Schleiermacher's Work Research Articles

Urgrund and access to the Urgrund in Karoline von Günderrode’s discussion with the thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher

AbstractFriedrich Schleiermacher is among the philosophers who influenced Karoline von Günderrode's thought. Although this influence is relevant, it has received little attention. Both authors agree on distinguishing “spirit” and “body” or “the inner and the outer” in similar terms. However, there was a significant difference between them. In Schleiermacher's works that Günderrode considered (On Religion and Soliloquies), he conceives of the relationship as one in which the world or outer depends on the spirit or inner. For Günderrode, this relationship is polar, as “spirit” and “world” form part of an original totality. This difference from the philosopher influences the issue that both raised of access to the “primordial ground.” For Schleiermacher, the world depends on spirit; the issue of access to that foundation is circumscribed to access to the spiritual dimension. In contrast, for Günderrode, “spirit” and “body” are poles of a previous original totality. Hence, access to the primordial ground does not coincide with the spirit's access to itself. Instead, access to unity is both spiritual and corporeal. Günderrode's differences from Schleiermacher are based on an argument we attempt to elucidate and evaluate in this article.

Schleiermacher on Justification: A Departure From the Reformation?

AbstractIn his 1923–4 lectures on the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth offered a strikingly negative verdict on Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification, lamenting that it was radically discontinuous with the theology of the Reformation. The core purpose of this article is to assess this verdict in detail. The introduction presents in outline Barth's criticism of Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification from these lectures. The first section of the article provides a summary of the doctrine of justification as it is found in Schleiermacher's mature work, The Christian Faith, together with a brief consideration of the related doctrines of conversion and sanctification, and an exposition of the dogmatic location and inter-relation of the three loci. In the second section, the article proceeds to investigate closely whether three of the central criticisms of Barth pertaining to Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification reflect an accurate reading and adjudication of the underlying material. The criticisms explored are: that for Schleiermacher there is no justification as a free act of God but only a justification which takes place according to the law of nature; that in the event of justification Schleiermacher considers both God and the human being to be active; and that the doctrine of Schleiermacher repeats the heresy of essential righteousness after the fashion of Andreas Osiander. The common theme underlying each charge is that Schleiermacher has departed significantly (and lamentably) from the tradition of the Reformation. The third section of the article proceeds to explore these charges carefully in light of a close reading of Schleiermacher's dogmatic work on justification and related doctrines. In the case of each of the criticisms directed at his doctrine of justification, it is argued that there are strong grounds for asserting that Barth's concerns may be rather misplaced and that – true to his word – Schleiermacher indeed remains in broad dogmatic continuity with the Reformation tradition. In the conclusion, two further theological possibilities are noted. First, it is suggested that, far from leaving the Reformation tradition behind, Schleiermacher's work on justification resonates strongly with one particular reading of Calvin's work which has much currency in contemporary theology. And second, it is suggested that, far from Schleiermacher being the one to depart from the Reformation tradition on justification, it might actually – ironically – be Barth who is more guilty of that charge in view of his own doctrine of justification in the Church Dogmatics.

Bridging the gap between social and existential-mystical interpretations of Schleiermacher's ‘feeling’

AbstractThe article engages with two contemporary understandings of Schleiermacher's notion of feeling which are in important aspects in conflict: a social understanding (Kevin W. Hector and Christine Helmer) and an existential-mystical understanding (Thandeka). Using the phenomenological category of ‘existential feelings’ drawn from the work of Matthew Ratcliffe, I argue that they can be brought into a coherent overall account that recognizes different aspects of feeling in Schleiermacher's work. I also suggest that such an interpretation of Schleiermacher's concept of religious feeling offers a different and better understanding of the role of feelings in religious experience and belief than the contemporary ‘perception-model’ of religious experience.

