Christina Aus der Au
Im Horizont der Anrede
Das theologische Menschenbild und seine Herausforderung durch die Neurowissenschaften
1. Edition 2011
277 pages
ISBN 978-3-525-57019-7
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Religion, Theologie und Naturwissenschaft / Religion, Theology, and Natural Science (RThN) -
Book
| PDF eBook | 55,95 € |
The modern neurosciences have declared a new image of humanity: We are no longer self-conscious beings with a body and soul, responsible for our own thoughts and deeds, created and loved by God; rather, we are biological ego machines with finite and mortal souls. However, it is argued from a philosophical and theological point of view that our subjective experience of free will, responsibility and capacity for faith is not well served by referring to the causal role of the neuronal activity in some part of the brain. One must delineate between the perspective of an observant neuroscience and that of a participant subject.
Yet, the observing bystander and the participating self are ideal types – that nevertheless do interlock in theological reflection where we are dealing not with subjective faith but the contemplation thereof. And still: theological understanding is always committed to God as being considered something that remains inaccessible to our attempts at description.
Christina Aus der Au suggests a specific theological perspective in which humans understand themselves as addressees of God, and in which this reflected self-image flows into our theological thoughts and discourse. The dispute with neuroscience allows a critical approach to the claims of the neuroscientific perspective of description as well as a critical self-reflection of one´s own theological statements.
