A Prince of the Church: Schleiermacher
and the Beginnings of Modern Theology by B.A. Gerrish
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher is regarded by many as the “Father of Modern Theology.” His On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers, which he published in 1799 is the marking point between theology of the Medieval period and theology of the modern age. This book is a helpful introduction to Schleiermacher’s main themes, especially when one’s previous exposure to Schleiermacher was restricted to one or two days in a two semester survey of Church history in its entirety and various critiques laid against one or two sentence excerpts from his writings.
Especially helpful is his discussion of the harder to find book he wrote titled On the Incarnation: A Christmas Dialogue. This work shows Schleiermacher’s affinity with the romantic movement and demonstrates how the ethos of that period was critical to his theological method. The essential thesis of the Christmas Dialogue is that the proper place for intellectual and scholarly discussion of the Bible and theology is always in context to the joy of childhood innocence, the emotive expression of music and singing, the intuitive and receptive ways of knowing and heartfelt piety.
This book as well as my other recent exposure to Schleiermacher’s works have helped to correct misunderstandings I had about him and remove my “prejudice” against his ideas. Though I am light-years away from whole-heartedly embracing a number of his christological conceptions nor the somewhat introspective posture of his theological method, I find his insistence that feeling, intuition and experience play a central role in faith and theology rather heartwarming and alluring.
Monday, October 9, 2006