The Christian Faith by Friedrich Schleiermacher
"The Christian Faith" by Friedrich Schleiermacher is a pivotal work in the landscape of modern theology, first published in the early 19th century. Emphasizing the essence of true religion as a sincere feeling of dependence on a transcendent power, Schleiermacher argues that piety is rooted in this primal emotional experience rather than in intellectual knowledge or moral behavior. His approach marked a significant departure from traditional dogmatic theology, aiming to harmonize the personal spiritual experience of believers with established church doctrines.
The work is divided into two main parts: one focuses on the development of this feeling of dependence, while the other contrasts the concepts of sin and grace. Schleiermacher's writing evolved between the first edition and the second, with the latter incorporating philosophical language and a more systematic structure, reflecting responses to critiques from contemporaries like Hegel. He attempts to demonstrate how the doctrines of Christianity illuminate the human condition, grace, and the nature of God, thereby enriching the believer's experience.
Schleiermacher's work remains influential, sparking debates among theologians about the balance between emotional and cognitive elements of faith. Critics have raised concerns about his perceived emphasis on subjectivity, while others appreciate his effort to bridge personal experience with religious doctrine. Overall, "The Christian Faith" invites readers to explore the interplay between emotion, belief, and the teachings of Christianity, making it a significant text for both theologians and those interested in the philosophy of religion.
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The Christian Faith by Friedrich Schleiermacher
First published:Der christliche Glaube, 1821-1822 (English translation, 1926)
Edition used:Der christliche Glaube, 1821/22, edited by Hermann Peiter. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980
Genre(s): Nonfiction
Subgenre(s): Meditation and contemplation; philosophy; theology
Core issue(s): Alienation from God; Creation; devotional life; faith; holiness; humility
Overview
The second edition (1830-1831) of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s major work is quite different from the first (1821-1822). The first edition, except for occasional small excerpts, has never appeared in English. The only English translation of the second edition has been reedited and reissued several times, but remains mostly the same as when it appeared in 1926. It was the first edition, however, that had the greatest impact during Schleiermacher’s lifetime.
In 1821 The Christian Faith caused a stir in German universities, seminaries, and churches by proclaiming that true religion is nothing more than piety grounded in a simple feeling of dependence on an infinite, eternal, unknown, and unknowable power. This feeling is essential, primal, and unavoidable. Piety is neither a kind of knowledge nor a way of behaving, but only this sincere, basic feeling. The feeling of absolute dependence requires no further sophistication as it develops into an intense devotion through the absorption of church doctrine and the regular practice of meekness and worship.
In 1822 Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel, who was then Schleiermacher’s colleague at the University of Berlin and the most famous philosopher in Germany, launched a sarcastic attack against the first edition. In the foreword to Die Religion im inneren Verhältnisse zur Wissenschaft (Religion in Its Internal Relationship to Systematic Knowledge, 1987) by his student Hermann Hinrichs, Hegel wrote that if Schleiermacher were correct that feeling is the essence of religion and that piety is the highest expression of that feeling, then “the dog would be the best Christian.” Hegel’s point was that to reduce religion to emotion and to disown its cognitive and intellectual content would be to deny the full humanity of religious individuals as rational beings. Schleiermacher’s Romanticism, insofar as it valued faith over reason and piety over philosophical inquiry, was anathema to Idealists such as Hegel who held that God was ultimately knowable and that faith must be subordinate to the God-given reason that is the essence of human spirit.
Despite significant differences in tone and vocabulary between the two editions and other strong textual evidence of Hegel’s effect on Schleiermacher, scholars disagree about the extent to which Hegel’s criticism of the first edition influenced Schleiermacher’s preparation of the second. The second edition plays down the ideas of piety and dependence that dominate the first edition. Terms such as “pious feeling of dependence” in the first become “pious self-consciousness” in the second. Instead of uncritically elaborating the feeling of dependence, as in the first edition, Schleiermacher in the second uses a more systematic philosophical vocabulary centered on self-consciousness. Pious feeling remains the main theme, but Schleiermacher now presents it in a way better able to withstand Hegelian and other philosophical onslaught.
Both editions of The Christian Faith begin by explaining the advantages of Protestant dogmatic theology for faithful people. Then follows the Glaubenslehre itself in two parts, the first presenting the theory of the feeling of absolute dependence, the second contrasting sin and grace. In sin, the feeling of absolute dependence renders us weak and despondent; but through God’s grace, mercy, and omnipotence, this same feeling gives us joy, hope, and strength.
