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Karl Jasper’s Christology

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Foundational Reflections

Part of the book series: American University Publications in Philosophy ((MNPL,volume 29))

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Abstract

The intention of this essay is to analyse the interpretation of Jesus offered by one of the leading Eurpean existential philosophers, Karl Jaspers. There are a variety of reasons for such an analysis and many perspectives within which his interpretation becomes both fruitful and of special interest.

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Footnotes

  1. K. Jaspers and R. Bultmann, Myth And Christianity (New York: Farrar, Strauss & Co., 1958).

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  2. “I consider myself a Protestant, I am a church member, and as a Protestant I enjoy the freedom to ascertain my faith, the faith on the basis of which I like to think I live, without mediators, in direct relation to transcendence, guided by the Bible and by Kant.” (Ibid., p. 78).

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  3. K. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962) p. 77.

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  4. P. A. Schilpp, The Philosophy Of Karl Jaspers (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1957) p. 768.

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  5. Jaspers, op. cit., pp. 79, 91, 227.

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  6. “The spiritualized Christ of the Gospel according to St. John, though noble and captivating as a fairy tale hero, seems to us far less significant than the living figure of Jesus in the Synoptics.” (Jaspers & Bultmann, op. cit., p. 21).

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  7. Jaspers, op. cit., pp. 99–100.

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  8. Ibid.

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  9. Ibid. p. 105.

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  10. Ibid.

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  11. Ibid. p. 103.

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  12. K. Jaspers, The Origin And Goal Of History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953) p. XV.

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  13. The Origin And Goal Of History, p. 1.

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  14. Ibid., pp. 2,4.

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  15. Ibid., p. 19.

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  16. Ibid. As we have noted, this demand for openness, communication, and tolerance is one of the central features of Jaspers’ philosophy. It leads him to oppose all claims to exclusiveness and thus brings him into serious conflict with much Christian theology. The import of this for the significance of Jesus will be dealt with increasingly in the remainder of this essay.

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  17. Ibid., p. 20.

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  18. Ibid., p. 60.

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  19. Ibid., p. 75.

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  20. Ibid., p. 64.

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  21. K. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 105.

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  22. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., p. 100.

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  23. K. Jaspers, The Origin And Goal Of History, p. 259.

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  24. Ibid.

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  25. K. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 93.

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  26. Ibid.

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  27. Schilpp, op. cit., p. 400.

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  28. K. Jaspers, The Perennial Scope Of Philosophy (New York: Philosophical Library, 1949) pp. 95–96.

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  29. Professor Ricoeur notes that the exceptional vigor with which Jaspers makes this attack upon exclusiveness is much harsher than his attack upon various philosophical systems with similar claims, and is an attack upon the very heart of a doctrine of revelation. (See Schilpp, op. cit., p. 623.).

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  30. K. Jaspers, op. cit., p. 105.

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  31. Jaspers And Bultmann, op. cit., pp. 110–111.

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  32. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 88.

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  33. Ibid.

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  34. Ibid., p. 89.

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  35. Ibid.

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  36. Ibid., p. 88.

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  37. Ibid.

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  38. Ibid., p. 89.

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  39. Ibid.

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  40. Ibid., 90.

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  41. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., p. 84.

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  42. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 90.

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  43. Jaspers, The Perrenial Scope Of Philosophy, p. 40.

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  44. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 91.

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  45. Ibid., p. 103.

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  46. Ibid., p. 88.

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  47. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., pp. 50–51.

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  48. Jaspers, The Perennial Scope Of Philosophy, p. 105.

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  49. Schilpp, op. cit., p. 780.

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  50. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., pp. 50–51, 73, 75.

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  51. Schilpp, op cit., p. 780.

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  52. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., p. 46.

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  53. Ibid., pp. 77–78.

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  54. Jaspers, The Great Philosophers, p. 100.

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  55. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., p. 101.

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  56. See also K. Jaspers, Truth And Symbol (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1959) pp. 76–77.

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  57. Jaspers and Bultmann, op. cit., p. 82.

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  58. Schilpp, op. cit., p. 624.

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  59. A. W. Levi, ‘The Meaning Of Existentialism For Contemporary International Relations,” Ethics, LXXII (1962) p. 248.

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  60. See especially a quotation in a book review in Theology Today, XIX (1962) p. 440.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The American University, Washington D.C., USA

    Harold A. Durfee

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  1. Harold A. Durfee
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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Durfee, H.A. (1987). Karl Jasper’s Christology. In: Foundational Reflections. American University Publications in Philosophy, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3593-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3593-8_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8107-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3593-8

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