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Friedrich Schleiermacher on the Central Place of Worship in Theology*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Theodore M. Vial
Theodore M. Vial
Affiliation:
Virginia Wesleyan College
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Extract

Suspicion raised by the Neo-orthodox movement concerning Schleiermacher's theological enterprise continues to cast its shadow. Karl Barth framed this suspicion perspicaciously in terms of an “either/or” in his “Concluding Unscientific Postscript on Schleiermacher”:

Is Schleiermacher's enterprise concerned (a) necessarily, intrinsically, and authentically with a Christian theology oriented toward worship, preaching, instruction, and pastoral care? Does it only accidentally, extrinsically, and inauthentically wear the dress of a philosophy accommodated to the person of his time…? Or is his enterprise concerned (b) primarily, intrinsically, and authentically with a philosophy…indifferent as to Christianity and which would have wrapped itself only accidentally, extrinsically, and inauthentically in the garments of a particular theology, which here happens to be Christian?

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 59 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1998

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References

1 Barth, Karl, The Theology of Schleiermacher (Ritschl, Dietrich, ed., Bromiley, Geoffrey W., trans.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982) 275Google Scholar.

2 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Friedrich Schleiermacher's sdmmtliche Werke, 1/13: Die praktische Theologie nach den Grundsdtzen der evangelischen Kirche im Zusammenhange dargestellt (Frerichs, Jacob, ed.; Berlin: Reimer, 1850) 3Google Scholar.

3 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 3Google Scholar.

4 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Friedrich Schleiermacher's sdmmtliche Werke, I/1: Kurze Darstellung des theologischen Studiums zum Behuf einleitender Vorlesungen (Berlin: Reimer, 1834) §24 (13)Google Scholar; ET: Brief Outline on the Study of Theology (Tice, Terrence, trans.; Atlanta: John Knox, 1966) 25.Google Scholar When English translations of Schleiermacher's works exist, I cite first the German original (by paragraph number and page where appropriate) and then the page number in the translation. Except where noted, translations in this paper are mine.

5 Schleiermacher, , Kurze Darstellung, §25 (14); ET, 25Google Scholar.

6 Ibid., §97 (44); ET, 48. See also Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsdtzen der evangelischen Kirche im Zusammenhange dargestellt (2d ed.; Redeker, Martin, ed.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1960) §19 (119)Google Scholar; ET: The Christian Faith (2d ed.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986) 88Google Scholar.

7 Schleiermacher, , Christlicher Glaube, §15 (105); ET, 76Google Scholar.

8 In the discussion of Schleiermacher's theory of religious speech I rely in part on Dawn DeVries's excellent and concise discussion in Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher (Columbia Series in Reformed Theology; Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1996) 48–58Google Scholar.

9 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Friedrich Schleiermacher's sdmmtliche Werke, I/1: Üerdie Religion. Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verdchtern (Berlin: Reimer, 1843) 318.Google Scholar ET On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (3d ed.; intro., Otto, Rudolf; Oman, John, trans.; New York: Harper & Row, 1958) 148.Google Scholar Schleiermacher's language in the third edition (1821) is the same as in the first (1799). Much of my argument in this paper rests on Schleiermacher's earlier writings, but I quote from the third edition of the Speeches when possible to show that his thought on topics relevant to my argument remains constant as he approaches the publication of his Christian Faith. For the 1st ed., see Schleiermacher, Friedrich D. E., Schleiermacher. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 1/2: Über die Religion. Redenan die Gebildeten unter ihren Verachtern (Birkner, Hans-Joachim et al., eds.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984) 267Google Scholar; ET: On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (Texts in German Philosophy; introduction by Crouter, Richard; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) 163Google Scholar.

10 Schleiermacher, , Über die Religion, 188; ET, 39Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., 318; ET, 148. (1st ed., 267; ET, 163.)

12 Ibid., 193 (1st ed.); ET, 82. I use Crouter's translation here.

13 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 188Google Scholar.

14 Schleiermacher, , Uber die Religion, 319; ET, 149. (1st ed., 268; ET, 164.)Google Scholar

15 Schleiermacher, , Christlicher Glaube, §15 (107); ET, 78Google Scholar.

16 Ibid., §16 (107-8); ET, 78-79.

17 Ibid., §19 (124); ET, 92.

18 Schweizer, Alexander, Schleiermachers Wirksamkeit als Prediger (Halle: Kümmel, 1834) 13.Google Scholar Schweizer is invariably referred to in the secondary literature as “Schleiermacher's most faithful student.” Schweizer refers in this passage specifically to preaching, as do the other commentators I cite here with the exception of Albrecht, the only one to discuss worship as a whole. Nonetheless, as will become evident, their comments on preaching must also apply more broadly.

19 Trillhaas, Wolfgang, Schleiermachers Predigt und das homiletische Problem (Leipzig: Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1933) 17 and 18Google Scholar, the latter quoting Praktische Theologie.

20 Albrecht, Christoph, Schleiermachers Liturgik. Theorie und Praxis des Gottesdienstes bei Schleiermacher und ihre geistesgeschichtlichen Zusammenhange (Veroffentlichungen der evangelischen Gesellschaft für Liturgieforschung 13; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963) 25Google Scholar.

