S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 1 7 Janneke van der Leest 1 Introduction In order to understand today’s crisis of the meaning of reli - gion we should go more than two hundred years back into history [1]. It is in Romanticism that the crisis of the meaning of religion is dealt with in a way that is decisive to under - stand today’s crisis and the way in which we face it. The Romantics notice that something crucial is missing in the mechanical, utilitarian and individualistic enlightened world they live in, from which any spark of the divine is removed. What was the origin of the enlightened world view? This goes back to the early seventeenth century, when René Descartes, as a solution to the hyperbolic doubt undermin - ing the ground of all that exists, including God, puts forward the human mind as the new basis guaranteeing knowledge. Before Descartes, human knowledge was based in the givenness of reality, i.e. in the One who gives/creates reality. Knowledge was based in man’s connection to the world, since both were created by God. In the line of Descartes’ doubting (doubting about God as well), man started to understand one's own thinking ( cogito ) as the basis of knowledge . That knowledge itself was free, undetermined; what that knowledge was about, was determined by rational laws. The known reality became, as said, mechanical and utilitarian. Kant identified the implications of this Cartesian world view and elaborates on it. He shows convincingly that it is impossible to prove God’s existence scientifically and to speak of Him on purely rational grounds. According to Kant, it is no longer God who gives meaning to the world and to man, but man himself. It is up to him to give meaning to life and, if so desired, to God. About the author Janneke van der Leest obtained her MA in Comparative Arts and in Theology, both at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She serves as a Curriculum Developer and Assistant Head at the Institute for Education for Elderly People at Radboud University. Currently she works on her PhD project entitled The Remembrance of the Moment of Inspiration in English and German Romantic Poetry and its Relevance to Modern Identity . Janneke’s email address is jannekevanderleest1@gmail.com. ← ← Friedrich Schleiermacher
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