absolute/unconditioned/infinite. desire. dynamic brokenness fragment creativity sublime strange wonder, wildness hyperbolic: kinship with nature.

Transcription

1 Christopher Ben Simpson. Modern Christian Theology. Fakenham, Norfolk: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, Print. The following series is an outline of Christopher Ben Simpson s Modern Christian Theology. PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY CHAPTER 5 ROMANTICISM: Romanticism is significant for two reason. Firstly, it is the last unified movement in Western Culture. Secondly, it is a return to nuanced Classical Synthesis. While the Enlightenment placed humanity (subject) at the center, Romanticism strove to reconnect humanity with God and the world. However, in this altered Classical Synthesis, Humanity has greater freedom, and Transcendence is considered to be that which sustains and is present in the world. 5.1 FRENCH REVOLUTION The beginning of Romanticism is a reaction to the French Revolution. The bloody de- Christianization that occurs across France, leads to the reality of the unbalance of the Enlightenment. Romanticism is a response to the secularization of the Enlightenment. 5.2 IDEAL AND DESIRE Romanticism describes divine transcendence as the absolute/unconditioned/infinite. These are all ways to describe the same thing. Relating to the absolute occurs for Romantics through desire. A consistent theme in the Romantic ethos is a desiring or longing for something that you can never ultimately obtain. (96) In this way it is dynamic always moving something that cannot be achieved. Closely associated with this is the Romantics recognized the brokenness of the world. In this way, there is a wrestling with poetic angst of the broken striving. Associated with is the concept of fragment, Romantics recognize the world is broken and there is a wrestling with fragmented nature of the whole. Romantics offer the solution of creativity, as that which can restore reality and connect with the absolute. 5.3 GOD, NATURE, AND THE WHOLE The Divine and the Sublime What fascinates the Romantics is not rationalism or reason, but rather the sublime beauty of the world. That which connects them with more transcendent and terrifying reality that they are not masters of the universe, but rather the universe is strange, and being in nature causes wonder, and the wildness of the universe both inside and outside of us. As William Desmond says, the world is hyperbolic: the world makes us think of something beyond the world. (97) In this way Romantics feel connected to nature, or a kinship with nature Overcoming Dualism Romanticism confronts the dualism of mind and body, the prevailing enlightenment idea was that there was a difference in experience between the reality inside and outside of us. Romantics do not see the dry mechanism but rather see everything directed by Spirit. Nature and Spirit are connected in some way for the Romantics. (98) In this way, life itself has a teleology, which connects with pre-modern thought. Another pre-modern thought that is rebooted is the coincidence of opposites: it is the creative tension of the finite and infinite relating to one other. Romantics allow for the difference of the infinite and finite, they are not collapsed into one, but they focus on how they relate Spinoza, The Living God, and The Romantic Religion The Dutch thinker Spinoza becomes somewhat of a dead celebrity with Romantics. Being called a Spinozist was initially an insult, but it made Spinoza vogue and somehow respected. This occurred during the Pantheism Controversy when Romantics were being accused of being Pantheists, which the are not.

2 Spinoza in the Romantics: 1) Philosophy as an attempt to overcome the dualism between thought and things, that these are two sides of the same substance. 2) Humanity as part of nature (99) 3) Spinoza s emphasis on the immanence of God, that God is intimately present and alive. It is for these reason, (specifically the immanence of God) that Romantics are accused of Pantheism (all that is created is God). This is meant to be a negative term. Romantics seek what would be considered a third way between Pantheism and Theists (seeing God in an anthropomorphic way). It s not accurate to label them Pantheists, they are seeking the presence of God, they believe it happens in the lived experience, more specifically through art. (100) 5.4 GERMAN COUNTER ENLIGHTENMENT In Germany, Romanticism is influenced by German Pietism and becomes known as the (Storm and Stress), which is a cultural reaction against mechanism Jacobi Friedrich Heinrich Jacob ( ) Central figure in the German Enlightenment German Enlightenment is a more complex enlightenment Jacobi is what is called a Dialectical Enlightenment he interacts with Enlightenment thought and is critical of Kant believes Kant is destroying metaphysics believes Kant is confining everything to the phenomenal believes Kant is demeaning Faith Initiator of the Storm and Stress movement Jacobi and the Pantheismusstreit Jacobi was the main instigator of the Pantheism Dispute, due to his book Letters on the Doctrine of Spinoza (1785). Jacobi attacks Enlightenment Rationalism as being inconsistent and that to be consistent with Spinozism will amount to atheism because if the world is God then God does not exist (at least as distinguishable from the world). Jacobi s primary desire is to defend God as transcendent and personal. He believes rationalism leads to pantheism, which is equated with atheism. Ironically, Jacobi s attack on Spinozism revives interest in Spinoza, albeit as Simpson notes not terribly close to what is in Spinoza s Ethics. (101) Jacob on Faith Jacobi believes Faith: is a certain acceptance for truth that is not achieved through rational argument. (101) Oddly enough he sets this in the thought of David Hume in his book David Hume on Belief (1787). In other words, certainty of God s presence is faith, which lines up with Romanticism. Late in Jacobi s life he establishes faith as a spiritual faculty of the mind, that which is an intuitive feeling. Using Kant s terms he refashions (Vernunft) to be no longer Reason but the domain of immediate knowledge. While (Verstand) that of understanding for Kant remains the same for Jacobi. In this way Jacobi strives to make Faith it s own category, which could not be challenged HAMANN Johann Georg Hamann ( ) Not anti-enlightenment, but critical of Kant Not an academic, but comes to be known as Magus of the North Hamann wrote a Metacritique a critique of Kant s Critique of Pure Reason Beats post-kantian German thought to the punch, seeing what would become of German Idealism. Central to Hamann s Philosophy is defending the particular over the universal.

