ABSTRACT
In Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, Immanuel Kant set out to examine where reason and faith intersect and where they diverge. Kant's 1793 work Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason principally deals with theology, philosophy of religion, ethics, and metaphysics. Kant believed that God was unknowable—but that does not mean God was unnecessary. Kant saw human reason as the ultimate authority in philosophy, ethics, and religion. The Scottish philosopher David Hume, roughly a contemporary of Kant, had also launched attacks on natural theology. Kant insisted that theological and religious doctrines depended on morality. Most other thinkers in his day believed the exact opposite. The way in which Kant related theology, religious scripture, and reason in Religion remains controversial and continues to fuel complex debates about Kant's philosophy of religion. These debates focus on the relationship between theology and philosophy as intellectual endeavors and institutional realities.
