The discourse of faith, knowledge, and atheism in German-language Catholic theology

Abstract

This text provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical and philosophical evolution of the "faith – knowledge" discourse, focusing primarily on the intellectual heritage of prominent 20th-century German and Swiss theologians. For centuries, the relationship between these two concepts was marked by collision, dichotomy, and seemingly irreconcilable antagonism. The requirement to believe was often misinterpreted as an obligation to abandon cognitive activity, causing wrong association with sacred texts. The 20th century is explored to have marked a paradigm shift, where faith and reason began to be viewed as rather complementary than exclusionary forces.

The study is based on fundamental contributions by Joseph Ratzinger, Walter Kasper, Karl Rahner, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, who collectively rejected confrontation with secular science. Central to this shift is Karl Rahner’s concept of the "supernatural existential," which posits that the human person is inherently oriented toward the transcendental. The author highlights that the ability to question and search for meaning is the very foundation of human freedom and transcendence. Secularization is viewed as made possible by the Christian distinction between the sacrum and the profanum. The article also searches the "Theology of Holy Saturday" by Hans Urs von Balthasar, which addresses the profound experience of God-forsakenness. It is portrayed not as the absence of God, but as a tragic yet hopeful state where the human soul seeks a new relationship with the Transcendent amidst the void of the modern world. Balthasar’s "theological aesthetics" serves as a concluding chord, asserting that Beauty is the ultimate word that indicates the Divine, making humans overstep the limits of their minds. The gap between religion and rationality is illusory. Faith turns out to be a fundamental human decision and an indispensable accident of human existence. In the contemporary discourse, Christianity is presented not as a rigid system of dogmas, but as an invitation to accept Truth and Love through a personal encounter with the Logos, which provides an exit from the semantic vacuum of modern nihilism.

The research is also dedicated to re-evaluation of atheism. Through the philosophical lenses of E. Husserl’s phenomenology and L. Wittgenstein’s linguistic turn, the article examines how terms carry different ontological weights. The research highlights the shift from "existential atheism"— a refusal to rely on the Divine —  to the recognition of "anonymous Christianity," where the atheist's moral responsibility and obedience to conscience are seen as implicit acts of faith and the search for truth.

The perception of the Divine was subsequently interpreted not as a human inclination to oppose the rational, but as a capacity for the transcendental perception of the world.

The influence of E. Husserl’s phenomenology, existentialism, the linguistic turn (primarily L. Wittgenstein), and philosophical epistemology on the formation of modern theological terminology is examined in this text. The author notes that reflection on language contributed to precision in distinguishing the meanings of keywords that are outwardly synonymous but, upon closer inspection, are sometimes diametrically opposed. It is important to note that L. Wittgenstein points out the categorical limits of theological texts, thereby emphasizing the specific nature of religious discourse as supra-rational.

Existence and its struggling with fundamental life-sense dilemmas, usually interpreted as a guarantee of the validity of the atheistic worldview, is reconsidered in this study as a way to verify the foundations of faith. Theology not only refuses to turn away from dramatic existential issues but regards them as the starting point for affirming its basements. Atheism, having spread due to repressive practices and consequently to human disbelief in God, did not prove to be a force capable of eliminating all prerequisites for religiosity. Instead, theological thought has forced a return to the foundations of faith with renewed vigour.

The research demonstrates that faith is a fundamental accidental choice of a human being, which does not contradict reason but expands its boundaries through the categories of beauty and conscience. It is noted that both those who profess religion and those who deny the existence and goodness of God may equally feel abandoned by Him. This experience represents both a trial of faith for believers and a discovery of God by atheists. Caught in the vortex of doubt, the faithful purify their perception of God from the worship of idols. Correspondingly, the atheist's doubts help strip away superficial layers from the religious worldview. The human being is actualized in the direct contemplation of God.