3 (Language) Enlightenment likes math as a universal way of communicating, Hamann and the Romantics find the historical foundation of language to be fascination and he roots it in theincarnation. Fascinated with by the self-emptying of Christ, that God s power is manifest in God s powerlessness He sees Christianity as opposed to Enlightenment rationality Hamann is sympathetic to Hume, and Humes thinking (that reason alone can yield very little true knowledge) and therefore to leave knowledge up to just reason doesn t make sense. Especially to place reason over faith HERDER Johann Gottfried Herder ( ) Student of Kant s although he interacts with him critically Lutheran Pastor, leading figure in Storm and Stress movement Language, History, and Holism Herder strives to find a middle way between the Enlightenment and the Awakening. Herder rejects the dualism of a disengaged mind and anti-intellectual emotionalism. Herder champions language as the ground of human thought. He emphasizes that humans are fundamentally historical and that we exist in the process of becoming. (105) However, Herder rejects the view of history as progress with each era better than the last. He also rejects that there is no unity to history, he sees God as the unifier of history. He too like Hamann emphasizes the particular. Herder utilizes metaphors of organic growth and development. Reality is living organism an adapting thing that grows and changes, develops that maintains both continuity and constant change. Herder applies this to cultures, that cultures are organic dependent upon other cultures, yet always adapting Bildung and Religion Herder is well known for his idea of Bildung: culture or building Bildungas culture is then the cultivating of the human (106) Three Elements to Bildung Tradition we are always shaped by our history (106) Organic Powers that which we receive and reciprocate and appropriate Humanity Herder holds that all human beings are ultimately sharing a common purpose or direction He relates to this to the Imago Dei In this way, humanity has a common overarching telos. From this perspective of BildungHerder argues for an appreciation of the diversity of religions. He believes each religion offers a unique singularity to be appreciated, however there are three common cores in each religion Inherent and central to humanity is the religious impulse Orientation toward the whole A sense of Wonder that awakens the thought of God God and Revelation Herder describes God as, the source of all existence and the dynamic power that orders and unites it. (107) He does not collapse the world into God like pantheism, but pictures God s transcendence as entailing that he actively sustain and be present in the world. Herder critiques Jacobi s Pantheismusstreit as painting God as too anthropomorphic, and defending Spinoza. Coincidentally this brings Spinoza revival into Germany. Herder anticipates much of modern biblical criticism with his thoughts on the particularities of different cultures in the Bible, furthermore at the center of his understanding of Christianity and

4 Scripture is that mankind is created in the image of God, and this is most clearly revealed in Jesus. Revelation for Herder s primarily job is to educate the human race and he sees Christianity as being the true religion of humanity, because humanity is most fully revealed in Christ. 5.5 GERMAN IDEALISM German Idealism returns to Kant after the Counter-Enlightenment, Kant therefore influences much of thought and theology in this time. For German Idealism God is the indispensible key that provides for it s philosophical synthesis. From the Enlightenment German Idealism borrows active reason as central to our understanding of reality, even further to reality itself. From the Romantics the German Idealists borrow their dynamic view of history as progressing through different stages, they also borrow the organic metaphors capitalizing the holism of the world vs. mechanism, furthermore, an emphasis on the self. (108) Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte ( ) Provides an influential interpretation of Kant Especially his epistemology, which Fichte turn s Kants into a monistic metaphysic as ultimately only one reality as manifest in perceived plurality. (109) Fichte attempts to surpass the barrier of phenomena and noumena through Kant s understanding of the freedom of the ego. For Kant this activity gives unity to our knowledge of the world (109) For Fichte thinking activity unites the world in a more ontological sense (109). Most well-known work The Foundation of the Science of Knowledge (1794). He furthers the work of Kant drawing conclusions from Kant s philosophy Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling ( ) The Romantic Philosopher par excellence Focus on nature Believes nature is a manifestation of the absolute, like consciousness This was a Kantian problem that Schelling solved by grounding them both in the absolute (nature/consciousness) Schelling championed intellectual intuition which is an immediate perception of the unity of the active self and the object in this ground. (110) In the free play of against in the world, Schelling, perceived theabsolute as in the process of making itself. He produces a philosophy of nature with nature as a dynamic organism Late Schelling thought much about mythology and revelation, much of his teaching could be considered orthodox, even Christocentric. (110) Schelling at this point characterized faith as an independent science, a personal one On a more philosophical level, he sees Christ as a fulfillment of the natural world of creation. (110) 5.6 COLERIDGE Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ) English Romantic Significant in philosophy and theology He brings German Idealism to England, and creative theology Reacts against Enlightenment thought, but attempts to develop a true reason as opposed to rational reason. Central to Coleridge is that the created reality is dependent on the invisible one.

