Immanuel Kant and German Theology

Two things I'll say compactly about The Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft):

On one hand, it has caused a number of its readers to be skeptical and doubt the existence of an objective or mind-independent world. The fruits of Kantianism with respect to German theology likewise are telling, as J.C. O'Neill brings out in The Bible's Authority: A Portrait Gallery of Thinkers from Lessing to Bultmann.

O'Neill writes:

"Kant is dogmatic about free-will in morality, but sceptical in natural science; he is dogmatic about the teleological principle of the natural order, but sceptical about teleology in morality. We must posit an almighty originator of the world [according to Kant], but we are to be completely sceptical about his existence" (page 64).

Another criticism of Kant's thinking or the legacy that emanated from it, is the proclivity to sharply dichotomize facts and values, otherwise known as the epistemological cleaving of phenomena and noumena. Mikhail Bakhtin criticized Kant on another score, namely, his evisceration of the particular ought in favor of the universal ought.

These are some negative points concerning Kant, not to mention his wrongheadedness (in some ways) and utter begging of the question when it comes to synthetic a priori judgments.

On the other hand, Kant is such an important historical figure and influential thinker that it is hard to ignore him in some ways. He analyzes the ontological and cosmological arguments for God's existence and has some interesting things to say regarding them. Those who choose to read Kant probably need to remember the biblical reminder at Ecclesiastes 12:11-12.