For Kierkegaard the most important thing in life is to become a single individual or a true self. We are all born as human beings, but this makes us only members of a crowd, not true selves. To become a true self, we must transcend what we are at any given time and orient ourselves to the possible and to the actuality of the possible, to which all that is possible owes itself. True selves exist only in becoming, they are fragile, and that is their strength. They are not grounded by their own activities, but in a reality extra se, the flip side of which is a deep passivity that underlies all their activity and allows them to continually leave themselves and move beyond their respective actualities toward the new and the possible. Therefore, without the passion of possibility, there is no truly single individual. This study of Kierkegaard's post-metaphysical theology outlines his existential phenomenology of the self by exploring in three parts what Kierkegaard has to say about the sense of self (finitude, uniqueness, self-interpretation, and alienation), about selfless passion (anxiety, trust, hope, and true love), and about how to become a true self (a Christian in Christendom and a neighbor of God's neighbors).

Debates about the unique, the singular, and the individual raise epistemological, hermeneutical, metaphysical, ethical, and theological problems. They are often discussed in separate discourses without attention to the multiple relationships that exist among these issues. This volume seeks to remedy this by linking three areas of discussion: the theological and metaphysical debates about divine uniqueness, the epistemological and hermeneutical debates about issues of singularity and (in)comparability, and the ethical debates about issues of human individuality and ethical formation. Taken together, this highlights the complex background of the current singularity debate and shows that it is worth paying attention to debates in other fields where similar questions are explored in a different way.

The idea of humanity is more controversial today than ever before. Traditionally, answers to the questions about our humanity and 'humanitas' (Cicero) have been sought along five routes: by contrasting the human with the non-human (other animals), with the more than human (the divine), with the inhuman (negative human behaviors), with the superhuman (what humans will become), or with the transhuman (thinking machines). In each case the question at stake and the point of comparison is a different one, and in all those respects the idea of humanity has been defined differently. What makes humans human? What does it mean for humans to live a human life? What is the humanitas for which we ought to strive? This volume discusses key philosophical and theological issues in the current debate, with a particular focus on transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and the ethical challenges facing humanity in our technological culture.

Wer von Gott sprechen will, kann von Gottes Gegenwart nicht schweigen. Nur ein gegenwärtiger Gott verdient, 'Gott' genannt zu werden, und gegenwärtig ist Gott nur, wo er sich von sich aus vergegenwärtigt. Ohne Gottes Gegenwart gäbe es keine andere Gegenwart, und ohne Gottes Wirklichkeit keine andere Möglichkeit. Gott ist jeder Gegenwart gegenwärtig, weil er möglich macht, was wirklich wird und wirklich werden könnte. Ingolf U. Dalferth untersucht die zentrale Bedeutung der Konstellation von Gottesgegenwart, Gotteswahrnehmung und Gottesverehrung im christlichen Glauben und Denken und in der Praxis des christlichen Lebens. Die Schwierigkeit der Frage nach Gott ist nicht, dass Gott in unerreichbarer Ferne ist, sondern dass er uns näher ist als wir uns selbst. "Nah ist / Und schwer zu fassen der Gott", konstatierte Hölderlin. Er hatte mit beidem Recht.

Muss eine realistische Philosophie bestreiten, dass es nur mediale, vermittelte Weltzugänge gibt? Ingolf U. Dalferth vertritt die These, dass die Berufung auf epistemische Unmittelbarkeit als Realitätsindikator im Weltverhältnis der Menschen ein Missverständnis des lebensweltlichen Grundmodus der Selbstverständlichkeit ist. Vermittlung ist nicht das Gegenprogramm des Realismus, sondern die Weise, in der wir auf die Wirklichkeit bezogen sind, zu der wir gehören. Was selbstverständlich ist, halten wir für unmittelbar gewiss. Es scheint ja keiner Begründung zu bedürfen. Doch diese Gleichsetzung von Selbstverständlichkeit mit Unmittelbarkeit ist ein Irrtum. Wo Unmittelbarkeit im Wirklichkeitszugang gegen Vermittlung ausgespielt wird, wird das lebensweltlich Selbstverständliche mit dem verwechselt, was uns unmittelbar und direkt gegeben ist. Das wird in der kritischen Diskussion wichtiger Konzepte der Unmittelbarkeit sowie am Beispiel der Phänomenologie der Lebenswelt in Auseinandersetzung mit Edmund Husserl und Hans Blumenberg gezeigt.

Faith, hope, and love, traditionally called theological virtues, are central to Christianity. This book renews faith, hope, and love in the context of the many contemporary challenges in many unique ways. It is an ecumenical collection of papers, equally divided between Catholic and Protestant positions, that seek to radically renew the classical doctrine of faith, hope, and love, and argues for their essential connection to the praxis of justice. It contains eight different approaches, each represented by a distinguished theologian and addressing different aspects of the issues and followed by insightful and critical responses. It does not merely seek to renew the theological virtues but to also reconstruct them in the demanding context of justice and the contemporary world, nor is it simply a treatise on justice but a theoretical and practical reflection on justice as vital expressions of faith in God, hope in God, and love of God. A non-dogmatic and non-ideological approach, it accommodates both conservative and liberal positions, and avoids the separation of the theological virtues from the demands of the contemporary world as well as the separation of justice talk from the theological context of faith, hope, and love. It seeks above all to renew, not merely repeat, the classical doctrine of faith, hope, and love in the contemporary context of the urgency of justice, and to do so ecumenically, comprehensively, and from a variety of perspectives and aspects.

English summary: Hermeneutical theology is the abridged form of a theological agenda which is closely linked to the names of Rudolf Bultmann, Ernst Fuchs, Gerhard Ebeling and Eberhard Jungel. The authors of this volume analyze the origins, problems, similarities and differences within this theological movement, examine their arguments and question their significance for the present. In doing so, they trace the connection to the theology of the word of God and 20th century existential hermeneutics as well as to present day event hermeneutics. German description: Hermeneutische Theologie ist die Kurzformel eines theologischen Programms, das eng mit den Namen Rudolf Bultmann, Ernst Fuchs, Gerhard Ebeling und Eberhard Jungel verbunden ist. Die Autoren dieses Bandes analysieren die Herkunfte, Aufgabenstellungen, Gemeinsamkeiten und Differenzen innerhalb dieser theologischen Bewegung, prufen ihre Argumente und fragen nach ihrer Bedeutung fur die Gegenwart. Dabei wird den Verbindungslinien zur Wort-Gottes-Theologie und existentialen Hermeneutik des 20. Jahrhunderts ebenso nachgegangen wie denen zur Ereignishermeneutik der Gegenwart.