5 Like Jacobi he makes a distinction between reason (spiritual reality) andunderstanding (the visible world). He does not pit reason and understanding against one another, butunderstanding cannot shed light on One of the key elements of reason isimagination. (112) Coleridge believed that this reason was the key to understandingourselves, others, and In addition it has to do with the moral. The Bible for Coleridge was about the experience, the experience to evoke change, transformation, and faith. Coleridge opposes Bibliolatry, an obsession with the Bible as the object of worship. He also believes those who argue for the inerrancy of Scripture are falling into the hands of the skeptics. He believed Scripture becomes the living Word in our encounter with it. (113) It is alive as you listen, but not as it just sits there. PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Chapter 6: Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher ( ) Father of Modern Theology Pastor, Polymath, Philosopher, Cultural Critic Professor and founder of at the University of Berlin (1809) 6.1 PIETISM, ENLIGHTENMENT, ROMANTICISM Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher ( ) All of the big movements of the 18 th and 19 th century (Romanticism, Enlightenment, Moravian Pietism) converge on Schleiermacher Pietism F.S. Father was deeply involved in Moravian communities, and F.S. was educated in the movement even studies at a Moravian Seminary. This comes out in F.S. expression of Religion as an experience Enlightenment In his studies, F.S. is influenced by Kant and Spinoza, specifically his focus on subjectivity. Romanticism Simpson indicates that F.S. was deeply influenced by the Romantic thought of Jacobi and Schelling, and specifically the historical particularity of Herder. 6.2 THE SPEECHES Schleiermacher 1799 (On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers) In his mid-thirties F.S. pens this and it becomes rather famous (117) S. writes it for the non-christian those who despise religion, he appeals to this people that they are misunderstanding religion, and what they do not like about it is the outside of religion, but what religion truly is, is the inside the Gefuhl or the feeling. Gefuhl a profound feeling that is at the root of human consciousness. (117) S is charged with pantheism, so he significantly revises Speeches. 6.3 THE GLAUBENSLEHRE Schleiermacher 1821,1822,1830 (Glaubenslehre Doctrine of Faith ) It is a teaching (a doctrine) that comes from and is rooted in faith ; it is an explication of faith. (118) It is a theology built on the understanding of faith It becomes the standard theological text for theology in the 19 th He is trying to lay out how Protestants share in the same living experience of the Church. (118) 6.4 RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS

6 The key starting point for F.S. in theology is experience. F.S. disagrees with Kant locating the religious in the moral domain. He does agree that the theoretical and the moral are different domains. In other words, he denies that religion is located in either of the two domains that Kant set-up. For F.S. religious consciousness has to do with a certain personal experience. In this way, F.S. would say that the religious consciousness has to do with feeling : for F.S. feeling is pre-cognitive, it is the immediate self-consciousness or that is a feeling of absolute dependence. In this way it is pre-objective it is a feeling of dependence. In turn, Christianity arises from this Christian-God-consciousness: the particularity of the Christian consciousness stems from the feeling or experience of redemption in Christ. (119) F.S. believed that the Christian consciousness was the ultimate consciousness because you have Christ who became a mediator between God and humanity. Christianity in this way is fundamentally different (particular) and (higher). In this way F.S is like Herder valuing the particular, therefore for F.S. you cannot ignore the church when you do theology. That is the context that it serves. (120) 6.5 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE Schleiermacher Glaubenslehre In Glaubenslehre, doctrine is not abstract, but a way of describing religious experience. It is this grounding in the feeling that makes Christian doctrine real. The role of Scripture for F.S. in theology is the first of a series of reflections on Christ. They describe the norm of the Christian feeling. 6.6 GOD When F.S. talks about God it is not abstract, but remains concrete (God for us), and in this way allproper language of God is related to an experience, feeling or awareness. (121) For F.S. there is three key loci. 1. The feeling of absolute dependence, which allows us to talk about the attributes of God 2. Our experience of sin allows for us to talk about God as just and holy. 3. Our experience of grace allows us to talk about God as loving and wise. A fourth way, is that he utilizes Romantic notions of God as the unconditioned. In other words, God is not like us, he is a being beyond our comprehension, but theological task is an attempt to talk about him. F.S. is also against a strict dualism between God and the world. 6.7 CHRIST AND REDEMPTION F.S. theology is Christocentric. He describes Christ as having the perfect God-consciousness. In other words, Christ had the veritable being of God in Him. (121) In this way, he talks about Christ being perfect, sinless, the ideality of humanity, and the historical realization of the norm. Christ is not just an example. The experience we have of Christ is that of redemption. F.S. will talk about Christ as both the ideality (Urbildlichkeit) the redeemer and theexemplarity (Vorbildlichkeit) the One that is communicating His redemption to us. (122) Redemption therefore has to do with implanting/imparting the God consciousness. Ultimately, Schleiermacher says that only this belief in Christ that he communicates this God-consciousness to us is what is necessary for faith. (122) Schleiermacher s atonement is a not a blood atoning sacrifice, and he has a vague description on the resurrection, furthermore his doctrine of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than the presence of God in the church; the common spirit of the church. (123) Preaching is important to F.S. as this is how one encounters Christ. 6.8 SIN For F.S. Sin is tied into our experience of redemption. One cannot recognize the experience of sin without the experience of grace. Sin is in this way not primarily moral, but is our disconnection from God, or as F.S. will say our God-forgetfulness. 6.9 THE STRUCTURE OF THE GLAUBENSLEHRE Schleiermacher Glaubenslehre

