A New Epoch in Theology: Friedrich Schleiermacher

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the historical context, theological method, and atonement theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and briefly discusses how nineteenth-century American theologians received his ideas. It contains a discussion of Schleiermacher’s theological method in view of the modern German university and the concept of Wissenschaft, and shows how he moved away from the loci approach of traditional Protestant dogmatic works and toward a christocentric approach. Schleiermacher is described as using subjective theology when challenging dry scholasticism, and as establishing theological ideas on the basis of newly emerging scientific claims. The chapter also analyzes his concern for developing the atonement theory in traditional language while adding new content for a post-Kantian context and replacing the cross (the traditional center of Christ’s work) with the incarnation. Because he attempts to mediate between the traditional and modern, Schleiermacher is described here as a predecessor of the mediating theologians.