Verstehen des Verstehens des Glaubens

Simon Haug

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200324-9

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Simon Haug

Verstehen des Verstehens des Glaubens

Eine kritische Untersuchung zur Konstellation von Glauben und Verstehen im Kontext der Hermeneutischen Theologie bei Ernst Fuchs, Gerhard Ebeling und Eberhard Jüngel

[Understanding the Understanding of Faith. A Critical Examination of the Relationship Between Faith and Understanding in the Context of Hermeneutical Theology in the Works of Ernst Fuchs, Gerhard Ebeling, and Eberhard Jüngel.]

2026. 660 pages.

forthcoming in September 2026

Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie (HUTh)

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200324-9

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Summary

The fundamental intuition of hermeneutical theology is that faith is understood as understanding - but what happens when non-understanding sets in? In this study of Fuchs, Ebeling, and Jüngel, Simon Haug examines their understanding of understanding and identifies non-understanding as a central dimension of understanding and faith.

Twentieth-century hermeneutical theology understands faith as a distinctive mode of understanding. Ernst Fuchs, Gerhard Ebeling, and Eberhard Jüngel build upon Rudolf Bultmann's programmatic formula of »faith and understanding« and develop it into an independent theological conception. The central thesis of this study: This conception performs a far-reaching operation by identifying faith with understanding. Understanding advances to become the normative guiding category and mode of execution for theological interpretations of God, the self, and the world; its operative function remains largely unexplained in the process. Simon Haug subjects this identification to a systematic critical examination, problematizes the close coupling of faith and understanding, and develops a disentangling differentiation of both modes with a particular focus on non-understanding. He first draws on Heidegger's existential-ontological analysis of understanding as a conceptual framework, then reconstructs the constellation of faith and understanding in Fuchs, Ebeling, and Jüngel, and concludes with a critical evaluation in which identification, soteriological overloading, and insufficient reflection on the understanding of understanding are problematized. Subsequently, the author specifically inquires into the understanding of understanding: He begins with a critique of hermeneutics (Hörisch, Lévinas, Waldenfels), situates the identified problem within current hermeneutical discourses through an exemplary engagement with Emil Angehrn's negative hermeneutics, and culminates in a cartography of understanding that systematically distinguishes between understanding, misunderstanding, and non-understanding. Finally, he realigns the constellation: He marks a lasting difference between faith and understanding, opens up further horizons of discourse, identifies non-understanding as a constitutive dimension of both understanding and faith, and thereby breaks the coupling of faith/understanding and unfaith/non-understanding.

Table of contents:

A Einleitung: Glauben und Verstehen
I. Glauben - Verstehen
II. Verstehen des Verstehens des Glaubens
III. Aufbau und Gliederung
B Verstehen des Glaubens
I. Verstehen verstehen in der hermeneutischen Philosophie
II. Das Verstehen des Glaubens - im Kontext der Hermeneutischen Theologie
III. Das Verstehen des Verstehens des Glaubens in der Hermeneutischen Theologie - Kritische Auswertung
C Verstehen des Verstehens
I. Kritik des Verstehens
II. Das Verstehen des Verstehens - nach der Hermeneutikkritik
III. Verstehen verstehen - eine Kartographie
D Verstehen des (Nicht-)Verstehens des Glaubens
I. Ergebnis der Arbeit: Zur bleibenden Differenz von Glauben und Verstehen
II. Diskurshorizonte
III. Verstehen des Nichtverstehens des Glaubens