Todd Gooch | Eastern Kentucky University (original) (raw)
I am a historian of modern religious thought, which I conceive broadly to include powerful critiques of religion that have emerged since the Enlightenment; challenges to religious belief posed by the astounding growth of scientific and historical knowledge in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and by social dislocations resulting from industrialization, democratization, colonialism and globalization; as well as attempts on the part of major philosophers, theologians and social theorists to respond to these challenges, either by re-conceptualizing traditional religious categories, or else by proposing alternatives to them.
Address: Department of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies
Eastern Kentucky University
Richmond, KY 40475
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Papers by Todd Gooch
Religions, 2024
This article revisits Feuerbach’s “break with speculation” in the early 1840s in light of issues ... more This article revisits Feuerbach’s “break with speculation” in the early 1840s in light of issues raised by the original Pantheism Controversy, initiated in 1785 by the publication of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi’s Letters on the Doctrine of Spinoza. The article first describes the concerns underlying Jacobi’s repudiation of Spinozism, and rationalism more generally, in favor of a personalistic theism that disclaims the possibility of philosophical knowledge of God. It goes on to reconstruct Hegel’s alternative to Jacobi’s famous salto mortale before considering how Feuerbach’s critique of Hegel’s philosophy of religion, as well as the personalism of the so-called Positive Philosophy (inspired by the late Schelling), was influenced by both Spinoza and Jacobi in ways that have not yet received sufficient attention.
In diesem Aufsatz wird den Enfluss der steigenden kulturellen Autorität des naturwissenschaften E... more In diesem Aufsatz wird den Enfluss der steigenden kulturellen Autorität des naturwissenschaften Erkenntnisses auf die Entwicklung der deutschen evangelishen Theologie im Laufe des. Jahrunderts untersucht mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Albrecht Ritschl und seine theologische Nachfolger, Wilhelm Herrmann, Ernst Troeltsch, und Rudolf Otto. Dieser Einfluss besteht nicht in erster Linie in den direkten Antworten dieser Theologen auf die Behauptungen der Vertreter verschiedener nicht-theistischen Weltanschuungen, sondern vielmehr in der Übernahme philosophischer Begri e und Argumentationsmittel, die ihre eigenen theologischen Programme unterschiedlich geformt haben.
This chapter distinguishes three stages in the development of the Young Hegelian critique of reli... more This chapter distinguishes three stages in the development of the Young Hegelian critique of religion as represented in key works of D. F. Strauss, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx. In doing so it seeks to identify the conceptual issues and key argumentative strategies underlying this development. It also traces the theme of immanence or “this-sidedness” as it is taken over by the Young Hegelians from Hegel, and developed further in their own writings. These share a common concern to elucidate various interrelated psychological and economic processes through which human beings are dispossessed of their own species-powers, and culminate in the adoption of a two-pronged approach for re-appropriating these powers, theoretically in the form of atheist humanism, and practically in the form of communism.
Journal for the History of Modern Theology, 2018
This article seeks to provide a fuller account of the philosophy of religion of the Marburg Neo-K... more This article seeks to provide a fuller account of the philosophy of religion of the Marburg Neo-Kantian, Paul Natorp (1854-1924), than has hitherto been available. It does so by describing important changes in Natorp's thinking about religion between the publication of his early book, Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der Humanität (1894), and later writings in which he espouses a version of logos-mysticism strikingly at odds with the concept of a "religion of reason" put forward by his long-time Marburg colleague, Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). These differences are analyzed in relation to these two thinkers' divergent views on philosophical systematics, and their respective experiences of the First World War.
Archivio di Filosofia, 2018
In the foreword to a collection of essays published in 1923, Rudolf Otto endorsed Heinrich Ricker... more In the foreword to a collection of essays published in 1923, Rudolf Otto endorsed Heinrich Rickert’s characterization of Otto’s magnum opus, Das Heilige (1917; Eng. The Idea of the Holy), as a contribution to “the philosophy of religion as Wertwissenschaft,” i.e. axiology. While Otto’s name is often associated with the controversial claim that religious experience is sui generis, and therefore “irreducible” (in the sense of being finally inexplicable in psychological or sociological terms), the author argues that the position more properly attributed Otto is that the numinous constitutes an irreducible axiological domain that is qualitatively distinct from the value-spheres of the ethical and the aesthetic, though it intersects with these in complex ways. This insight, it is further argued, is crucial for recognizing the unity and continuity of Otto’s entire corpus of writings, the place of Das Heilige within this corpus, and its relation to his later writings on Glaubenslehre and on theological ethics.
This chapter examines the historical and conceptual interrelations among several influential crit... more This chapter examines the historical and conceptual interrelations among several influential critiques of religion that emerged in the history of German philosophy in the nineteenth century. The chapter begins by describing factors leading to the fragmentation of the Hegelian school in the wake of the publication of D. F. Strauss’s Life of Jesus in 1835-36. The second section traces Feuerbach’s development from the idealistic pantheism of his youth to the atheistic humanism and materialism of his later works, focusing mainly on the account of religious consciousness contained in The Essence of Christianity (1841). The third section outlines the interpretation of Hegel that underlies Bruno Bauer’s atheistic philosophy of self-consciousness, and considers Bauer’s position in relation to those of Karl Marx and Max Stirner. The concluding section identifies features of Nietzsche’s cultural location, and his way of thinking about religion, that distinguish them from those of his atheistic precursors.
geboren 1975; Studium der Ev. Theologie in Bonn, Oxford und Glasgow; 2005 Promotion; 2010 Habilit... more geboren 1975; Studium der Ev. Theologie in Bonn, Oxford und Glasgow; 2005 Promotion; 2010 Habilitation; seit 2013 Universitätprofessor auf Zeit für Systematische Theologie und Ökumene an der Universität der Informationsgesellschaft Paderborn.