The Christian Faith is a long work in two volumes. In the first edition, the first part of the Glaubenslehre is about half of the first volume, while the second part is the entire second volume. In the second edition, the first part is only about the middle third of the first volume, while the second part is both the last third of the first volume and the entire second volume. This formal change is significant for the content of the work. In the first edition, the first part of the Glaubenslehre considers the development of the pious feeling of dependence without regard to the opposition between its own lack of power and great power that God has given it. In the second edition, the first part of the Glaubenslehre shows the development of pious self-consciousness as it is presupposed in every emotional stimulation of Christian piety. Both versions emphasize how this feeling reveals the attributes of God and the character of the world.
The two editions also differ in their portrayal of sin in the first “side” of the second part of the Glaubenslehre. While the first edition deals with the inherent consciousness of God as it evolves into its opposite, sin, the second addresses, more philosophically, the development of the bare fact of pious self-consciousness insofar as its opposite, sin, is determined through it.
Both editions follow the same outline for the second “side” of the second part of the Glaubenslehre, on the development of the human consciousness of God’s grace, discussing the Christian condition to the extent that Christians feel grace, the character of the world in relation to redemption, and the attributes of God that pertain to redemption. Both editions conclude with an essay on the Holy Trinity.
In both editions, the first part of the Glaubenslehre and the two “sides” of the second part of the Glaubenslehre together form a triad on feeling, sin, and grace, respectively. Each third of this triad is divided into three sections, one on the human condition, one on the character of the world, and one on the attributes of God, each in relation to its main topic: feeling, sin, or grace.
Christian Themes
Schleiermacher was an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union. True to his calling, most of his writings are expositions of church doctrine. They are exercises in dogmatic theology insofar as they attempt to show how church teachings are consistent with our typical feelings for God and each other. Schleiermacher saw dogmatic theology as the unending practical science of how to harmonize each present Christian community with the everyday customs of its particular place and time in history.
The Christian Faith is no exception. Its purpose within dogmatic theology is to show and affirm the spiritually healthy relation of our prereflective consciousness of God to the doctrines of sin, creation, the divine attributes, grace, mercy, the Incarnation of Christ, salvation, the Resurrection, eternity, the establishment of earthly and heavenly churches, and the Trinity. The respective meanings of these doctrines have important roles as personal piety develops out of the feeling of absolute dependence. When properly understood, each separate dogma of the church confirms and strengthens the feeling of absolute dependence on God and enlivens our hope of salvation. For non-Christians who also feel absolutely dependent on an eternal power, this feeling remains sterile and without direction; but for Christians, and especially for pious Protestants, the church, by both its word and its community, guides this feeling toward realizing its most profound result.
Some conservative dogmatic theologians, notably Karl Barth, have accused Schleiermacher of importing too much subjectivity into Christianity at the expense of the enduring truth of the Bible as the word of God. Barth’s neoorthodoxy proclaims, against Schleiermacher, that religious feeling should be manifest not as simple piety but as passionate love and thankfulness for the objective truth that the Bible reveals.
Sources for Further Study
Clements, Keith W. Friedrich Schleiermacher: Pioneer of Modern Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991. A good general introduction to Schleiermacher, interspersed with selections from several of his works.
Crouter, Richard. Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. An indispensable addition to Schleiermacher studies by the dean of anglophone Schleiermacher scholars. Discusses most major topics, including Schleiermacher’s revisions of the first edition of The Christian Faith.
Curran, Thomas H. Doctrine and Speculation in Schleiermacher’s Glaubenslehre. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1994. A clear, detailed, and bold exegesis of both editions of The Christian Faith.
Luft, Eric v. d. Hegel, Hinrichs, and Schleiermacher on Feeling and Reason in Religion: The Texts of Their 1821-1822 Debate. Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen, 1987. Contains selections from the first edition of The Christian Faith, as well as analysis of the philosophical issues that motivated Hegel’s attack on Schleiermacher’s theology.
Mariña, Jacqueline, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Friedrich Schleiermacher. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. A useful anthology of new essays by Robert Merrihew Adams, Frederick C. Beiser, Andrew Bowie, Richard Crouter, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Terrence N. Tice, and many other prominent scholars.
Williams, Robert R. Schleiermacher the Theologian: The Construction of the Doctrine of God. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978. A vigorous defense of Schleiermacher against critics such as Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Barth.