Existentialism

Existentialism is really hard to define. If you don't believe me, just go ask your philosophy professor in college. He or she will claim to believe in existentialism, but then, will pause, and give a definition that contains more questions than answers. Why examine it here? There is really only one reason to examine it... it is the perfect example of the current dominant worldview in Christ as well as outside of Christ.

Gordon Marino edits the book, Basic Writings of Existentialism, and he writes in his introduction this:

"While there is a long tradition in philosophy of believing that knowledge must be grounded in experience, existentialism tries to get at experience from the inside out."

This whole idea of existence is part of existentialism. Before the name came into vogue, the movement was referred to as "existence philosophy." Jean-Paul Sartre was the first to write anything significant on defining the term. Sartre is clear in his own beliefs, there is no god, but in his definition of existentialism he can not escape the idea as he claims that there is still,

"at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concepts, and that this being is man, or, as Heidegger [Martin] says, human reality. What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and only, afterwords, defines himself... Not only is man what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he wills himself to be after this thrust toward existence."

What Sartre is saying here is that humans have no preexisting essence and must define themselves. He believes we define ourselves through our choices in life as we exist. Freedom, choice, alienation and rebellion are but a few of the common themes shared by those who dwell in existentialism. This is a thrust back to concrete experience and the question of whether there is actually anything beyond our experience. This idea should be one that we Christians flee as fast as we can, but my fear is this: too many of us, yes, even those of us in Christ, embrace this notion without even knowing it?

Soren Kierkegaard is often considered the author of existentialism, which is a bit odd due to the fact that Kierkegaard was a Lutheran and strongly influenced by Martin Luther. Kierkegaard provides the best example of what is currently our issue in his thoughts on faith. He writes,

"Faith is precisely the paradox that the single individual as the single individual is higher than the universal, is justified before it, not as inferior to it but as superior - yet in such a way, please note, that it is the single individual who, after being subordinate as the single individual to the universal, now by means of the universal becomes the single individual who as the single individual is superior, that the single individual as the single individual stands in an absolute relation to the absolute."

I think my mind just exploded; how about yours?

Certainly Kierkegaard has other things in his mind that my feeble mind can not break down adequately to fit into this space, but he does provide support for one thought. Faith is not rooted in our existence, yet, that is what we do... we root it in our own existence. And, when we do Kierkegaard believes faith will forever be a paradox because defined according to our existence means "faith has never existed because it has always existed or else Abraham is lost." In other words, faith in Christ is not; faith is in us and has always been in us.

What does faith rooted in us look like? Well, we tend to take the truth of the gospel and use it as if it was ours. We begin with this "faith" which is really more about trust and less about truth, but we turn it around to mean truth. Then, we take this truth, that is really this "faith" rooted in our own existence, and we use it to begin to define the other existences we touch. Those of us with this "faith" believe that our existence is right and true so every time we run into an existence that differs with our own we tend to think it is wrong because ours "just has to be right." We define reality according to our own terms, but when we do this we miss one of the most fundamental truths spoken by our Lord... the idea that He is with us when we gather in His name. He alone defines reality and truth, and our lives are daily struggles to continue to let Him define it despite our sin nature fighting us all the way.

Faith is a belief and trust in our King, the Lord Jesus. It is He who defines reality. Our faith is a growing trust and belief that we can live by His words, His promises and His commands. This side of heaven we struggle to believe that daily as doubt creeps into our minds. We push the doubt out with different things, much of which is good, but some is not. Existentialism is something we can use to push that doubt out of our mind if we are not carefully. It will push that doubt out, yes, and replace it with something much worse... pride, arrogance, individualism, rebellion and alienation to name just few.

There are so many things to be wary of these days. I can not fathom living life without daily guidance from the Lord. May He be your guidance one day too. Blessings!



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