KANTS ETHISCHES GEMEINES WESEN ALS UNSICHTBARE UND ALS WAHRE SICHTBARE KIRCHE

This article traces Kant’s discussion of the invisible and the true visible church in Part Three of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason back to its origins in the theology of the Reformation and the Enlightenment. While the Reformers were primarily concerned with the external marks by which the true Christian church can be recognized, the Enlightenment thinkers were mainly interested in the membership of all morally minded people in the invisible church. In his concept of the ethical community, Kant combines the aspect of moral conviction (the invisible church of the Enlightenment) with the aspect of a religious faith handed down in the Bible (the true visible church of the Reformation).