Divine Assistance and Moral Reform in Kant's _Religion_

In his Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, Kant argues that divine assistance, or grace, may help a person transform his or her moral character. I argue that the possibility of divine assistance is compatible with Kant’s view that moral reform must be accomplished through a person’s own free activity. I argue, moreover, that Kant appeals to different concepts of grace in the Religion, which broadly correspond to the Protestant taxonomy of prevenient, sanctifying, and justifying grace. Examining the various arguments for these types of grace will reveal that grace has practical significance, for Kant. It will therefore yield a richer understanding about the nature and possibility of moral transformation in Kant’s Religion.