Palmquist’s Commentary provides the first definitive clarification on Kant’s Philosophy of Religion in English; it includes the full text of Pluhar’s translation, interspersed with explanations, providing both a detailed overview and an original interpretation of Kant’s work.
- Offers definitive, sentence-level commentary on Kant’s Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason
- Presents a thoroughly revised version of Pluhar’s translation of the full text of Kant’s Religion, including detailed notes comparing the translation with the others still in use today
- Identifies most of the several hundred changes Kant made to the second (1794) edition and unearths evidence that many major changes were responses to criticisms of the first edition
- Provides both a detailed overview and original interpretation of Kant’s work on the philosophy of religion
- Demonstrates that Kant’s arguments in Religion are not only cogent, but have clear and profound practical applications to the way religion is actually practiced in the world today
- Includes a glossary aimed at justifying new translations of key technical terms in Religion, many of which have previously neglected religious and theological implications
Table of Contents:
Preface x
Acknowledgments xxiii
Abbreviations xxvi
Introduction: The Hermeneutic Background to Kant’s Religion: The Two Prefaces (R 3–14) 1
1. Kant’s private beliefs and the writing of Religion 1
2. The 1793 Preface: (A) Religion as the final purpose of morality 7
3. The 1793 Preface: (B) Unifying philosophical and biblical theology 21
4. The 1794 Preface: Two experiments and Kant’s responses to critics 31
Part I: Human Nature’s Transcendental Problem: Evil and the Boundary of Goodness (First Piece) 41
1 The Original Goodness of Human Nature: Introduction, Comment, and Section I (R 19–28) 43
1. Untitled introduction: Is humanity good or evil by nature? 43
2. Comment: (A) Why moral neutrality is impossible 51
3. Comment: (B) Could humans be partly good and partly evil? 59
4. Section I: Human nature’s original predisposition is good 63
2 The Propensity to Evil in Human Nature: Sections II and III (R 28–39) 72
1. Section II: (A) Three sources of moral evil 72
2. Section II: (B) Defining evil as a perversion of moral reasoning 78
3. Section III: (A) Empirical evil and its origin on the boundary 83
4. Section III: (B) The need for (and form of) an a priori proof 92
3 Evil’s Rational Origin and the Hope for Recovery: Sections IV and V (R 39–52) 106
1. Section IV: (A) Transcendental versus empirical origins 106
2. Section IV: (B) Assessing the Bible’s account of evil’s origin 112
3. Section V: (A) Divine aid and conversion’s possibility 120
4. Section V: (B) God’s role in transforming moral character 133
Appendix I: Experiencing the Effects of Grace against Evil: The First General Comment (R 52–3) 144
Part II: The Individual’s Logical Struggle: The Power of Belief in Divine Aid (Second Piece) 151
4 The Personified Idea of the Good Principle: Introduction and Section One, Subsections A and B (R 57–66) 153
1. Untitled introduction: How to distinguish evil from good 153
2. Section One, A: The archetype of perfection as a divine gift 161
3. Section One, B: (A) Becoming exemplary via practical faith 166
4. Section One, B: (B) An archetypal person’s twofold nature 169
5 Legitimizing Hope in Divine Grace: Section One, Subsection C (R 66–78) 179
1. First difficulty: How can imperfect beings become holy? 179
2. Second difficulty: Can we be certain of our eternal destiny? 183
3. Third difficulty: How can God punish pre]conversion evil? 195
4. Overview: Grace as the basis for a legal claim to being good 207
6 Biblical Symbols of the Struggle with Evil: Section Two (R 78–84) 215
1. The Genesis narrative on evil’s legal claim to dominion 215
2. Advent of a unique person, free from the propensity to evil 218
3. In what sense does the crucifixion defeat the power of evil? 223
4. The narrative’s rational meaning 227
Appendix II: Experiencing Miracles as Self]Negating: The Second General Comment (R 84–9) 233
Part III: The Community’s Empirical Victory: The Church as Historical Vehicle for Good (Third Piece) 249
7 The Founding of a True Church: Introduction and Division One, Sections I–V (R 93–109) 251
1. Untitled introduction: Hope for victory in struggling with evil 251
2. Division One, Sections I–III: Founding the ethical community 255
i. Sections I and II: The duty to leave the state of nature 255
ii. Section III: An ethical community requires God 263
3. Division One, Sections IV–V: Establishing a true church 267
i. Section IV: The four requirements for church organization 267
ii. Section V: Every true church begins as a revelation faith 273
4. Untitled comments: Different faiths can express one religion 283
8 Interpreting Religious Ideas in a Church: Division One, Sections VI–VII (R 109–24) 288
1. Division One, Section VI: (A) Interpretations must be moral 288
2. Division One, Section VI: (B) Nonmoral Interpretive Methods 294
i. Scriptural scholarship is secondary to the moral method 294
ii. Feeling as a common but unreliable third method 300
3. Division One, Section VII: (A) Interpreting faith as a vehicle 303
i. The “remarkable antinomy” of sanctifying faith 303
ii. Perspectival solution to the antinomy of faith 310
4. Division One, Section VII: (B) The coming of God’s kingdom 319
9 Gradual Victory of Good in Church History: Division Two (R 125–37) 326
1. Division Two: (A) The unchangeable basis of the true church 326
2. Division Two: (B) Christianity’s radical break with Judaism 329
i. The allegedly nonuniversal emphasis of the Jewish faith 329
ii. The universal heart of Jesus’ message 333
3. Division Two: (C) The role of scholarship in church history 338
i. The diversion of historical Christianity from its true aim 338
ii. Qualified optimism about the present state of religion 341
4. Division Two: (D) Symbols of the inward kingdom 346
Appendix III: Understanding Mysteries as Moral Symbols in Communities of Faith: The Third General Comment (R 137–47) 355