7 Structured around three elements: the human, God, and the world Three aspects of the Christian experience: our religious self-consciousness, the experience of redemption, and the experience of sin Part I contains creation and preservation (human), this leads us to the divine attributes of eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent (God) then to the (world) with original perfection of the world and man. Part II is built off of what F.S. calls the antithesis of sin and grace. So he begins with the consciousness of sin both original and actual (human), this leads to a recognition of (God) as holy and just. Finally, to the (world) with the doctrine of evil. On the flip side of sin is the consciousness of grace where F.S. writes on the person and work of Christ (human) in terms of regenerationand sanctification. (125) Then to the divine attributes of love and wisdom(god), finishing with the (world) as the church. In this way F.S. reworks classical Christian doctrines through the lens of God-consciousness. Simpson notes, that the doctrine of the Trinity only finds its way into the work in its conclusion. (125) This ends up being highly problematic MEDIATING AND LIBERAL THEOLOGY As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Schleiermacher becomes the Father of liberal theology, and has impacted theology, at least until the early part of the twentieth century. In Germany, F.S. had a following in the 1830 s and 1840 s in what is called Mediating Theology. Simpson s last note on F.S. is that theology for F.S. is experience mediated through tradition. (126) In other words, theology is a reflection on a communal faith. PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Chapter 7: Hegel and Hegelians 7.1 HEGEL Significant philosopher in the 19th century Along with Hegel, Kant and Schleiermacher make-up those who adapted Christianity in the 19th century Life and Works Georg Wilhem Friedrich Hegel ( ) Educated at Tubingen Seminary Early Theological writings (1794 to 1796) Religion within the Bounds of Reason essentially Kantian. Acquaints himself with Greek classics and recent philosophers Part of the Romantic artistic philosophical scene 1807 writes Phenomenology of Spirit 1812 writes The Science of Logic In 1818 becomes professor at Berlin (12 years after Phenomenology of Spirit) German Aristotle : working with Schleiermacher at the University of Berlin Hegel becomes a leading intellectual figure, although him and Schleiermacher do not get along 1817 publishes Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, a summary of his philosophical system 1820 he publishes Philosophy of Right his work on Political Theory As a professor Hegel left many lectures on different topics, history of philosophy, philosophy of history, art, science, and religion. Dies suddenly in Germany in 1831 amidst a cholera outbreak in Germany Hegel s Philosophy

8 Hegel was influenced by the Romantic idea of the unity of the reconciling opposites. So much so that what is true for Hegel is its wholeness. The truth is the whole. (130) Logic for Hegel takes on a Triadic scheme that he refers to as the immediate, the dialectical, and the speculative. In this way, the more an idea shows itself the more whole it becomes, and the more dependent we realize it of its opposite. Central to Hegel s thought is that reason or consciousness develops over time, what he calls: Aufhebung or Aufgehogen and Simpson notes is tricky to translate having the dual meaning of negate and preserve. With this progression, reason, and what is true will continually progress to a truer and truer position. This central thought of Hegel shapes his understanding of Spirit or Geist: the universal being of life that manifests itself in all things. (132) Hegel believes history is the unfolding of Geist. Just as an individual s consciousness unfolds over time, Geist unfolds over time as well. Scholars have two views on Geist: 1. Geist is God and history is the presentation of God becoming self-aware 2. Geist is humanity, becoming more aware throughout history. Simpson thinks for Hegel there is more going on than #2, that it is a grand narrative in which a Spirit that creates the world generates that which is not its self in order to come to selfconsciousness. This self-consciousness happens in humanity. Humanity is the synthesis of God and the world ultimately. (132) Therefore, the grand sweep of history is the Spirit coming to selfconsciousness Absolute Spirit and Religion Spirit ultimately comes to self-consciousness in human self-consciousness, and this self-conscious Spirit is fully manifest not just in human consciousness, but what he calls Absolute Spirit. (132) For Hegel this occurs in three levels: 1. Subjective Spirit: individual consciousness (epistemology). (132) 2. Objective Spirit: social forms of thought (patterns, structures of society). (132) 3. Absolute Spirit: 1. Art presents Spirit in a sensual way 2. Religion reveals the highest particular in truth (Christianity in particular) 3. Philosophy is the highest form to its most explicit and full self-understanding Hegel on Christianity Christianity in Hegel s Philosophy of Religion While Christianity in the Religion stage of Absolute Spirit is lower than Philosophy Hegel believes Christianity is the Consummate Religion or The Revealed Religion. He believes it is a tragedy that all Christians have is Kant and Schleiermacher, and that during the Enlightenment Christianity suffered so much. He likes Christianity so much because it jives with his idea of revelation and progress over time, which is how he views the Scriptures. Also, he sees Christianity as wedding the identity of the divine and the human in the incarnation Creation and Fall Creation & Fall for Hegel work together in unity. Creation is in someway the necessary unfolding of God, moving from the infinite to the finite. (The Spirit needs to be embodied to be realized). In this movement the finite becomes estranged (Fall). In the creation of the world, the estrangement of the world occurs. Hegel represents what in the history of theology is called a fortunate fall, saying that the Fall is not that bad of a thing. It is part of a broader positive movement. Humanity s alienation is a part of humanity s coming to maturity. (134) The Incarnation and the Community of the Spirit The incarnation is explicit unity between God and humanity. For Hegel God had to have a human self-consciousness in order for the Spirit to reach self-realization. (134) Christ s death and