Religious Studies Review, 2009
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2006
Religions, 2024
This article revisits Feuerbach’s “break with speculation” in the early 1840s in light of issues ... more This article revisits Feuerbach’s “break with speculation” in the early 1840s in light of issues raised by the original Pantheism Controversy, initiated in 1785 by the publication of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi’s Letters on the Doctrine of Spinoza. The article first describes the concerns underlying Jacobi’s repudiation of Spinozism, and rationalism more generally, in favor of a personalistic theism that disclaims the possibility of philosophical knowledge of God. It goes on to reconstruct Hegel’s alternative to Jacobi’s famous salto mortale before considering how Feuerbach’s critique of Hegel’s philosophy of religion, as well as the personalism of the so-called Positive Philosophy (inspired by the late Schelling), was influenced by both Spinoza and Jacobi in ways that have not yet received sufficient attention.
In diesem Aufsatz wird den Enfluss der steigenden kulturellen Autorität des naturwissenschaften E... more In diesem Aufsatz wird den Enfluss der steigenden kulturellen Autorität des naturwissenschaften Erkenntnisses auf die Entwicklung der deutschen evangelishen Theologie im Laufe des. Jahrunderts untersucht mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Albrecht Ritschl und seine theologische Nachfolger, Wilhelm Herrmann, Ernst Troeltsch, und Rudolf Otto. Dieser Einfluss besteht nicht in erster Linie in den direkten Antworten dieser Theologen auf die Behauptungen der Vertreter verschiedener nicht-theistischen Weltanschuungen, sondern vielmehr in der Übernahme philosophischer Begri e und Argumentationsmittel, die ihre eigenen theologischen Programme unterschiedlich geformt haben.
This chapter distinguishes three stages in the development of the Young Hegelian critique of reli... more This chapter distinguishes three stages in the development of the Young Hegelian critique of religion as represented in key works of D. F. Strauss, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx. In doing so it seeks to identify the conceptual issues and key argumentative strategies underlying this development. It also traces the theme of immanence or “this-sidedness” as it is taken over by the Young Hegelians from Hegel, and developed further in their own writings. These share a common concern to elucidate various interrelated psychological and economic processes through which human beings are dispossessed of their own species-powers, and culminate in the adoption of a two-pronged approach for re-appropriating these powers, theoretically in the form of atheist humanism, and practically in the form of communism.
Journal for the History of Modern Theology, 2018
This article seeks to provide a fuller account of the philosophy of religion of the Marburg Neo-K... more This article seeks to provide a fuller account of the philosophy of religion of the Marburg Neo-Kantian, Paul Natorp (1854-1924), than has hitherto been available. It does so by describing important changes in Natorp's thinking about religion between the publication of his early book, Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der Humanität (1894), and later writings in which he espouses a version of logos-mysticism strikingly at odds with the concept of a "religion of reason" put forward by his long-time Marburg colleague, Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). These differences are analyzed in relation to these two thinkers' divergent views on philosophical systematics, and their respective experiences of the First World War.
Archivio di Filosofia, 2018
In the foreword to a collection of essays published in 1923, Rudolf Otto endorsed Heinrich Ricker... more In the foreword to a collection of essays published in 1923, Rudolf Otto endorsed Heinrich Rickert’s characterization of Otto’s magnum opus, Das Heilige (1917; Eng. The Idea of the Holy), as a contribution to “the philosophy of religion as Wertwissenschaft,” i.e. axiology. While Otto’s name is often associated with the controversial claim that religious experience is sui generis, and therefore “irreducible” (in the sense of being finally inexplicable in psychological or sociological terms), the author argues that the position more properly attributed Otto is that the numinous constitutes an irreducible axiological domain that is qualitatively distinct from the value-spheres of the ethical and the aesthetic, though it intersects with these in complex ways. This insight, it is further argued, is crucial for recognizing the unity and continuity of Otto’s entire corpus of writings, the place of Das Heilige within this corpus, and its relation to his later writings on Glaubenslehre and on theological ethics.
This chapter examines the historical and conceptual interrelations among several influential crit... more This chapter examines the historical and conceptual interrelations among several influential critiques of religion that emerged in the history of German philosophy in the nineteenth century. The chapter begins by describing factors leading to the fragmentation of the Hegelian school in the wake of the publication of D. F. Strauss’s Life of Jesus in 1835-36. The second section traces Feuerbach’s development from the idealistic pantheism of his youth to the atheistic humanism and materialism of his later works, focusing mainly on the account of religious consciousness contained in The Essence of Christianity (1841). The third section outlines the interpretation of Hegel that underlies Bruno Bauer’s atheistic philosophy of self-consciousness, and considers Bauer’s position in relation to those of Karl Marx and Max Stirner. The concluding section identifies features of Nietzsche’s cultural location, and his way of thinking about religion, that distinguish them from those of his atheistic precursors.
geboren 1975; Studium der Ev. Theologie in Bonn, Oxford und Glasgow; 2005 Promotion; 2010 Habilit... more geboren 1975; Studium der Ev. Theologie in Bonn, Oxford und Glasgow; 2005 Promotion; 2010 Habilitation; seit 2013 Universitätprofessor auf Zeit für Systematische Theologie und Ökumene an der Universität der Informationsgesellschaft Paderborn.
Religious Studies Review, 2009
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2006
