Schleiermacher's Preaching, Dogmatics, and Biblical Criticism


Book Description

Friedrich Schleiermacher, the "father of modern theology," found his voice first in preaching. This book demonstrates how Schleiermacher moved between the critical reading of Scripture, the proclamation of Christian faith to congregations over a forty-five-year period, and, eventually, the work of theology in all its disciplines. Schleiermacher's Preaching, Dogmatics, and Biblical Criticism is the first work to fully unveil this interaction by focusing on Schleiermacher's 228 known sermons on the Gospel of John. Kelsey shows in detail 1) how the central insights of his theology emerged first in his preaching, and 2) that his dogmatic writings provided a context within which these insights could be related to all the major doctrinal themes of Christian faith. The study concludes by drawing implications for theological reflection and its relation to worship life in our own time.




The Veiled God


Book Description

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 Friedrich Schleiermacher


Book Description

Schleiermacher is now regarded as an influential figure in the history of Christian thought, theories and methods in religious studies, and hermeneutics. The German-language critical edition of his work beginning in 1980, Schleiermacher Kritische Gesamtausgabe, and English translations of key portions of his corpus beginning in the late nineteenth century, have allowed scholars to investigate the richness of his thought. German scholars have often focused on Schleiermacher's ties to early modern philosophy, his aesthetics, hermeneutics, and theory of religion, while English-speaking scholars have often focused on the theological influences and implications of Schleiermacher's work. Over the last 30 years, both German and Anglophone scholars have been at work translating and analyzing key texts. This Handbook gathers authoritative interpretations of Schleiermacher's work from both German and English-speaking scholars, bringing together the best that Schleiermacher scholarship has to offer. The chapters are divided into three parts. The first part offers a clear and nuanced understanding of Schleiermacher's own historical and intellectual context. The second part presents a close analysis of the structure and content of Schleiermacher's thought, in relation both to questions of method and particular theological themes and to broader inquiries in philosophy and the humanities. The third part provides an examination of the reception of his thought and of its contemporary implications for theology and the study of religion.




Schleiermacher on Religion and the Natural Order


Book Description

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is best known as the 'father of liberal Protestant theology,' largely on the strength of his massive work of systematic theology, 'The Christian Faith'. Here, Dole presents a new account of Schleiermacher's theory of religion.




Jesus’ Life in Dying


Book Description

Schleiermacher's preaching constituted a substantive part of his academic and pastoral life, and provides a foray into his thought that is both accessible and inspiring. In the form of the sermon, we discover Schleiermacher's theology at work in the context of the worship life of the community--especially important for this progenitor of liberal theology. Schleiermacher's Passion sermons are especially interesting, given that contemporary interpreters of his thought generally assume that his interest in the cross is attenuated, at best. Yet, in these sermons we discover him thinking through his theology of community, atonement, history, creation, and Scripture in the face of the death of the Redeemer. The sermon, in sum, is the principal means by which the God-consciousness of the Redeemer is communicated to the community to the end that we come to believe in the One who died for the sake of the world. Jesus' Life in Dying contains nine sermons preached on the topic of the cross and suffering of Jesus, as well as an extended introduction by the editors, locating these pastoral labors within Schleiermacher's larger theological project.




Embedded Grace


Book Description

Scholars are now at work not only rethinking Schleiermachers relation to the modern and contemporary theological tradition, but re-examining the dogmatic intricacies and commitments within his texts. Situated within this revisionist milieu, the author takes up the important issue of the coordination of grace and history in Schleiermacher, arguing for its significance in understanding the dynamics of Schleiermachers dogmatics and its grounding and realization in Christology.




Christmas Sermons


Book Description

New discoveries arise alongside memories in every Christmas sermon that Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) ever delivered. This book invites readers into an informed experience of Christmas through eleven sermons. In these pages readers watch Schleiermacher lay discovery and memory side by side, because this is how his own famed systemic theological views of Christian faith and life developed throughout his life. These sermons evoke first curiosity then wonderment at the prospects reading can open. For Schleiermacher, Christmas was always a special time to engender such experiences--a time to survey different vistas of Jesus' birth and career. Schleiermacher lived when the modern age was being born. He contributed substantially to that birth and to the health of modern times. His sermons collected here display the main theological grounds for his worldview, which is still quite timely today.




Christian Faith (Two-Volume Set)


Book Description

Christian Faith is one of the most important works of Christian theology ever written. The author, known as the "father of theological liberalism," correlates the entirety of Christian doctrine to the human experience of and consciousness of God. A work of exhaustive scholarship written in deep sympathy with the ministry of congregations and church bodies, Christian Faith has inspired admiration and debate from all quarters of the Christian family since its first publication in 1821. This is the first full translation of Schleiermacher's Christian Faith since 1928 and the first English-language critical edition ever. Edited by top Schleiermacher scholars, this edition includes extensive notes that detail changes Schleiermacher made to the text and explain references that may be unfamiliar to contemporary readers. Employing shorter sentences and more careful tracking of vocabulary, the editors have crafted a translation that is significantly easier to read and follow. Anyone who wishes to understand theology in the modern period will find this an indispensable resource.




Schleiermacher's Influences on American Thought and Religious Life, 1835-1920


Book Description

Here freshly researched, unprecedented stories regarding modern American thought and religious life show how the scholar Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) provides ongoing influence still. They describe his influence on universal rights, American religious life, theology, philosophy, history, psychology, interpretation of texts, community formation, and interpersonal dialogue. Schleiermacher is an Einstein-like innovator in all these areas and more. This work contrasts chiefly "evangelical liberal" figures with others (between circa 1835 and the 1920s). It also looks ahead to several careers extended well into the twentieth century and offers numerous characterizations of Schleiermacher's thought. In six tightly organized parts, fourteen expert historians chronologically discuss the following: (1) Methodist leaders (1766-1924); (2) Stuart, Bushnell, Nevin, and Hodge; (3) Restorationists, Transcendentalists, women leaders, Schaff, and Rauschenbusch; (4) Clarke, Mullins, Carus, and Bowne; (5) Dewey, Royce, Ames, Knudson, Brown, Fosdick, Cross, Jones, and Thurman--within contemporary contexts. Unexpectedly, John Dewey lies at the epicenter of the narrative, and Harry Emerson Fosdick and Howard Thurman bring it to its climax. Recently, evidence displays a broadening influence advancing rapidly. The sixth part of the book surveys modern historiography, Schleiermacher on history and comparative method and on psychology as a basic scientific and philosophical field. That section also provides a critical survey of histories of modern theology and offers concluding questions and answers. The three editors contribute twenty of the thirty-one chapters.




Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies, Issue 7.2


Book Description

The Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies (JBTS) is an academic journal focused on the fields of Bible and Theology from an inter-denominational point of view. The journal is comprised of an editorial board of scholars that represent several academic institutions throughout the world. JBTS is concerned with presenting high-level original scholarship in an approachable way. Academic journals are often written by scholars for other scholars. They are technical in nature, assuming a robust knowledge of the field. There are fewer journals that seek to introduce biblical and theological scholarship that is also accessible to students. JBTS seeks to provide high-level scholarship and research to both scholars and students, which results in original scholarship that is readable and accessible. As an inter-denominational journal JBTS is broadly evangelical. We accept contributions in all theological disciplines from any evangelical perspective. In particular, we encourage articles and book reviews within the fields of Old Testament, New Testament, Biblical Theology, Church History, Systematic Theology, Practical Theology, Philosophical Theology, Philosophy, and Ethics.