Freiheit des Wortes. Gottes Wort als Ant-Wort des Menschen und als Grund menschlicher Freiheit

Der Mensch erschließt sich seine Wirklichkeit mithilfe der Sprache. Sie verleiht ihm zugleich die Fähigkeit, über die Welt hinaus zu fragen. Allerdings zielt die Selbsttranszendenz des Menschen ins Offene, weshalb er auch die Fragen nach seiner Existenz nicht selbst zu beantworten vermag. Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, inwiefern Gottes Wort Ant-Wort auf die Fragen des Menschen sein kann, inwiefern dieses Wort Gottes die Würde des Menschen bzw. sein Grundrecht auf Meinungsfreiheit begründet und was die Freiheit des Wortes im Kontext von Kirche und Religion impliziert. English:Christoph Böttigheimer: “Freedom of Word”. God’s Word as an Answer to Mankind and as a Reason for Human Freedom Human beings explain their world and their reality by using language. It is the capability of employing language that enables them to ask questions which go beyond the world. Man ́s ability of self-transcendence, however, is limited. This is the reason why man is not capable of answering the question of his existence. The article discusses the question, in what way God ́s word is able to provide answers to essential questions concerning man, and, how God ́s word can explain human dignity, respectively the fundamental right of freedom of speech. Finally, the essay focuses on the question what the concept “freedom of word” implies in the context of church and religion.

Die Frage nach dem Handeln Gottes in der Welt als elementares Glaubensproblem

The Question of God´s Action in the World as one Fundamental Aspect of Crisis of Faith Christian religion is mainly based on the fact of God´s action in the world, as the Holy Bible expresses and testifies in many different ways throughout the salvation history. But how can we talk about God´s action in the world in a responsible and reasonable way, while we found ourselves in a highly developed environment, were both, technical progress and rationality, determine our daily life? Evidently, more than just a few people consider science and technical progress to be the main reasons why the belief in God´s direct intervention in our world is not expected to happen any more. Therefore, the aim of this article is to point out how God´s action in the world can be made plausible in a reasonable way with regard to recent research results in natural sciences, such as evolutionary biology or cosmology