Immanuel kant mini biography of christa

[1] I was once teaching Immanuel Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason[1] to a group of undergraduates. We were discussing Kant’s claim that Christ acts as a “prototype” for human morality.

That is, Christ provides us with the most perfect example of how to be good, one that is worthy of our emulation. But as soon as Kant suggests this role for Christ, he turns around and says the following:

[E]ven if there never had been one human being capable of unconditional obedience to the law, the objective necessity that there be such a human being would yet be undiminished and self-evident.

There is no need, therefore, of any example from experience to make the idea of a human being morally pleasing to God a model to us; the idea is present as model already in our reason. (6:62/81)

[2] A student raised his hand at this point: “Professor Grenberg, does this mean that Kant thinks Christ is redundant?” It