Theology

Karl Holl on Freedom and Exaction in the Moral Life

This quote for today, like last week’s, is from the 1925 essay translated as The […]

Mockingbird / 6.28.10

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This quote for today, like last week’s, is from the 1925 essay translated as The Distinctive Elements in Christianity (T & T Clark, 1937). It is from page 21. Note here the insight, unique as we hear in that rare-to-hear item the Christian Gospel, that the dissolution of demand results in a new compunction. The italics are by Mockingbird.

“Jesus’s conception of God was new. He dealt a blow at everything that earnest ethical thinking about the relation between God and man had established, and everything that the common-sense understanding of mankind down to the present day has held to be the only right standard. It is all the more astonishing that on the basis of such a conception of God, which seemed to dissolve all morality, Jesus nevertheless built up an ethic, and the most exacting ethic conceivable at that.”

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COMMENTS

2 responses to “Karl Holl on Freedom and Exaction in the Moral Life”

1. John Zahl says:

   06/28/2010 at 12:28 pm

   Here's a quote from W. Bense, from the intro to Holl's "Reconstruction of Morality", that operates along similar lines: "All traditional ethics — whether focusing on virtues, culture, values, or duties — are to be 'purified' by the (right) Christian ethic, which retains their good points even as it goes beyond them”.

   Reply
2. paul says:

   06/28/2010 at 2:06 pm

   As soon as you stop having to do something (good),
   you start wanting to do it.

   Reply