Often referred to as the father of modern theology, F.D.E. Schleiermacher occasioned a revolution in theology having a decisive impact on all subsequent theology. In this original study, Jacqueline Mariña argues that Schleiermachers philosophical ethics constitutes a completely original project, and is arguably his most important achievement. Mariña examines Schleiermachers claim that the self relates to the whence of all that is through the ground of self-consciousness, and shows how this understanding allowed him to develop a philosophical system integrally linking religion and ethics. Because this whence relates to self-consciousness in the way of a formal cause, the most important criteria for what constitutes genuine religion are the ethical fruits expressive of a proper relation to the divine. In Christian Faith Schleiermacher argues that insofar as the personal self-consciousness has been transformed through openness to this whence, the actions that arise from it, too, will be different from those of the former self. This book is an analysis of how Schleiermacher conceived of this transformation, the conditions of its possibility, and the nature of its effects. This is accomplished through an examination of his metaphysics of the self, especially Schleiermachers understanding of the immediate self-consciousness and its relation to the divine causality, the nature of self-consciousness and personal identity, the nature of agency, and the relation between self and society. This book demonstrates that Schleiermachers achievement offers a compelling, live option for contemporary debates concerning the relation of religion and morality.
In The Veiled God, Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft offers a detailed portrait of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s early life, ethics, and theology in its historical and social context. She also critically reflects on the enduring relevance of his work for the study of religion. The book analyses major texts from Schleiermacher’s early work. It argues that his experiments with literary form convey his understanding that human knowledge is inherently social, and that religion is thoroughly linguistic and historical. The book contends that by making finitude (and not freedom) a universal aspect to human life, Schleiermacher offers rich conceptual resources for considering what it means to be human in this world, both in relations of difference to others, and in relation to the infinite.
The Oxford Handbook of German Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century is the first collective critical study of this important period in intellectual history. The volume is divided into four parts. The first part explores individual philosophers, including Fichte, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, and Nietzsche, amongst other great thinkers of the period. The second addresses key philosophical movements: Idealism, Romanticism, Neo-Kantianism, and Existentialism. The essays in the third part engage with different areas of philosophy that received particular attention at this time, including philosophy of nature, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of history, and hermeneutics. Finally, the contributors turn to discuss central philosophical topics, from skepticism to mat-erialism, from dialectics to ideas of historical and cultural Otherness, and from the reception of antiquity to atheism. Written by a team of leading experts, this Handbook will be an essential resource for anyone working in the area and will lead the direction of future research.
Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Platons Werke (1804–28) changed how we understand Plato. His translation of Plato’s dialogues remained the authoritative one in the German-speaking world for two hundred years, but it was his interpretation of Plato and the Platonic corpus, set forth in his Introductions to the dialogues, that proved so revolutionary for classicists and philosophers worldwide. Schleiermacher created a Platonic question for the modern world. Yet, in Schleiermacher studies, surprisingly little is known about Schleiermacher’s deep engagement with Plato. Schleiermacher’s Plato is the first book-length study of the topic. It addresses two basic questions: How did Schleiermacher understand Plato? In what ways was Schleiermacher’s own thought influenced by Plato? Lamm argues that Schleiermacher’s thought was profoundly influenced by Plato, or rather by his rather distinctive understanding of Plato. This is true not only of Schleiermacher’s philosophy (Hermeneutics, Dialectics) but also of his thinking about religion and Christian faith during the first decade of the nineteenth century (Christmas Dialogue, Speeches on Religion). Schleiermacher’s Plato should be of interest to classicists, philosophers, theologians, and scholars of religion.
A renewed focus on the role of interpersonal relationships in the cultivation of religious sensibilities is emerging in the study of religion. Matthew Ryan Robinson addresses this question in his study of Friedrich Schleiermacher's notion of "free sociability". In Schleiermacher's ethics, the human person is formed in and consists of intimate, tightly interconnecting relationships with others. Schleiermacher describes this sociability as a natural tendency prompted by experiences of physical and existential limitation that lead one to look to others to complete one's experience. But this experience of incompleteness and orientation to "the completion of humanity" also constitute the fundamental structure of religion in Schleiermacher's theory of religion as orientation to "the universe and the relationship of humanity to it." Thus, Schleiermacher not only presents sociability as basic to human nature, but also as inherently religious - and, potentially, redemptive.
For six centuries, Plato has held German philosophy in his grip. Brill’s Companion to German Platonism examines how German thinkers have interpreted Plato and how in turn he has decisively influenced their thought. Under the editorship of Alan Kim, this companion gathers the work of scholars from four continents, writing on figures from Cusanus and Leibniz to Husserl and Heidegger. Taken together, their contributions reveal a characteristic pattern of “transcendental” interpretations of the mind’s relation to the Platonic Forms. In addition, the volume examines the importance that the dialogue form itself has assumed since the nineteenth century, with essays on Schleiermacher, the Tübingen School, and Gadamer. Brill’s Companion to German Platonism presents both Plato and his German interpreters in a fascinating new light.
This work represents the first study in English in over twenty years on the theological thinking of Friedrich Schleiermacher. It invites the reader to try on the "thinking in motion" of a pivotal figure in Protestant theology. The author believes that Schleiermacher has been misunderstood and misinterpreted first by Brunner and Barth, and consequently by other present-day theologians. Because so few of the "Barthian captives" have themselves troubled to undertake the eminently worthwhile study of the man's mind, Dr. Niebuhr, with meticulous attention to Schleiermacher's own words, documents and assesses anew his thinking on Christ, religion, and theology. Schleiermacher's thought is described here through a series of "moments." The first is his little-known dialogue, The Christmas Eve, which discusses human religion. The second and the third are his lectures on hermeneutics, which develop his conception of speech and understanding, and his lectures on ethics, which reflect on human reason and history. Part II of the book concentrates on the fourth "moment," his magnum opus, The Christian Faith. What emerges is a systematic theology which organizes and focuses, in and for its own age--using, as it must, its own age's words, symbols, and concepts--the content of the consciousness of the church. To acquaint oneself with Schleiermacher's "unending dialectic of nature and grace" is an intriguing and rewarding experience.