Heller M, Woodin W.H. (eds.) Infinity. New research frontiers (CUP, 2011)(ISBN 1107003873)(O)(327s)_MAml_

42 infinity as a transformative concept in science and theologyThis diagram reveals to us that thinking and experiencing infinity also provide a storyof liberation. The step from finiteness () to potential infinity and the transfinite isassociated with the liberation from a purely sensual encounter of the world in favor of arational relation. The step from the transfinite to absolute infinity is the liberation frompurely rational quantitative thinking to the intuitive insight of the unity and infinity ofthe all-encompassing infinity of God. One can get a vague intuitive glance of God, butnot a rational account.1.5 Infinity in Modern Theology andthe Evolution of the Religious SelfEver since the concept of infinity was introduced in theology as a property of God, bothfrom the apophatic tradition and from the received Aristotelian tradition, theologianshave refused to think about the infinity of God in terms of quantity, such as it isobviously done in mathematics. If theologians think about the infinity of God, theydo so in stressing that it has to be understood in a qualitative manner, but they doso without clearly defining what that means (Pannenberg 1988, p. 430). 111 Thus, theconcept of infinity was not elaborated as a property of God, and it never attained greatprominence. This situation may be due to the conceptual difficulties of giving a rationalaccount of infinity that is free of any relation to quantity. 112 This difficulty may alsoexplain why infinity as a trait of God is not mentioned at all in the theology of KarlBarth. As we have seen, however, it proved to be very fruitful as it migrated to otherfields.However, the concept of infinity became a stimulating idea in modern theologydating back to the Enlightenment. Since the Enlightenment, a new thread of theologicalreasoning has emerged. Starting with Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768–1834), infinity again became a sphere of religious experience, and so it was made afeature of religious anthropology, rather than a property of God. 113 One can speak ofan “anthropological turn” concerning the theological teachings about infinity. It will beargued here that, since Schleiermacher, the idea of infinity has helped to establish theidea of the “religious Self.” One can distinguish three phases. The first phase can becalled the phase of “discovering the religious Self,” and it is associated with the workof Schleiermacher. The second phase can be called “constituting the religious Self,”and it is associated with Søren Kierkegaard. The third phase can be called the phase111 This may be due to a remark of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who regarded infinity asa quantity in the realm of finite entities, which can be understood by human reason, as “bad infinity.” Asopposed to this kind of bad infinity, real infinity is a qualitaitve property of God: “Nach dieser Betrachtungsond wohl zu unterscheiden die zwei Unendlichkeiten: die wahre und die bloß schlechte des Verstandes. Soist denn das Endliche Moment des göttlichen Lebens” (Hegel 2000, p. 192).112 An exception in this regard is the work of Bernard Bolzano. He thinks about the properties of God in terms ofquantity and rejects Hegel’s objections about a quantitative notion of infinity. He attributes to God propertiessuch as power, knowledge, volition, and truth in terms of quantity (see Bolzano 1955, sects. 11, 25).113 In both editions of the Glaubenslehre, Schleiermacher regards infinity as an arguable property of God andtreats this question only in an appendix of his teaching about the properties of God.