21 DeVries, Dawn, “Introduction” in Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Servant of the Word: Selected Sermons of Friedrich Schleiermacher (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 2Google Scholar.

22 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 37Google Scholar.

23 “[D]er Cultus ist darstellende Mittheilung und mittheilende Darstellung des gemeinsa m christlichen Sinnes” (Schleiermacher, Praktische Theologie, 145).

24 Schleiermacher writes of the liturgy, for example, that it expresses the congregation's consciousness that it is part of an organism larger than a single congregation. If this conscious-ness is not expressed in worship through the liturgy, it will die out (Praktische Theologie, 157).

25 One might express one's religious affections outside of worship, particularly in the first grip of an unusually strong intuition of the infinite. One will then, however, seek a worshiping community with which to share one's experience, or a community of people will gather around to share one's own experience (which by definition then becomes a worshiping group, or a church). The expression of religious affections finds its way into worship one way or the other, or else religious affections eventually die out.

26 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 216Google Scholar.

27 In fact, Schleiermacher believes that the listener is confronted not only with the picture of Christ in the sermon, but with the very presence of Christ. See DeVries, Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher; compare note 42 below.

28 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 43Google Scholar.

29 Ibid., 119.

30 Ibid., 104.

31 Ibid., 130.

32 Ibid., 104.

33 Ibid., 96.

34 See Ibid. (70-71) for Schleiermacher's comparison of worship and public celebrations.

35 Ibid., 78.

36 Ibid., 50.

37 Ibid., 45.

38 Ibid., 131.

39 Albrecht, , Schleiermachers Liturgik, 40.Google Scholar Albrecht notes this tension in specific reference to religious speech; but presumably the tension exists in all components of worship, since each is representative action, and each aims to heighten the worshiper's religious affections.

40 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 39Google Scholar.

41 Or, at least not in Protestant worship. Schleiermacher is critical of Roman Catholicism for what he sees as their view that a sacrament is an opus operatum, which would mean that it is a means to an end outside itself, or an effective activity, and thus not properly part of worship. Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 159Google Scholar.

42 DeVries, in her introduction to Servant of the Word, stresses the already-present aspect of piety in worship. Nonetheless, her overall argumen t in Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher is to show that preaching, for Schleiermacher, is an incarnational event. In other words, it is in preaching that the picture of Christ is represented and thus confronts and affects hearers in precisely the same way that Jesus’ followers were confronted with his perfect God-consciousness; this is the origin of Christian faith.

43 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Friedrich Schleiermacher's sammtliche Werke, II/1: Predigten (Berlin: Reimer, 1843), 7.Google Scholar Wilhelm Gräb cites this passage in, “Predigt als kommunikativer Akt: Einige Bemerkungen zu Schleiermachers Theorie religioser Mitteilung,” in Selge, Kurt-Victor, ed., Internationaler Schleiermacher-Kongress Berlin 1984 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1985) 657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar While Gräb's starting point is different from mine (he is interested in applying Schleiermacher's theory of communication to his theory of preaching), his argument has been instructive for me throughout this section of my essay.

44 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Monologen. Eine Neujahrsgabe (intro., Schwarz, D. Carl; Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1869) 22Google Scholar; ET, Schleiermacher's Soliloquies (intro. and trans., Friess, Horace Leland; Chicago: Open Court, 1926) 30Google Scholar.

45 Schleiermacher, , Monologen, 23Google Scholar; ET, 31. This sentence is Friess's translation.

46 Ibid., 24; ET, 31.

47 Ibid., 29; ET,38.

48 Ibid., 30; ET,38.

49 Ibid., 46; ET,56.

50 Ibid., 46; ET,56.

51 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 68Google Scholar.

52 DeVries, , Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher, 50Google Scholar.

53 Schleiermacher, , Über die Religion, 319; ET, 149Google Scholar.

54 Ibid., 322; ET, 152.

55 Ibid., 390; ET, 213.

56 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 65Google Scholar.

57 Gräb, , “Predigt als kommunikativer Akt,” 657Google Scholar.

58 Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 43Google Scholar.

59 Schleiermacher, , Über die Religion; ET, 6–8Google Scholar.

60 “…so werden alle auch eine Ordnung ihrer religiosen Gefuhle zu erhohen suchen.” Schleiermacher, , Praktische Theologie, 68–69Google Scholar.

61 Schleiermacher, , Kurze Darstellung, §147 (60–61); ET, 60Google Scholar.

62 Ibid., §21 (12); ET, 24.

63 Ibid., §196 (76-77); ET, 72.

64 Schleiermacher, , Über die Religion, 197–98; ET, 47Google Scholar.

65 James Duke and Francis Fiorenza give a good account of Baur's criticisms of the first edition of the Christian Faith in their “Introduction to Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher” (On the Glaubenslehre: Two Letters to Dr. Lücke [AAR Texts and Translations 3; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981])Google Scholar.

66 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, Friedrich Schleiermacher's sdmmtliche Werke, 1/2: Über seine Glaubenslehre, an Dr. Lücke (Berlin: Reimer, 1836) 589Google Scholar; ET (see n. 65), 42.

67 Ibid., 642; ET, 81.

68 Ibid.