# James Waddel Alexander on Immanuel Kant’s religious and philosophical opinions



## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 9, 2022)

The teaching of Kant occasioned just alarm among the friends of scriptural orthodoxy, and even drew upon him the censure of the government, though not in a public manner. For in 1794, he received a cabinet order, in which it was enjoined upon him by royal authority to forbear for the future all observations on religion, whether natural or revealed, either in lectures or through the press; an injunction which he sacredly observed to the day of the King’s death. It is probable that the work which gave most offence was his ‘Religion within the bounds of Pure Reason:’ and it is well known by all who ever looked into his writings, that, without formally abandoning Christianity, Kant endeavoured to establish principles utterly irreconcilable with its fundamental doctrines. All the theological and philosophical instructors of the University of Konigsberg were forbidden to read lectures upon the offensive work, and newly inducted professors were brought under a similar engagement. …

In conclusion we may be allowed to observe, that we have not the slightest expectation that the system of Kant, or any modification of it, will ever prevail in Great Britain or America. After all the zealous and often able attempts which have been made, it is only the extremest appendages of the structure which have been reproduced among us. A few phrases of the transcendental philosophy have been caught up, and this not so much by systematic students of science, as by popular _litterateurs_; but of the fundamental principles of the system, not one has incorporated itself into our theories, or even commended itself to our apprehension. And when we consider the influence exerted, in every change, and without a single known exception, by the Critical Philosophy upon the doctrines of Christianity, we rejoice and are thankful that the barrier of our national stubbornness is so insuperable.

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James Waddel Alexander on Immanuel Kant’s religious and philosophical opinions


The teaching of Kant occasioned just alarm among the friends of scriptural orthodoxy, and even drew upon him the censure of the government, though not in a public manner. For in 1794, he received a…




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