Immanuel Kant was a great philosopher during his time and has continued to be a prominent thinker in the realm of theology, history, and epistemology. He also one of the latter thinkers of the Enlightment and expanded the traditional thoughts on metaphysics by presenting sound arguments on topics such as law and history, and formulating moral values and philosophy. However, Emanuel Kant excluded religion in his philosophical ideas. Prior to the development of his philosophical theories, the ethical theories that existed were majorly based on the teachings of Greek philosophical thinkers such as Socrates and Aristotle. However, Kant was keen to criticize these prior theories citing their weaknesses. One of the most prominent Kantian theories is the theory of duty, where he explained that it is not enough for an individual to act simply as duty demands, but that the individual’s motivation for doing his duty should just be because it is his duty. Additionally, Immanuel Kant indicated in his philosophical ideas that members of the society should act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end (Perry & Chase et al, 2011).
Immanuel Kant has been influential in the 20th century theological ideas, especially with the emergence of secularism, which refers to the religion of humanity that embraces the fact that religion should not play a role in education, government, or other parts of the society. Kant’s philosophy and secularism have great impacts on theology, and has been evidenced in liberal theology, liberation theology, and feminist theology as some of the examples. Feminist theology refers to a movement found in many religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, New thought, and Judaism that seeks to reconsider the traditions, scriptures, practices, and theologies of the particular religions from a feminist perspective (James, 2009). This theology seeks to increase women’s role among the religious authorities and clergy, determining the place of women in relation to motherhood and career, reinterpreting male dominated imagery and language about God, and studying the images of women in the religion’s matriarchal religion and sacred texts (O'Mahony, 2010). The Liberation theology, however, is a school of thought that investigates the relationship between political activism and Christian theology – especially in areas of poverty, social justice as well as human rights – while speaking from the perspective of the societal poor and oppressed members of the society (Speciale, 2013). Finally, liberal theology, also known as Liberal Christianity or theological liberalism, seeks to reunite secular science with Christianity and modern thinking through treating the Bible as mythical and science as all knowing (Olson, 2013). Immanuel Kant connects to the 20th century secularism because he sought to indicate that the basis of acting should be to with the motive of good will. The liberal, feminist, and liberation theologians to explain the importance of the underprivileged members of the society translate kantian philosophies. The women, children, and the poor are the society’s underprivileged population, which secularism seeks to defend their interest and prevent them from exploitation that Emanuel Kant emphasized in his philosophical ideas of his time.
References;
Perry M., & Chase M., et al (2011) .Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society: from 1600: Ideas, Politics, and Society: From the 1600s, Volume 2. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning.
O'Mahony E., (April 23, 2010). Kant’s Notion of Subjectivity and Secularism. Word Press. Retrieved from http://53degrees.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/kants-notion-of-subjectivity-and-secularism/
James S. (January 12, 2009). An Overview of Feminist Theology. Theology Network. Retrieved from http://www.theologynetwork.org/theology-of-everything/an-overview-of-feminist-theology.htm
Speciale A., (September 9, 2013). Liberation Theology Finds New Welcome in Pope Francis’ Vatican. Religion News Service. Retrieved from http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/09/liberation-theology-finds-new-welcome-in-pope-francis-vatican/
Olson E. R., (October 8, 2013). The Theological Liberalism. Blog. Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2013/10/what-is-liberal-theology/
