Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism

by Richard E. Crouter

Friedrich Schleiermacher's groundbreaking work in theology and philosophy was forged in the cultural ferment of Berlin at the convergence of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. The three sections of this book include illuminating sketches of Schleiermacher's relationship to contemporaries, his work as a public theologian, as well as the formation and impact of his two most famous books, On Religion and The Christian Faith. Richard Crouter's essays examine the theologian's stance regarding the status of doctrine, church and political authority, and the place of theology among the academic disciplines.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology

290 pages, Hardcover

First published December 21, 2001

Reviews

[Sooho Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

These select articles by an accomplished scholar on Schleiermacher are welcome. Richard Crouter knows his Schleiermacher, and thank God Crouter does not have slavish writing but simple prose. These articles were surprisingly accessible despite the subject matter.

1. Revisiting Dilthey (who wrote an important but incomplete biography on Schleiermacher)
2. Schleiermacher, Mendelssohn, and the Enlightenment
3. Hegel and Schleiermacher at Berlin
4. Kierkegaard's Debt to Schleiermacher
5. Schleiermacher and Berlin Jewry
6. Berlin University
7. Schleiermacher and the bourgeois
8. Schleiermacher's theory of language
9. The Brief Outline of the Study of Theology (1810)
10. Two revisions of The Christian Faith (1821-2 and 1830-1)
11. On Religion (1799) as a Christian Classic

While some of these articles are far too narrow -- perhaps only perking the interest of other Schleiermacher experts -- others are stimulating. I found chs. 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9 -- especially 9 -- most intriguing. As an aspiring systematic theologian, ch. 9, on Schleiermacher's lesser-known but nonetheless insightful The Brief Outline of the Study of Theology (1810), provided nothing short of a revelation. Crouter walks through this short treatise while unpacking Schleiermacher's basic approach to what theology is and should aim towards.

[Raully · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish Crouter had written a biography of Schl. Instead we get essay-snippets from Schl.'s life that teases rather than satisfies me.