian Faith

In reading part three, I am left with many questions as Kant tries to explain the creation and operation of a new Christian faith that would “avoid the mistakes of previous ones” (Kant, 139.) As Kant discusses how this new Christianity is to work, he tries to mislead the reader in three ways. First, he redefines very well-known Christian terms to fit his ideas and uses this new Christian language to mislead readers. Second, Kant misquotes scripture and the Church fathers and uses them out of context to give validity to his points. Lastly, he attempts to show a Christianity conspiracy that the faith was created to bring people to a rational life. I would say that Kant is not creating a new Christianity, but a new humanism that says that

First, he redefines Christian terms. For example, the phrase “Son of God” is just “a moral idea of reason” for Kant and not what Christians believe to be God made flesh (Kant, 149.) Another would be “church militant” and “church triumphant,” instead of the meaning of church on earth and church in heaven, he redefines it to be church in conflict and church united to show that different dogmas are in conflict, but reason can end this conflict (Kant, 146.) Next is the use of scripture out of context, but with this one Kant admits that we can change the interpretation to meet our morals because, as I quoted above, “there is nothing in the scripture’s origin” (Kant, 143-144.) For example, when Kant speaks about citizens that choose the ethical state of reason, he quotes the Gospel of Luke when he says, “for behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Kant, 163.) He does the same thing with a quote from Saint Augustine, when talking about the moral people that form his new church. He quotes “so conduct himself as if everything depended on him” making is sound like everything depends on the individual human and does not leave much room for God, what he left out of this quote was that he should pray as if everything depended on God (Kant, 135.) Lastly, Kant posits that the only reason that Christianity came to be is to bring a non-religious, barbaric, externally law driven community called the Jewish faith into a rational moral life, and this was the only reason that the Christian faith tied itself to the Jewish faith (Kant, 154-155.) He says this to point to his idea that faith is just a means to make immoral people moral, and to bring them along to the path of pure