Religion and Culture (first draft)
First Lecture: Fundamental Concepts and their relations.
Intr. {The infinity of the
of restriction to fundamental concepts and selected appli-
cations. The first in the first, the second in the second lecture.
The necessity of revising the concepts become of their loose
{t} usage in daily life as well as in learned writings.}
I. The three functions of man's spiritual life
1. The life of man's spirit
its loss in English .. It is more than mind and necessary to under-
stand both the Western and the Eastern traditions) contains both,
religion and culture. But it contains a third function, fundamen-
tal for both:
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{of both} {Christianity} {
{law, based on the so called teachings of
{beyond it.} All moral
{the} They show maps of becoming {creation of the of} a centered self in the encounter with other
centered selfs. Here the only ultimate {principle} law appears, na-
mely
{point where the religious dimension appears,} because it is the di-
vine reality itself {(later more)}. Man tries to escape the responsibility
of freedom and hide under the protective roof of laws.
3. This leads to a [...] third element in the un-
derstanding of morality and religion. The question must be
raised: How can we become a centered self, a
agent is able to achieve it. If we answer: We ourselves we
escape the problem. For the question in which "we", which "I". The
{person} person as centered self? But this person does not yet exist,
we shall become a person; then: can something that is less then
a person {produce a person}?, namely you and I, create a person?
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II. The function of morality
1. The first act of man's
in all being is selfintegration, centerednes. And this is
the moral act. In every single moral act man constitutes
himself as a centered self; and every act of selfintegration
of a centered self is a moral act. We call such a centered
self a
person as a person. This gives morality its greatness, its
dignity, its absolute seriousness {and this means} its first relation
to religion \\ But where there is integration there is also desintegration and man
{(Later more)} is inclined to make the moral act conditional
The religious functions represents the unconditional
2. This concept of morals has a liberating power, {both}
{in the sense of the good news of the Christian message and the}
{freedom from
{liberation experienced in some forms of mystical experience} {piety.} - - -
they divine or human, be they sacred traditions or social conventions. {And}
{the Christians should understand how they diminish the meaning}
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aware of the fact, that man's
unity with the whole of life and that in the whole of life
the same basic processes are going on: Life integrates it-
self, life creates itself, life sublimates itself. In the dimen-
sion of the
2. My desire would be to show this in atoms and stars, in plants
and animals, especially in a notion with a most developped [sic.] relation
to nature. But this is impossible, and there is anyhow something
new in the dimension of the human spirit: It is life in mea-
nings, in language and thought, in the awareness of laws and norms, of
questions and answers, of commandments and decisions, of a
selfconscious self with will and emotions. {All} This life in mea-
nings is not separated from {the} all other life. all dimensions of life are
in man, the inorganic and organic, the {veg} biological and the
psychological; they add {give the} life-power to {his} the life in meanings, spirit
is the unity of power and meaning, of vital life and {the consciousness of} rational life.
Jesus von Nazaret (ca. 4 v. Chr.–30/33 n. Chr.) war ein jüdischer Wanderprediger aus Galiläa, der durch Lehren über Liebe, Umkehr, Gerechtigkeit und dem nahenden Reich Gottes rasch Anhänger gewann. Nach neutestamentlicher Überlieferung zog er mit zwölf Jüngern durch Judäa und Galiläa, wirkte Heilungen und provozierte religiöse Autoritäten mit seiner unkonventionellen Auslegung der Tora. Unter dem römischen Präfekten Pontius Pilatus wurde er in Jerusalem wegen Aufruhrverdachts gekreuzigt; seine Jünger verkündeten anschließend seine Auferstehung, woraus das frühe Christentum hervorging. Bis heute prägt seine Gestalt Theologie, Kultur und Geschichte als Messias des Christentums und bedeutender Prophet im Islam.