9 resurrection is where the reconciliation between the infinite and finite occurs most radically. The infinite becomes the finite: it dies. (135) Typical of Hegel this has three movements: the unity of God s self, estrangement in going out, returning to God with awareness. Hegel s view of the Holy Spirit is that it is the awareness of God s presence within us. The Spirit is incarnate in the Christian community, and in that community the implicitly divine Spirit is incarnated in a humanity in a way that it is not just a singular person, but can theoretically include all of humanity in the church also a concept he called thecommunity of the Spirit. (135) Trinity During the Enlightenment the Trinity disappeared from the scene, Hegel attempts to bring it back making it the center of his though. For him the Trinity is representational, meaning the whole of philosophy proves of the truth of the Doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity for Hegel is the movement of the Spirit out of itself and back to itself. First is the idea in itself and this is the Father, then the idea goes forth, this is the generating of the Son for itself as the Son makes it possible to return to itself, followed by thirdly, the Spirit who is the relation between Father and Son in and for itself. Thus the Spirit is the final form of God. In this sense, God is not a person an actualized community known as the Spirit Christianity and Philosophy Christianity is the Aufgehogen in philosophy (both negated and preserved). Christianity in this was is the external representation of the (internal) pure thought of Philosophy. Hegel s followers fell into two camps of interpreting Hegel: 1. Right (old) Hegelians It could be the he is indeed showing the content of Christianity in such a way that it is fully rational. (136) 2. Left (young) Hegelians Christianity is nothing more than a distorted picture of the truth philosophy, you can discard the superstitious aspects and carry on with just philosophy. (137) Both groups agree that Religion for Hegel does not have its own domain in the mind. Hegel sets the world up for the most radical philosophical atheism the world has yet to see. (137) 7.2 HEGELIANS At Hegels death (1831) the two groups following Hegel were split and identified by David Friedrich Strauss in his book The Life of Christ Critically Examined.Left Hegelians were significantly more influential Right Hegelians Karl Daub ( ) & Philipp Marheineke ( ) are two Right Hegelians that see Hegel as a champion of orthodoxy. The Right Hegelians see Hegel s philosophy of religion as distinctively Christian and doing the Christian faith the service of showing it to be rational and believable to modern people. (137) In this way, Christianity is not replaced by Philosophy, but rather reconstructs Christianity for the modern world Left Hegelians The left Hegelians fashion the modern hermeneutic of suspicion, and present an anti-christianity tendency often explicitly atheistic. Left Hegelians believe Hegel negated Christianity, rather than preserved it and that his Geist is only interesting as the Spirit of humanity. (138) D.F Strauss David Friedrich Strauss ( ) Travels to Berlin to study with Hegel, but Hegel has just died The most orthodox of the Left Hegelians Believes Christianity to be an expression of higher philosophical truths Like Hegel wanted to reinterpret Christianity for the modern world

10 The Life of Christ Critically Strauss becomes infamous for this book, it ends his career. In it, he examines the Gospels through the lens of myth: a largely unconscious product of communal imagination. (138) He believes the accounts are symbolically true expressing fundamental truths Truths in the Gospels Gospels express Hegel s idea of unity of humanity Jesus believed himself to be the Messiah, as did his disciples, a generation later this took on a mythical character as people read the OT stories into Jesus life. The mythicalness was not intentional but a way people understood life at the time Feuerbach Ludwig Feuerbach ( ) studies with Hegel in Berlin Best understood as Hegel turned upside down Hegel = God -> estrangement (Jesus) -> return Spirit Feuerbach = Human -> estrangement (God) -> return attributes Instead of seeing God as being self-recognized in humanity, humanity is self-recognized in God. Therefore, Feuerbach would say the story of humanity is one of it alienating itself through religion. God is the human alienated from himself. (140) Ultimately proposes humanism Giest for him is a religion that begins with the human manifesting itself in the divine then should return to itself realizing that the divine attributes... are actually its own and return to itself those attributes. (141) The Essence of Christianity (1841) Like Hegel he sees Christianity as the consummate religion, but unlike Hegel it is because the divine qualities are given to a human being in Jesus. In this way humanity returns to itself. He rejects the transcendent and wants to make the sacred immanent Marx Karl Marx ( ) Marx travels to Berlin and meets up with the the Left (young) Hegelians Marx believes Hegel overlooked what was important, and presents an upside down Hegel the concrete social reality is Marx focus Marx philosophy is a dialectical materialism, that there is an unfolding progression. However, for Marx The world is not the product of the Spirit; rather, Spirit all the spheres of human culture is the product of material forces. (142) In other words, ideas are the products of economic realities Religion for Marx is an inverted consciousness. In other words, because the economic realities of people are not the ideal, people project that onto an imaginary divine. Marx believes religion is a symptom of a troublesome reality. It is a way to cope. Contributions to the Critique of Hegel s Philosophy of Right (143) Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people. In other words, Religion for Marx is the expression of real suffering, but he believes it is a false solution because it is often controlled and manipulated by those in power. Simpson, notes Christians should be aware of this critique of Marx and often agree with it. Religion has been used in the past to abuse and manipulate people.

