The Influence of Meister Eckhart's Thought on Kierkegaard's Understanding of Faith

Abstract

To examine the views of Søren Kierkegaard, one of the important thinkers of early modern philosophy, on the problem of the relationship between faith and reason, which has been discussed from many perspectives in the history of thought, and to examine how his views were influenced by the late medieval thinker Meister Ekchart, and to compare the views of the two thinkers constitutes the aim of the study. In this sense, the important theologian, preacher and mystical thinker of the Late Middle Ages, Meister Eckhart, developed a different understanding from the traditional religious views of his age and grounded his philosophical thoughts, especially the understanding of faith, by centered on the concept of isolation (abgeschiedenheit). According to Eckhart, the relationship that a person will establish with God is highly inner and subjective. In addition to this, his understanding of faith based on the liberation of man from reason (intellectus) and will (voluntas), freeing himself from everything. Because, according to Eckhart, man can unite with God through a mystical experience only when he isolates himself from everything. In this context, it can be interpreted that Eckhart's understanding of faith is extremely original and subjective. The thinker opposed the dominant classical Christian understanding of his time and the institutionalized religion, and he considered one's relationship with God through a very private experience. Another point that draws attention to Eckhart's understanding of faith is related to the thinker's belief that the mind cannot know God, that is, the paradoxical understanding he developed because of the fideist point of view. In other words, according to Eckhart, man can attain the experience of becoming one with God only after he has let go of everything and is liberated. Therefore, the man who seeks God must withdraw not only from his own intellect and desires but from everything earthly. Because the thinker claims that man can become like a God by getting rid of all his attachments and by the grace of God. Such devotion is a mystical and highly internal nature. Eckhart, as a thinker who adopts negative theology, argues that it is impossible to say anything about God. For this reason, in the presence of God, man should simply remain silent. According to the thinker, finding God should be desired only for the sake of knowing God. Because, according to Eckhart, if God is asked for his blessing or for the good that he will provide to man, this prevents him from loving God completely. For this reason, Eckhart says that every good or bad emotion, such as pain, sorrow, joy, and so on, is one for the person who truly loves God.
 About five hundred years after Eckhart, in the nineteenth century, Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard developed a similar understanding of faith to Eckhart, thanks to his teacher Hans Lassen Martensen's studies on Meister Eckhart, and built a religious-based philosophy, unlike the thinkers of his time. Explaining Kierkegaard's understanding of faith, which he deepened by using religious themes, to understand the place of Meister Eckhart's thought, is an important issue in order to understand the philosophical system of the philosopher. Passion has a very important place in Kierkegaard's understanding of faith. Kierkegaard sees his contemporaries as overthinkers but lacking passion. Particularly, the human community who act as calculating mind with pragmatist concerns, is the target of Kierkegaard's criticisms. Kierkegaard attaches importance to the concept of passion because passion expresses the last stage of the thinker's three stages of existence, namely the ethical, aesthetic, and religious stages, respectively, the union with God and the essence of mystical experience. In the aesthetic phase, which is the first of these stages, the person is dragged after his pleasures and cannot become a person yet. In the second stage, the ethical stage, he distinguishes between good and bad, but he still has not been a complete person. According to Kierkegaard, the most important stage that turns a person into a self is the religious stage; Man can become himself only when he is united with God. For this reason, Kierkegaard's philosophy is closely related to a sincere and passionate devotion to God. In this context, the mind is left out of faith because it kills passion. 
 This study aims to reveal Eckhartian similarities in the philosophy of Kierkegaard, who was highly influenced by Meister Eckhart. For this purpose, first, Meister Eckhart's understanding of faith will be conveyed, and then Kierkegaard's understanding of faith will be revealed. In the next section, the commonality in the understanding of faith in the philosophies of both thinkers and Kierkegaard's reception of Eckhart in this context will be discussed.