The Mediated Self and Immediate Self-Consciousness in Schleiermacher's Mature Philosophy

Schleiermacher's account of subjectivity and its unique relation to his predecessors' transcendental views of subjectivity, as well as its relation to more recent criticisms of transcendental subjectivity, has been the subject of renewed interest recently within philosophical circles. Of particular interest has been Schleiermacher's attempt to ground the subject's ability to be reflectively aware of itself by appeal to an ego-less pre-reflective self-familiarity of consciousness. While the recent resurgence of interest in Schleiermacher's philosophical thought has been primarily informed by his writings on hermeneutics and dialectics, the present essay will build on this work by attending also to Schleiermacher's work in philosophical ethics, which has been less acknowledged in recent discussions of his account of subjectivity. The resulting analysis reveals more fully the origin and nature of immediate self-familiarity. In particular, it discloses its original ground in the natural uniqueness of particular thinking organisms. The rudimentary selfless self-familiarity of consciousness that is a prerequisite for self-awareness is, for Schleiermacher, fundamentally an embodied activity. This embodied nature of subjectivity not only serves to ground the activity of subjectivity in general, but also accounts for the non-transposable individuality that he thinks characterizes the reflective conscious life of subjects.

Religion: A Contested Site in Theology and the Study of Religion

I first became acquainted with Richard Niebuhr's scholarship and thought in a German graduate seminar on Friedrich Schleiermacher and Ernst Troeltsch. Niebuhr's book,Schleiermacher on Christ and Religion, was a required text for the course and was regarded as the most significant study on Schleiermacher. My interest in Karl Rahner's theology had led me to go to Germany for doctoral studies. Once there, I discovered that much of what I had admired in Rahner had already been anticipated a century and a half earlier in Schleiermacher's work. Professor Niebuhr's study on Schleiermacher was the source of this insight. It influenced my decision later to translate into English Schleiermacher'sOn the Glaubenslehre: Two Letters to Dr. Lücke. My topic for this article, the theological retrieval of the category of religion, is obviously suggested by Niebuhr's study of Schleiermacher, which sought to overcome the dichotomies associated with the category of religion by the then-dominant Neo-orthodoxy. This topic is also a theme of Niebuhr's ensuing book,Experiential Religion, in which he elaborated his own constructive account of religion and experience. In addition, this topic appropriately relates to Niebuhr's activity at Harvard University, where he helped establish a program of studies in religion within the Committee on the Study of Religion.

Philosophie et théologie à la lumière de Schleiermacher. À propos d'un ouvrage récent

This article gives a detailed presentation of Fr. E. Brito's book devoted to Schleiermacher' s pneumatology. After having introduced the questions involved and after having underlined the usefulness of Schleiermacher for current theology and philosophy, both Protestant and Catholic, he observes the theme of pneumatology throughout the whole of Schleiermacher's works. He then considers Schleiermachers contribution to the discussion on the specificity of Christian ethics and on the relationship between Christian and philosophical ethics. This consideration opens the way to a critical follow-up and synthesis of Schleiermacher's thought taken in its elliptic form and in its present-day contribution.

The Doctrine of Creation and the Task of Theology

“One is never done with Schleiermacher,” Karl Barth once wrote, and those who have readChurch Dogmaticsknow just how true that is. Schleiermacher's work presents a constant task for theology to incorporate fully and critique its sophisticated method; to follow its rigorous passion for ethics; to imitate, if only palely, its synthetic power and breadth; to stand open-eyed before its beauty and elegant simplicity. Barth knew this well. To read hisChurch Dogmaticscarefully is to hear Barth's respect for Schleiermacher on every page. The dispute with Schleiermacher's method and doctrine, far from being dismissed, courses through theDogmatics, paying tribute to the gift and the burden of Schleiermacher's thought to his descendents.

"Leben Schleiermachers", Volume II: A Review ArticleLeben Schleiermachers, Vol. II: Schleiermachers System als Philosophie und Theologie. Wilhelm Dilthey , Martin Redeker

Previous articleNext article No Access"Leben Schleiermachers", Volume II: A Review Article Leben Schleiermachers, Vol. II: Schleiermachers System als Philosophie und Theologie. Wilhelm Dilthey , Martin Redeker H. Jackson ForstmanH. Jackson Forstman Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 47, Number 4Oct., 1967 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/486076 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1967 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.