11 PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Chapter 8: Coping with the Nova 8.1 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVA In the background of the 18th century we have the thinkers of Kant, Schleiermacher and Hegel and the intellectual movements of the Enlightenment, The Awakenings, and Romanticism. These thinkers and movements are addressing the problems of the splintering Christian identity in the wake of the Reformation and Wars of Religion. Simpson boils these approaches down to confessionalism and anti-confessionalism. (146) In the 19th century, the splintering Christian identity is still occurring, which Simpson indicates is occurring in three groups now: confessionalism, ecumenical confessionalism, and atheism. In the 19th century the church is seen as being out of sync with society, and those with confessional ties are related to the state in some fashion. (146) "Charles Taylor describes nineteenth century European culture in terms of a Nova Effect. He says out of the eighteenth century - out of the Enlightenment, and the Awakenings - there is a cross pressure or tension that generates the Nova effect of the nineteenth century. There is tension between orthodoxy and belief." (146) This results in what Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue refers to as "interminable moral disagreement" in other words, people no longer know longer agreement on how people should live their lives. (146) 8.2 THE CHALLENGE OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM Biblical criticism develops in the 18th century, in many ways this grows out of the Reformation, in seeking the meaning of the text. Authorship, historical context, etc. are all questions that come into play The Old Testament: De Wette and Wellhausen In the Old Testament two figures rise to the surface, and essentially question to features: similarities in the beginning of Genesis with other Ancient Near Eastern Accounts & question the multiple layers of construction in certain Old Testament books. Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette ( ) significant impact on Old Testament Biblical Criticism Perceives the Pentateuch as containing "mythical language" o by this he means it is expressing truths in the form of a story Julius Wellhausen ( ) Documentary Hypothesis: multiple sources written at different times for different purposes summarized by JDEP JDEP o J is the Yahwist source o E is the Elohist source o D is the Deuteronomist source o P is the Priestly source They get their names from the language they use to identify God in the account Generally identified as being written in the order of the letters The New Testament: F.C. Baur

12 Ferdinand Christian Baur ( ) History of the Christian Church ( ) o Was the standard for church history for a long time, Baur utilizes Hegel's dialectical approach New Testament o Baur utilizes Hegel's dialectical approach and sees the NT as one that unfolds through conflict. Specifically two groups the Judiasts (Peter) and the Universalists (Paul). o He views Acts as a reconstruction of the History of Christianity after the reconciliation at AD 150, which he calls Early Catholicism Essays and Reviews Essays and Reviews Brings German historical scholarship to an English Audience Raises questions about substitutionary atonement, miracles, unending punishment for non-christians, and Creation. Raises questions about Scripture, how can it be both revelation and a truly human document. Samuel Wilberforce ( ) o Despite never reading it champions against it & considers the work a momentary stop from atheism and full-blown skepticism. 8.3 THE CHALLENGE OF NATURAL SCIENCE Traditional Christian belief is confronted on two fronts in the 19th century in regards to natural science: Geology In 1844, The Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation presents the world as much older than originally thought. Proposes history as unfolding from simple to complex providentially. Charles Darwin ( ) Darwin attempts to substantiate evolution in his notable works: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), and The Descent of Man (1871). It is religiously problematic because it confronts the literal interpretation of Genesis, which contains important Christian doctrines. English Theologian Aubrey Moore ( ) believes that it fits well with the Christian faith, and he looks at the fall instead as showing that there was something inherently wrong with humans from the beginning 8.4 CONSERVATIVE RESPONSE According to Simpson when it comes to Evolution conservative Christian's buckle down and hold more rigidly to Genesis 1-2, in this way conservative theology often arises as a dialectical generation of opposition to "liberalism" Confessionalism and Princeton Theology A revived interest in confessionalism occurs in Germany (Lutheran Confessionalism) and in America, Westminster Confessionalism (Princeton Theology). Two important figures: Charles Hodge ( ) Princeton Professor Bastion of Calvinism Defends doctrine of total depravity, irresistible grace Weds orthodoxy to Calvinism o This occurs in general during the Second Great Awakening ( ) B.B. Warfield ( ) student of Hodges later becomes a professor at Princeton

