Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I TAKING THE MEASURE OF SCHLEIERMACHER
- PART II SIGNPOSTS OF A PUBLIC THEOLOGIAN
- PART III TEXTUAL READINGS AND MILESTONES
- 8 Schleiermacher's theory of language: the ubiquity of a Romantic text
- 9 Shaping an academic discipline: the Brief Outline on the Study of Theology
- 10 Rhetoric and substance in Schleiermacher's revision of The Christian Faith (1821–1822)
- 11 On Religion as a religious classic: hermeneutical musings after two hundred years
- References
- Index
9 - Shaping an academic discipline: the Brief Outline on the Study of Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I TAKING THE MEASURE OF SCHLEIERMACHER
- PART II SIGNPOSTS OF A PUBLIC THEOLOGIAN
- PART III TEXTUAL READINGS AND MILESTONES
- 8 Schleiermacher's theory of language: the ubiquity of a Romantic text
- 9 Shaping an academic discipline: the Brief Outline on the Study of Theology
- 10 Rhetoric and substance in Schleiermacher's revision of The Christian Faith (1821–1822)
- 11 On Religion as a religious classic: hermeneutical musings after two hundred years
- References
- Index
Summary
The fact that in such knowledge the knower's own being comes into play certainly shows the limits of method, but not of science.
Gadamer, Truth and MethodFew theologians in the history of the Christian church have been as rigorously self-reflective about the craft of theology as was Friedrich Schleiermacher. Always a master teacher, Schleiermacher developed a curriculum for Protestant theology that reflects a penchant for relating thought and practice. In his hands, theological methods must be engaged with actual history and the life of religious institutions. Of course, as an intellectual pursuit a secure starting point for theology must be given. Like Plato, arguably the favorite of his Greek predecessors, Schleiermacher's architectonic cast of mind insists on linking matters of intellectual principle and foundational insight to their specific, embodied details. Although less philosophical in some respects, his preferred Reformation theologian, John Calvin, exemplified an equally bold ambition and similarly systematic cast of mind.
Not surprisingly, the question of theological method runs deep in modern Christian thought. With the dawn of historical criticism and Newtonian physics few verities of the Christian faith could any longer be taken for granted. After the work of dramatist-critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) the gulf between accidental truths of history and eternal truths of reason seemed permanent. At the end of the eighteenth century rival theological camps staked out positions, none of which Schleiermacher viewed with satisfaction.
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- Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism , pp. 207 - 225Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005