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Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History THE COLLECTED WORKS OF HERMAN DOOYEWEERD Series B, Volume 13 GENERAL EDITOR: D.F.M. Strauss Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History Series B, Volume 13 Herman Dooyeweerd Paideia Press 2013 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dooyeweerd, H. (Herman), 1894-1977. [Lecture Series in the US. English 1960 / Edited 1999] Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History Herman Dooyeweerd p. cm Includes bibliographical references, glossary, and index ISBN 979-0-88815-217-6 1. Philosophy. 2. Christian Philosophy. 3. Historicism. Title. This is Series B, Volume 13 in the continuing series The Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd (Initially published by Mellen Press, now published by Paideia Press) ISBN 979-0-88815-217-6 The Collected Works comprise a Series A, a Series B, and a Series C (Series A contains multi-volume works by Dooyeweerd, Series B contains smaller works and collections of essays, Series C contains reflections on Dooyeweerd's philosophy designated as: Dooyeweerd's Living Legacy, and Series D contains thematic selections from Series A and B) A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. The Dooyeweerd Centre for Christian Philosophy Redeemer College Ancaster, Ontario CANADA L9K 1J4 All rights reserved. For information contact ÓPAIDEIA PRESS 2012 Grand Rapids, MI 49507 Printed in the United States of America Translators and Editors Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History Under the above title this volume brings together the following four separately titled essays by Herman Dooyeweerd: 1) “Christian Philosophy: An Exploration.” This essay constitutes chapter I, Calvinistische wijsbegeerte,inVerkenningen (Buijten & Schipperheijn, Am- sterdam, 1962 – pp.11-66). It first appeared in Scientia (W. de Haan, Zeist, 1956, pp.127-159). Translator: John Vriend Editors: T. Grady Spires, Natexa Verbrugge 2) “The Meaning of History.” De Zin der Geschiedenis, from: De Zin der Geschiedenis, edited by J.D. Bierens de Haan et.al., Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V., Assen, 1942, pp.17-27. Translators: K.C. and A.L. Sewell Editor: Magnus Verbrugge 3) “The Criteria of Progressive and Reactionary Tendencies in History.” An address delivered to the Koninglijke Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Academy of Sciences and Humanities), Amsterdam on the occasion of its 150th anniversary in 1958. First published simultaneously in Dutch, French and English by the Academy and now edited and re-published in English in this Volume with the permission of the Academy. [Maatstaven ter onderkenning van progressieve en reactionaire bewegingen in de historische ontwikkeling. Verslag van de plechtige viering van het honderdvijftigjarig bestaan der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 6-9 Mei 1958, pp.61-77; Mouvements progressifs et régressifs dans l’histoire, pp.139-154. The criteria of progressive and reactionary tendencies in his- tory, pp.213-228; Amsterdam, N.V. Noord-Hollandse Uitgeversmaatschap- pij, 1958 {1959}.] Editor: Magnus Verbrugge 4) “The dangers of the intellectual disarmament of Christianity in Science.” This essay constitutes chapter IV, De gevaren van de geestelijke ontwa- pening der Christenheid op het gebied van de Wetenschap in the volume en- titled Geestelijk Weerloos of Weerbaar? (Intellectually Defenceless or Ar- mored?), introduced by J.H. DeGoede Jr., Ed. (Publisher not identified, Am- sterdam, 1937, pp. 153-212). Translator: John Vriend Editors: T. Grady Spires, Natexa Verbrugge, Magnus Verbrugge (6) Table of Contents Foreword . ·····························(iii) Christian Philosophy: An Exploration Introduction ............................1 Prolegomena to the Philosophy of the Cosmonomic Idea .........................3 The First Transcendental Problem .................8 The Second Transcendental Problem ...............14 The Third Transcendental Problem ................18 The Biblical Ground-Motive ...................24 Western Dialectic Ground-Motives ................26 The Form-Matter Motive .....................27 The Nature-Grace Motive.....................29 The Nature-Freedom Motive ...................31 The Three Transcendental Ideas .................35 The Meaning of History The modal structure of the historical aspect ...........40 The meaning-nucleus of history .................41 The normative character of the historical aspect .........42 Closed and opened cultures ....................44 Concluding observations .....................45 The Criteria of Progressive and Reactionary Tendencies in History .......................47 The elimination of normative viewpoints from scientific historiography...........................48 History is not what has really happened in the past: historicism . 