Part IV: Religion’s Hypothetical Application: How to Serve God in a Church (Fourth Piece) 377
10 Natural Christianity Revealed: Introductions and Part One, Section One (R 151–63) 379
1. Untitled introduction: True and false service of God 379
2. Part One, Introduction: Approaches to interpreting religion 384
3. Part One, Section One: (A) The moral core of Jesus’ teachings 395
4. Part One, Section One: (B) Jesus’ teachings on the afterlife 404
11 Learning Statutory Religion without Delusion: Part One, Section Two, and Part Two §§1–2 (R 163–75) 409
1. Part One, Section Two: (A) Biblical scholarship as a means 409
2 Part One, Section Two: (B) Christian Judaism as prudential 414
3. Part Two, Introduction and §1: The origin of religious delusion 420
4. Part Two, §2: The moral principle opposing religious delusion 427
12 Conscience as the Authentic Guide: Part Two, §§3–4 (R 175–90) 439
1. Part Two, §3: Appendix: The deception of priestery 439
2. Part Two, §3: Appendix: Teaching godliness without idolatry 451
3. Part Two, §4: (A) Conscience as the guide for church teaching 463
4. Part Two, §4: (B) Avoiding hypocrisy in affirming creeds 469
Appendix IV: Understanding Means of Grace as Indirect Service: The Fourth General Comment (R 190–202) 477
Glossary 501
Works Cited 537
Index 552
About the Author :
Stephen R. Palmquist is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Hong Kong Baptist University. He lectures on a wide variety of subjects in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Palmquist has written numerous scholarly articles on various aspects of Kant's philosophy, and has published 10 books, the most recent of which is Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy (2010). In addition to Kant, his research interests include depth psychology, philosophy of love, philosophical anthropology, mysticism, logic of symbolism, theology of politics, and philosophy of religion.
Review :
"There has been something of a quiet revolution taking place in scholarship focused on Kant's philosophy of religion, and it is largely due to the work of Stephen R. Palmquist.... Regardless of the reader's strategy of approach, there is no doubt that [Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason] will offer fresh insights to the Kant scholar, and those more generally interested in the philosophy of religion, for many years to come."
—Jonathan Head, The Heythrop Journal, LVIII (2017)
"The work of Palmquist is remarkable, rich, precise, and stands as an indispensable point of reference nowadays for reading Kant's text."
—Francesco Valerio Tommasi, Con-Textos Kantianos (Translated from Italian)
"This commentary is a highly detailed, original approach to one of Kant's most enigmatic works of the Critical period. Palmquist is very capable of fleshing out all the detail, and all possible interpretations, of some of Kant's most obscure assertions. Anyone can readily recognize the impressive level of scholarship in this commentary... the present work is an impressive contribution to Kant-studies and will surely arouse numerous responses in the years to come."
—Dennis vanden Auweele, British Journal for the History of Philosophy
"An encyclopedia for its subject... one can consult the Commentary wherever one has questions about Kant's text."
—Otfried Höffe, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 70.3, (Translated from German)
"Stephen Palmquist has provided us with a magnificent work. Its sheer size alone dwarfs other recent commentaries on the Religion. Likewise, its encyclopaedic use of the secondary literature makes this book into the definitive resource for all scholars interested in either careful textual or philosophical analysis of Kant's principal work in the philosophy of religion.... An extraordinary resource for those committed to careful study of the Religion.
—Lawrence Pasternack, Kantian Review, 21.3
"[Kant's Religion] plays a central role in Kant's transcendental philosophy... [Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason] fully responds to this need by analyzing and commenting in a complete and timely manner on the full text of Religion.
—Andreas Gentile in abrizio Serra (ed.), Studi Kantiani XXIX, (Translated from Italian)
"A rich and erudite work of scholarship. Above all, it displays intellectual generosity in its effort to try to understand what Kant was trying to say in this his culminating work of his moral and religious philosophy... I have learned a vast amount from Palmquist's remarkable book."
—Ronald M. Green, "Ronald Green on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion", Critique
"I was impressed not only by the care which [Palmquist] took in the translation of Kant's writings but also by the significant contributions that he made to our understanding of how the Religion fits with Kant's other works and projects."
—Christina Drogalis, "Christina Drogalis on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion", Critique
"A wide ranging study, in which thought-provoking gems appear on almost every page.... I have learned an extraordinary amount from Palmquist's commentary on a work I had thought that I already knew well; and I am extremely grateful to him both for his devoted efforts as an astute critic and scholar to bring it forth and for the magnificent result from which many others will surely profit."
—Susan Meld Shell, "Susan Shell on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion" Critique
"An encyclopedic resource to which readers can turn for illumination on any given passage.... Adopting this perspectival strategy... not only provides an effective way of resolving many of the apparent inconsistencies that trouble interpreters of [Religion], but also facilitates a plausible way of detecting when Kant is transitioning between his two experiments, i.e., between rational religion and his explicit discussion of Christian beliefs, symbols, and rituals."
—Andreas Gentile, Aretè