13 Defends doctrine of Scripture o Critques Liberals as being guilty of subjectivism Inerrancy and Objectivity Princeton Theology is a reaction to the Enlightenment (intellectual apostasy) and Awakenings (emotional revivalism). They argued Christian Faith should be grounded in something objective, not experience but the Bible this is a reaction or preservation from the 19th centuries emphasis on the subjective (Schleiermacher). Argue for the "plenary" inspiration of the Scriptures (All of it is Inspired) Theology should re-present the Bible Simpson notes that this kind of faith is tied intimately with the Bible as the Word of God. Inerrancy of Scripture o An appeal to the "original autographs" Scripture and Science Conservatism adopts the framework of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy. This places all knowledge as scientific, placing theology and science on the same field of knowledge. Just as science collects knowledge from the world, theology collects from the Bible. Simpson believes this puts science and theology at conflict one another, unlike Kant who had theology and science in different domains, this provides for the clash of theology and science and leads to a God of the Gaps. 8.5 MEDIATING THEOLOGIES Mediating theologians tends to be followers of Schleiermacher who split into two camps, those who believed we must abandon modernity to preserve Christianity and those who believed we need to abandon Christianity and hold onto Modernity. Both want to understand Christianity for their context, there is certain recognition that traditional and confessional standards need to be adjusted Tholuck Friedrich August Tholuck ( ) Pietist background, professor at University of Halle (1826) opposed to strict Lutheran confessionalism He "wants to understand the possible positive and constructive interrelation between traditional faith and understandings of his time." (158) He emphasizes personal experience and personal conversion Rothe Richard Rothe ( ) Professor at Heidelberg Distinguishes between manifestation "God's miraculous external acts in history" and inspiration "the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit" (158) believes Christian consciousness comes from Christ like Schleiermacher, as witnessed by the church, with the Spirit being that which inspires believed that historical criticism could help us discern what was true of Christianity and what was non-essential Distinguishes between two histories of humanity: normal (something like evolution) and abnormal (our Fall and need for redemption) Dorner Isaak August Dorner ( ) Professor of Theology in Berlin (1862)

14 System of the Christian Doctrine of Faith (1879) o "This is a system of the doctrines of faith in the tradition of Schleiermacher - starting with Christian faith, with the experience of Christ, and systematically unfolding it subsequently." (159) o One of the more orthodox mediating theologians o Trinity and Christology is the starting place of Dorner's theology Bushnell Horace Bushnell ( ) American Congregationalist Bushnell was drawn towards Christian unity, specifically Christian Comprehensiveness o He believed that groups needed to put their confessions aside and strive for unity and see the best in the other Christian sects. He believed if Christians understood language better, that religion is a figurative language, there would be less division over doctrine (literal language). This thought is rooted in Coleridge and Romanticism. He believed we need to focus on the Christian experience F.D. Maurice Frederick Denison Maurice ( ) significant 19th century English theologian lacks his own theological system, due to his view on theology as always being partial, and not having the complete view He is seeking critical orthodoxy, strong view of revelation with intentional ecumenical view of doctrine He believes true Christian unity isn't in doctrine but in relation to Christ Doctrines: o Trinity is an eternal communion of love o Christ is the head of humanity, in him humanity comes together o wrath-less atonement o The Church is "a witness to true humanity and as a site of God's reconciliation in the world." (161) PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Chapter 9: Early-Nineteenth-Century Catholic and Anglo-Catholic Theology 9.1 ROMANTIC RETURN TO TRADITION This chapter focuses on Catholic and Anglo-Catholic theologians, specificallyy, those influenced by Romanticism, which looks back into history and tradition in two ways: Static - looking to return to the authority of the Catholic Church Dynamic - looking to see how tradition can be developed and still be in line with tradition. 9.2 FRENCH TRADITIONALISM AND RESTORATION After the French Revolution there is a desire to return to the pre-modern era, this is the period of restoration. This romantic movement is a primarily Catholic socio-political rather than theological, with the primary issue of defending the authority of the Pope against French authorities/monarchy. 9.3 THE OXFORD MOVEMENT

15 The Oxford movement occurred in the 1830's and 1840's with influential figures such as John Henry Newman ( ), Edward Pusey ( ), John Keble ( ), and Richard Fourde. The Oxford movement was Romantic, but static in its desire to return to the tradition of the Early Church Fathers. They had Roman Catholic tendencies (often accused of Romanism), in wanting the sacraments to be supernatural in some way, they emphasized apostolic succession, that power should be assigned within and through the church and not through the state (Erastianism). They emphasized the Church as the channel of grace, and justification was not by faith alone, but rather justification and sanctification were warped into one, in this way the movement was often pastoral and devotional, focused on the sanctified life. The Oxford movement was sometimes referred to as the Tractarian Movement, due to them distributing their ideas through Tracts for the Times published from JOHN HENRY NEWMAN John Henry Newman ( ) significant influence on the Oxford Movement switched to Roman Catholic Church in 1845 (the church is not an idea, but must have a historical identity - he saw that historical connection between the Early Church and Catholicism) Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1878) o Newman's first work traces how doctrine develops through history using organic metaphors. o "Here below, to live is to change, and to be perfect is to change often." (168)! Simpson - "The notion that ideas have to change in order to stay the same sounds odd - but if the context is always changing and you stay the same, you are not going to mean the same thing in the future. Your meaning is going to get distorted. So the idea has to change to continually remain true to the source. That is part of the thoughtful work of theology - reinterpreting and reappropriating the living truths of the Gospel in the ever-changing present." (168) An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870) o Newman wants to make a distinction between Assent and Inference. Newman argues that we never truly have enough to make an actual assent, but throughout life in all things we assent to things because they are probable. The jump from inferense to assent he calls the illative sense. He is making an argument that everything is based in faith to some degree or another, so religious faith is not strange. However, he does make a distinction between intellectual judgment (notional assent) and religious (real assent) which he considers captivating emotion, imagination and the will. (169) 9.5 THE TUBINGEN SCHOOL There are two theological faculties at the University of Tubingen, protestant and catholic. Both faculties are interested in history, with F.C. Baur on the protestant side, and Drey and Mohler on the Catholic. These two theologians attempt to bring faith into modern thought. "Key to the Tubingen perspective is a view of dogma as being dynamic and as part of an organic whole." (170) In a Schleiermacher fashion, they emphasize the living experience of Christ in and through the Church, with dogma being built upon a reflection of faith. Rome is not appreciative of their efforts, especially their desire to widen the doctrine nad tradition of the church to account for the greatest variety Drey Johann Sebastian von Drey ( )

