Abstract
In The Case for God (2009), Karen Armstrong argues that fundamentalism is a symptom of a modern society infatuated with logos, the cure for this ailment lies in a rehabilitation through mythos, a tradition found and nurtured in the mystic traditions of all religions. Armstrong places a special emphasis on the mystic traditions in the West, particularly in the Greek orthodox tradition of negative or apophatic theology, describing how the silence of negative theology affirms the radical otherness of the divine. This, in turn, brings humility to humanity and fosters compassionate action in the world. In this way, negative theology can act as a therapy for a neurotic modernity. Through tracing the triumph of logos, the lost heritage of mythos and its manifestation in the discipline of negative theology, Karen Armstrong’s work is invaluable as she attempts to overcome the polarization of modern fundamentalism/secularism divide. However, her account and description of the birth of the ‘modern god’ in inadequate. Whilst advocating the silence and peace of the apophatic tradition, Armstrong does not take seriously the radical otherness of God in Protestant theology. Through the work of Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher who stands in the Augustinian and Lutheran tradition, I argue that the true implications of God’s otherness becomes clear. I suggest that Armstrong’s ‘unknown god’ of mythos and ‘modern god’ of logos may have more in common than Armstrong allows in her own work.
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Notes
- 1.
Karen Armstrong has also tackled the issue of ‘religious fundamentalism’ in The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (2000) and Faith After September 11 (2002). The combination of her readiness to engage with these difficult contemporary problems, her comprehensive knowledge in the field of religious studies, and her craft as a writer enables Armstrong to write to an audience beyond academia. In this chapter I focus on Armstrong’s The Case for God, with some references to The Battle for God (2000). The Case for God is intended to provide a rich analysis of religion against the caricature painted by the so-called ‘new atheists’. The book itself covers such broad ground that I felt compelled to tackle only one aspect of Armstrong’s argument. In this chapter, I investigate Armstrong’s positive understanding of ‘apophatic theology’ and her criticism of the Reformation, using the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, in order to argue that aspects of the idea that grew out of the Reformation do in fact share significant conceptual ground with ‘apophatic theology’. I have offered this critique in an effort to encourage a more nuanced reading of the history of theological ideas.
- 2.
Armstrong’s argument is grounded in her own existential journey, as described in her autobiography, The Spiral Staircase. Throughout her autobiography, she describes her own spiritual ‘ascent’ in terms of TS Eliot’s poem, Ash Wednesday, the poem that is based on St John of the Cross’s The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul and Eliot’s own experience of the via negativa. For Armstrong the mystical ascent to heaven is a symbol of the furthest reach of the human spirit, which marks the threshold of ultimate meaning. (Armstrong 2004: 217).
- 3.
A term Armstrong borrows from Mircea Eliade, for whom homo religiosus indicates the human as motivated by an irreducible religious intentionality.
- 4.
Here Armstrong references the work of Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life (1995), in which he devotes two chapters on spiritual exercises in the Greek and early Christian traditions. See the same work for a chapter on Socrates and the Socratic influence on Soren Kierkegaard. Also see Hadot (2004) for a chapter on dialogue.
- 5.
Armstrong draws on the work of Denys Turner, in her discussion on Denys the Areopagite. Turner prefers the archaism ‘Denys’ to the more modern appellations, ‘the Pseudo-Dionysius’ or ‘Pseudo-Denys’. Turner argues the identity behind Pseudo-Denys remains unknown. Turner himself respects the author’s wish to be identified with the Denys the Areopagite mentioned in Acts17:34, and reminds us the author of The Divine Names was credited with sub-apostolic authority in the High and Late Middle Ages (Turner 1998).
- 6.
David R. Law points out it was this ‘second step’ that led Dionysius the Areopagite to introduce the term apophatic theology (Law 1993).
- 7.
Armstrong places these philosophers, who have often confused and confounded the English-speaking world, in an historical tradition that helps to engage a dialogue between often-hostile camps. See Hart (2000) for an in-depth discussion of Derrida and the negative theology tradition.
- 8.
Similarly, Armstrong’s definition of coincidentia oppositorium as an encounter with the sacred where things that are normally opposed reveal an underlying unity, lacks the depth of Eliade’s characterization as ‘the very nature of the divinity, which shows itself, by turns or even simultaneously, benevolent and terrible, creative and destructive…it is this coincidentia oppositorium which is the starting point for the boldest speculations of such men as the Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart, and Nicholas of Cusa’ (Eliade 1958: 56).
- 9.
Mysterium denotes what is hidden, what is beyond conception or understanding. The closest word in English to tremendum, says Otto, is ‘awe’ or ‘aweful’ (Otto 1950: 13).
- 10.
Kierkegaard’s ‘martyrdom of understanding’ is similar to Eckhart’s ‘detachment’ and ‘destruktion’ of will, language and thought. Another to follow in the footsteps of Ekhart, Luther and Kierkegaard, is the early Heidegger. See Crowe (2006) on the link between Heidegger’s use of Destruktion and Luther’s latin destructio which renders foolish the ‘wisdom of the wise’, a direct attack on Aristotle’s ‘theology of glory’, replaced by Luther’s ‘theology of the cross’. Also see Caputo (1986), for an in-depth study on the relation between Eckhart and Heidegger.
- 11.
Other important references to the ladder in the mystical tradition include Jacob’s dream of a ladder stretched between earth and heaven, with angels ascending and descending. In the Rule of Saint Benedict, Benedict describes Jacob’s ladder as ‘our life in the world, which, if the heart is to be humbled, is lifted up by the Lord to heaven…we descend [from God] by exaltation and ascend [to God] by humility.’ Benedict also spoke of the goal of monastic discipline as becoming a whole human being in whom action and thought are in harmony (Howland 2006: 11).
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Brown, P. (2014). Against Fundamentalism: The Silence of the Divine in the Work of Karen Armstrong. In: Sharpe, M., Nickelson, D. (eds) Secularisations and Their Debates. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7116-1_9
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