Chapter 9: Friedrich Schleiermacher
The Father of Liberal Theology
FS was hugely influential. He believed that Christian experience as interpreted by the Christian community is the primary source for knowledge of God.
A Remarkable Life. He was educated by Pietists. He gained key insights from Kant.He was incredibly prolific in spite of bad health and troubled personal life.
The Feeling of Absolute Dependence. He is most famous for defining religion as the “feeling of absolute dependence.” This was in stark contrast to Enlightenment thinking on religion. Chris was central to his theology.
Edwards and Schleiermacher. There are similarities between the two. But there are major differences as well.
Schleiermacher’s Theological Method. He reversed the traditional method and taught art to know God, you do not go to Scripture or the creeds. Rather, you retreat into yourself. For him, there is no knowledge of God that is given directly through Scripture.
The New Method’s Result. FS came up with unorthodox ideas about Jesus, God, and the scripture that are in opposition to traditional Christian doctrine.
What Can We Learn?
- Following his theology we end up worshiping a God that is just a bigger version of ourselves. Effectively an idol.
- He did advocate against the idea that the OT was basically evil.
- Personal experience is not sufficient for authority.
- We should not mistake our ideas for God’s.
- He took normal words and redefined them. That goes on today as well and so common vocabulary is important.