Theological Existentialism

The Philosophy and Religion Honors Seminar has studied various theological existentialists this semester, and in order to contrast the views of atheistic existentialists, the views of an atheistic philosopher has been presented. The method of presenting the ideas is to find the actual objective facts of human existence, then to find the bases of hope in the human life, and finally to find the existential category that results from the hope that is generated. Sartre is the atheistic philosopher presented, and he finds all the details of life, then he sees these as meaningless, and finally life is presented as nauseating. By contrast, Paul Tillich finds man in a state of anxiety, through a faith commitment, man is then reunited with God, and then man has the courage to be. The following philosophers were study in the seminar, and a summary of their beliefs are presented in this report. Fredrich Nietzsche Abraham Heschel Jean Paul Sartre Nicolas Berdyaev Soren Kierkegaard Martin Buber Paul Tillich Gabriel Marcel Jaques Maritai