49 The concept of historical development ..............55 The anticipatory meaning of the cultural-historical aspect ....59 (i) The dangers of the intellectual disarmament of Christianity in Science “Objective Science” and “Subjective Faith” ...........67 The separation between the special sciences and philosophy ..........................69 A blind faith in the sovereignty of human reason.........69 Kuyper and the idea of a twofold Science ............71 The approach of Emil Brunner ..................72 Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas: Nature and Grace ........73 The attempted synthesis between Greek paganism and Biblical Christianity .....................74 The late medieval reaction of William of Occam ........77 The rise of the Humanistic Science Ideal .............79 The inherent tension between the Humanistic Ideal of Personality and the Ideal of Science ...........80 The Concept of Law .......................81 The universal functional framework of entities ..........82 The Development of the Basic Antinomy in Humanistic Thought .......................84 A new Attempt at Synthesis ...................87 The Reaction of Positivism ....................88 The cultural-historical method of the Humanities ........89 Irrationalistic historicism and relativism .............90 A predictable compromise between Christianity and Humanism ..........................93 A chaos of Protestant attempts at Synthesis ...........94 The Reformational Legacy and its lack of Consistency .....95 The positive Biblical trend of the Reformation ..........98 Integral Christian Scholarship requires the Foundation of a Biblically informed Philosophy ...............99 Herman Dooyeweerd – A Biographical Sketch ...........105 Glossary ...............................111 Index ................................. 121 (ii) Foreword With the publication of this volume The Dooyeweerd Centre for Chris- tian Philosophy continues the project of translating, editing and publish- ing the Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd, formerly carried on by The Herman Dooyeweerd Foundation. The publication of the Collected Works will reflect the three dimen- sions of an integral Christian philosophical approach to science and scholarship. These can be identified as: (i) taking the history of philoso- phy fully into consideration, (ii) engaging in systematic philosophical reflection and (iii) interacting with the various academic disciplines in order to ascertain the special scientific fruitfulness of the former two tasks. The publication project will differentiate into two separate series – each of which comprising all three dimensions mentioned above: – Series A will contain multi-volume works as well as larger single volumes, each to be bound in a standard format. – Series B, which will contain smaller volumes and volumes consist- ing of related articles, essays, speeches, and other material, each to be bound in a standard format. In this Volume 1 of Series B a number of related articles are brought to- gether. The first one provides the reader with a suitable introduction to Dooyeweerd's philosophy through the gateway of his own lucid remarks about the historical context and development of this new Christian phi- losophy and a clear exposition of its critique of the belief in the auton- omy of theoretical thought, prevalent in so many projects of modernity. His subsequent brief analysis of the basic motives operative in the con- tinuous unfolding of Western civilization adds depth and weight to the challenge this philosophy poses towards many schools of philosophy which are still unwilling to give an account of the deepest motivations of their activities. The second chapter, dealing with the meaning of history, reveals a crucial facet of Dooyeweerd's systematic philosophy. His entire analysis of the historical opening-up process sees in the historical aspect the nodal point of all meaning disclosure – guided by the function of faith. (iii) Foreword The meaning of history is treated within the broader context of many systematic distinctions drawn from his philosophy in general. The third chapter, discussing the criteria of progressive and reaction- ary tendencies in history, appropriately supplements this analysis of the meaning of history, since it sets out to unveil the fundamental principles which guide all historical change and which help us to discern both nor- mative and antinormative historical events. By pointing to the conflicts and dialectical tensions that occur in the process of the opening-up of human culture – which result from the absolutization of what is relative – Dooyeweerd does not hesitate to un- derline the biblical revelation that the only path leading away from the spirit of apostasy underlying every absolutization is given in the aware- ness that there would be no future hope for the entire process
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