The thought of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is often regarded as having caused a crisis for theology and religion because it sets the limits of knowledge to what can be derived from experience. In
The thought of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is often regarded as having caused a crisis for theology and religion because it sets the limits of knowledge to what can be derived from experience. In The Intolerable God Christopher Insole challenges that assumption and argues that Kant believed in God but struggled intensely with theological questions.
Drawing on a new wave of Kant research and texts from all periods of Kant’s thought — including some texts not previously translated — Insole recounts the drama of Kant’s intellectual and theological journey. He focuses on Kant’s lifelong concern with God, freedom, and happiness, relating these topics to Kant’s theory of knowledge and his shifting views about what metaphysics can achieve.
Though Kant was, in the end, unable to accept central claims of the Christian faith, Insole here shows that he earnestly wrestled with issues that are still deeply unsettling for believers and doubters alike.
Nigel Biggar
— University of Oxford
“A rare, fresh, and masterful account of Kant’s theological development that engages the imagination and achieves lucidity without trampling over nuance. Christopher Insole has no interest in dominating his reader, writes with unpretentious grace, and never fails in charity. A model of Christian scholarship, this is a very fine book indeed.”
Mark A. McIntosh
— Loyola University Chicago
“This is an astonishingly good book. How unfortunate for Kant not to have had Christopher Insole around during his lifetime! The acuity and insight of Insole’s understanding of Kant is equaled by his companionable charity and good humor in unveiling for readers a luminously intriguing path through the (usually impassable) thickets of Kant’s most important ideas. By putting Kant’s struggle to understand divine action and human freedom into a wonderfully thought-provoking conversation with central Christian beliefs and historical theology, Insole affords us the kind of fresh and startlingly new comprehension that will surprise and delight both seasoned Kant scholars and new explorers.”
Keith Ward
— University of Oxford
“Essential reading for all those interested in the history of philosophical and theological thought.”
Adrian Moore
— University of Oxford
“In this beautifully clear and engaging book, Christopher Insole provides an integrated account of the place of theology in Kant’s evolving thought. The result is a fascinating exploration of the idea in Kant that we can ‘neither resist nor tolerate’ the thought of God.”
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Christopher J. Insole is professor of philosophical theology and ethics at Durham University, England. Among his previous books is Kant and the Creation of Freedom: A Theological Problem.
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