Anonymity as a Strategy in Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Early Work, and its Theological and Social Implications

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article appraises a series of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s early writings (1799–1800). While appreciating the material conditions under which Schleiermacher was compelled to write anonymously, it also argues that anonymity features in these works as a literary strategy that sheds light on wider issues in his thought. I contend that the way Schleiermacher plays with this motif of anonymity helpfully illuminates distinctive theological assumptions undergirding his understanding of human nature, human language and gesture, and the rules he argues should govern social conduct.