16 Teaches theology at Ellwangen & later at Tubingen Influential in making historical study a part of Catholic theologian training (specifically rooting the identity of the church in history) Drey focuses on changes with the catholic tradition over time (positivity). He stands against dualism: reason and revelation being opposed. Drey believes religion is an innate feeling for God Revelation for Drey like Lessing and Herder involves the education of the human race The development of doctrine is important to Drey, specifically as it unfolds within a tradition, contra Newman who believes tradition itself must change Mohler Johann Adam Mohler ( ) studied under Drey, but also attended lectures of Schleiermacher Symbolism: Exposition of the Doctrinal Differences Between Catholics and Protestants as Evidenced by Their Symbolical Writings (1832) o considered to be one of the most important theological books of the century o Viewed Scripture as the passing on of Tradition, with Scripture being the beginning of Tradition (different than both official Catholic position and Protestant) o In this way, Scripture and Tradition always functioned together Mohler believed that the Church as a whole was infallible, not the Pope, or any individual. o Mohler had an organic ecclesiology, in other words, the Church is living and has a corporate personality, and has a consciousness that develops with Christian tradition. Church as Eucharistic Presence: "the visible Church is an extension of Christ's body, continually becoming that through the Eucharist." (172) The Holy Spirit for Mohler is at work developing Christian community PART II THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Chapter 10: Ritschlianism 10.1 "CLASSICAL LIBERAL THEOLOGY" Ritschlianism also known as "Liberal Theology" or "New Protestantism" or from their detractors "Kulturprotsetantismus" Culture Protestantism". End of the 19th century till World War 1 Against o Theological Speculation o Dogmatism - specifically confessional Protestantism o individual enthusiasm For o Theology should be based on Experience o Influenced by Neo-Kantian and historical criticism o Minimize Religion to the private sphere o "Practical reason as the locus of religion" (176) o Like Semler believe the essence of Christianity is ethical and universally humanitarian 10.2 RITSCHL Albrecht Ritschl ( ) sought to make theology persuasive to the modern German person and the people of the time educated in Mediation Theology by Rothe and F.C. Baur o Influenced by the historical orientation Theology at Tubingen

17 o ends up dissatisfied with Mediation Theology Takes issues with Schleiermacher for being too mystical and inward, theology should be concerned with society at large Believes he was doing the work of the Reformers seeking a broadly Protestant identity without antiquated ideas of Reformers The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation ( ) 3 vols. o Traces justification and reconciliation in the middle ages, NT, and finally his own construction of the doctrines, which leads to the founding of the Ritschlian school of Theology Against Metaphysics Ritschl was against metaphysics, specifcally he thoughts Christianity should not depend on philosophical categories. He believes they confuse the realms of nature and spirit, and that they do not add anything to Christianity but distortion Value Judgments Rudolf Hermann Lotz ( ) colleague of Ritschl's both champion judgments of fact vs. judgments of value They want to stake out a domain for religion that is distinct from science Judgments of Fact o science and philosophy o objects as known o Distinterested o natural Judgments of Value o Religion o Objects' practical worth o Evaluating relative to human goals o Spiritual, Faith The Jesus of History Ritschl believes the starting point of theology is the historical revelation of Jesus; in essence Christianity is a historical reality and should be explored as history. However, this is a valuejudgment history is a value-laden interpretation. He believed Scripture was a reliable history. He denies orthodox Christological doctrines that are metaphysical (two natures etc.) He believed the main point of Jesus teaching was universal ethical fellowship Justification and Reconciliation Ritschl's focus on Christ as Redeemer is broken into a twofold work: justification and reconciliation. Justification is the focus on the gift, which makes reconciliation "the Christian task" possible. (180) In Justification we are saved from estrangement, while reconciliation is horizontal and enables us to realize Christian community The Kingdom of God Ritschl's Kingdom of God is built off of his doctrine of reconciliation. The Kingdom of God is therefore ethical and not eschatological. For Ritschl there was no difference between the church and the world, the task of the church is to be good citizens HARNACK Adolf von Harnack ( )