The Veiled God
Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Theology of Finitude
Series: - Studies in Systematic Theology, Volume: 19
In The Veiled God, Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft offers a detailed portrait of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s early life, ethics, and theology in its historical and social context. She also critically reflects on the enduring relevance of his work for the study of religion.
The book analyses major texts from Schleiermacher’s early work. It argues that his experiments with literary form convey his understanding that human knowledge is inherently social, and that religion is thoroughly linguistic and historical. The book contends that by making finitude (and not freedom) a universal aspect to human life, Schleiermacher offers rich conceptual resources for considering what it means to be human in this world, both in relations of difference to others, and in relation to the infinite.
The book analyses major texts from Schleiermacher’s early work. It argues that his experiments with literary form convey his understanding that human knowledge is inherently social, and that religion is thoroughly linguistic and historical. The book contends that by making finitude (and not freedom) a universal aspect to human life, Schleiermacher offers rich conceptual resources for considering what it means to be human in this world, both in relations of difference to others, and in relation to the infinite.
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Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft is a Research Fellow in Theology at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She was previously a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded project ‘Bible and Antiquity in Nineteenth-Century Culture’, having received her PhD from Cambridge in 2016.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works
Introduction
Introduction to Part 1
Delineating the Ethical and the Theological
1Disciplinary Boundaries
2A Godless Europe
Schleiermacher’s Religious Doubt
1From Barby to Halle
2‘To Cecilie’
Quarrels with Kant on Freedom
1Necessity, Freedom, and Human Identity
2Schleiermacher’s Kant and the Otherworldly Subject
3Schleiermacher’s Quarrel with Kant on Freedom
4Temporality, Dialogue and Human Identity
5On Desire and Moral Motivation
Conclusion
Introduction to Part 2
Freedom and Formation Anew
1Beyond the Moral Law, and the Idea of Universal Reason
2Freedom and Rationality
3The Role of Language in the Ethical Life
4A New Approach to Freedom
Schleiermacher’s Commitment to Bildung
1Bildung in Berlin
2The Meaning of Bildung
3The Self Negotiated in Society
4Schleiermacher, Bildung, and the Question of Gender
5Schleiermacher’s Project on the Colony in “New Holland”
The Soliloquies
1An Idealistic Performance
2Imagination and Individualism
3Individuality and Immeasurability
Conclusion
Introduction to Part 3
Schleiermacher’s Dialogic Vision
1A Household at Christmas
2A Platonic Scheme?
3Authorial Passivity
4A Review from Kierkegaard
Seeking the Infinite in the Midst of the Finite
1Schleiermacher’s Speeches On Religion
2Interreligious Dialogue in Berlin
A Theology of Finitude
1Barth’s Critique of the Christmas Dialogue
2Music and the Transcendent
Conclusion
Epilogue
List of Cited Works
Index
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works
Introduction
Freedom and Particularity in Schleiermacher’s Early Ethical Anthropology
Introduction to Part 1
Delineating the Ethical and the Theological
1Disciplinary Boundaries
2A Godless Europe
Schleiermacher’s Religious Doubt
1From Barby to Halle
2‘To Cecilie’
Quarrels with Kant on Freedom
1Necessity, Freedom, and Human Identity
2Schleiermacher’s Kant and the Otherworldly Subject
3Schleiermacher’s Quarrel with Kant on Freedom
4Temporality, Dialogue and Human Identity
5On Desire and Moral Motivation
Conclusion
Human Formation and Literary Form in Schleiermacher’s Soliloquies(1800)
Introduction to Part 2
Freedom and Formation Anew
1Beyond the Moral Law, and the Idea of Universal Reason
2Freedom and Rationality
3The Role of Language in the Ethical Life
4A New Approach to Freedom
Schleiermacher’s Commitment to Bildung
1Bildung in Berlin
2The Meaning of Bildung
3The Self Negotiated in Society
4Schleiermacher, Bildung, and the Question of Gender
5Schleiermacher’s Project on the Colony in “New Holland”
The Soliloquies
1An Idealistic Performance
2Imagination and Individualism
3Individuality and Immeasurability
Conclusion
Dialogue and Incarnation
Introduction to Part 3
Schleiermacher’s Dialogic Vision
1A Household at Christmas
2A Platonic Scheme?
3Authorial Passivity
4A Review from Kierkegaard
Seeking the Infinite in the Midst of the Finite
1Schleiermacher’s Speeches On Religion
2Interreligious Dialogue in Berlin
A Theology of Finitude
1Barth’s Critique of the Christmas Dialogue
2Music and the Transcendent
Conclusion
Epilogue
List of Cited Works
Index
Postgraduates and scholars of theology, specialists in Schleiermacher studies, and all those interested in German intellectual history, German Romanticism, Religious Studies, and the links between religion and literature.