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© J. Glenn Friesen
2003-2007 |
Linked
Glossary of Terms
(references to De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee, unless
indicated.See concordance
for correlation with pages in the New Critique. The concordance
is in pdf format.)
| belief |
I, 21, 55, 97, 125 |
| confess [belijden] |
II, 424 |
| confession |
I, 67 (of sovereignty), 69 (of self-sufficiency), 77 |
| conviction [overtuiging] |
I, 133 |
| creeds |
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| dogma |
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| faith |
I, 20, 69, 91 (Kuyper was probably the first to regain for theology
the scriptural insight that faith is a unique function of our inner
life implanted in human nature at creation).
II, 408, 414, 495
NC I, 32-33 (faith is the eschatological aspect of time, and groups
the eschaton, and that which happens beyond the limits of cosmic
time; faith is by its nature related to divine revelation),
NC II, 298 (our faith finds its true fulfillment in the religious
‘vision face to face’),.302 (opened window of time),
305 (terminal function of entire empirical reality), 562 (theology
is knowledge obtained in a synthesis of the logical function of
thought and the temporal function of faith); 564 (temporal function
of faith)
NC III, 88 (the act of praying is qualified by faith), 91 (function
of faith leads the opening process)
Twilight of Western Thought, 139
Tijdsprobleem,
174
Encyclopedia of the Science of Law (2002), 32: “in
the faith aspect of reality, time takes on a specific meaning of
the revelation of the supratemporal, of what lies hidden beyond
time.” |
| pistis |
NC I, 35 (in Greek sense of doxa), |
Faith is an aspect of our
temporal reality. It should not be confused with the religious choice
of position in our supratemporal
heart. Temporal belief is not the same as religion
(I, 69).
Faith is the function that opens
our inner person. The opening process is guided
by faith (NC II, 337). Faith is "the open window to eternity."
(See "De Theorie van de Bronnen van het Stellig Recht in het licht
der Wetsidee,” Handelingen van de Vereeniging voor Wijsbegeerte
des Rechts, XIX (1932) from Mensch en Maatschappij, 28 ).
According to the order of creation this terminal aspect
was destined to function as the opened window of time through which
the light of God's eternity should shine into the whole temporal coherence
of the world. That this window has been closed by sin, and cannot be
opened by man through his own activity, does not mean that it cannot
be disclosed by the Divine power of the Holy Ghost. (NC II,
302)
Dooyeweerd says that the function of faith leads this
opening process. The opening process is founded
in the historical sphere, but it is guided
by the function of faith. In the foundational direction
the historical sphere appears to the starting point. In the anticipatory
direction it is the function of faith (NC III, 91).
Faith is the boundary function between temporal and supratemporal
. That is why it can lead our theoretical thought in Ideas that transcend
the temporal:
As such, theoretic intuition is never to be theoretically
understood in a category or concept, but only approximated
in the transcendental Idea. In
this transcendental Idea, theoretic thought, in its leading
by faith (as the boundary
function in the transcendental direction
of time), turns itself back to cosmic
time in which it is embedded. In this transcendental Idea, our selfhood
also becomes cosmo-logically
conscious of itself in intuitive reflection.(WdW
II, 414; NC II, 478-479; but NC does not contain all
of this quotation]
Thus it is completely true that the living Christian
faith can in no way originate from the temporal experience of man, who
because of his apostasy is fallen prey to spiritual death. (Twilight,
139).
Whenever we as Gereformeerde people believe that
rebirth precedes conversion, then what is intended is certainly not
a temporal succession in the sensory perceptible side of clock time,
but much rather an order of time, which only has meaning in the boundary
function of faith. ( Tijdsprobleem,
174)
Dooyeweerd says that we confuse of church dogma [geloofsstuk]
and theological dogmatics (scientific theory
about dogma) (Vernieuwing en Bezinning, 92). Doctrines may not
be confused with dogmatic theology, the scientific theory concerning doctrine.
Doctrine is the "living possession of the church" (I, 96). Our
confessions express the knowledge of our heart. This knowledge of the
heart is not in the same way that temporal things can be known by analysis
and abstraction. It is rather true self-knowledge, which is dependent
on true knowledge of God. This is not knowledge of God in Himself, but
only in His relation to us, as Calvin says. But no science can say what
the heart itself is, or what we ourselves are.(October 12, 1937 response
to Curators, cited by Verburg 223). The knowledge of our heart is an immediate
knowledge.
In a very interesting passage, Dooyeweerd says that faith
is not just a human function, but a cosmic function:
…the function of faith is not merely a subjective
terminal funciton of our individual human existence, but the transcendental
terminal funciton of the entire (earthly) empirical reality. Without
faith this reality cannot exist. The view that it is possible
to find a hold on reality neutral with respect to belief will
then prove to be a fundametnal error (NC II, 305).
Baader says that through faith we open our inner-ness
(Philosophische Schriften I, 156). Our experience is sometimes
"petrified" in dogma (Werke VIII, 19).
Abhishiktananda has a similar view about the petrification
of our experience in dogmas and creeds. Our supposed certainty about our
theological beliefs often masks the fact that we are holding on to them
in an a priori fashion out of insecurity.
Panikkar refers to the myth-like nature of our beliefs:
“We find it so unquestionable, we believe in it so much, that we
do not even believe that we believe in it.” (Introduction to J.L.
Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition, p. xix. See
also Raimon Panikkar: Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics: Cross-Cultural
Studies (Paulist Press, 1979), p. 4.)
Revised Sept 30/07
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