Vernunft - Freiheit - Gott

In this comparative study, a church father of late antiquity and a philosopher of the Enlightenment are brought into conversation: the understanding of theology of Origen (185-253/54) and that of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) are the central object of investigation of the present work. For although it can be assumed that the Königsberg philosopher did not know the works of Origen, remarkable parallels in their thinking are recognisable. For both of them, the endowment of reason and the freedom of the human will are central tenets of their philosophy and theology. For this reason, this study will first analyse their doctrines of reason and freedom and then compare their self-understanding of theology. Finally, these results will be used to introduce the positions of both thinkers into the current debate on the philosophy of science in theology. With both thinkers, it is argued that theology, as a discipline guided by reason and based on human freedom, fulfils the criteria of a science.