State of Schleiermacher Scholarship Today

“ ...this book brings together scholars from both sides of the Atlantic in an ongoing productive relationship in [Schleiermacher studies] ...” – Ruth Drucilla Richardson, editor


The essays by Liberty Stewart, Sung Chel Kim, and Carl Kalwaitis all focus on different aspects of Schleiermacher’s 1799 Speeches on Religion. The essays by Terrence Tice and Edwina Lawler illuminate Schleiermacher as “Prince of the Church” through Tice’s translation of two sermons given by Schleiermacher in 1821 and Lawler’s exploration of themes in his New Year’s Sermons in relation to his early works, the Soliloquies and What Gives Value to Life. John Wallhausser describes Schleiermacher’s contributions to ethics, while Roger Badham discusses his hermeneutical theory. James Stamm’s essay relates to Schleiermacher’s work as the great German translator of Plato. Donna Bowman is interested in Schleiermacher the theologian. Her essay provides a process reading of his doctrine of the election. There are a number of comparative studies. Both David Seiple and Sergio Sorrentino have as their topic the relation between Schleiermacher and Barth, while Christopher Adair-Toteff looks at the figure of Troeltsch, and Jack Crossley at the philosopher Hegel. Jeffery Kinlaw provides a philosophical perspective through his exploration of Schleiermacher’s transcendent ground argument. This work both begins and ends with contributions by the great teacher of Schleiermacher, Michael D. Ryan, whose first essay explores the impact that Schleiermacher has had in his own life and thought and whose final article discusses the “Christian Humanism” of Schleiermacher as seen in his 1806 book, Christmas Eve: Dialogue on the Incarnation.

Editors’ Introduction – Jeffery Kinlaw and Edwina Lawler
My Readings of Schleiermacher – Michael D. Ryan
Performative Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Speeches with Reflections upon Schleiermacher’s Hermeneutical Theory – Roger Badham
Schleiermacher’s Depiction of Imagination in his Second Speech: Reshaping Imagination in Kant, Fichte, and the Cultured Despisers – Liberty Stewart
Schleiermacher’s Secret in the Speeches – Sung Chel Kim
The Meaning of Original Consciousness: A Philosophical Study of Schleiermacher’s Second “Speech” – Carl Kalwaitis
Themes in the New Year Sermons Considered Against the Backdrop of What Gives Value to Life and the Soliloquies – Edwina Lawler
The Embodied Self in Community: Schleiermacher’s Early Ethics – John Wallhausser
A Process Reading of Schleiermacher’s Doctrine of Election – Donna Bowman
Schleiermacher and Barth: Self-transcendence and Neo-liberalism – David Seiple
The Quest for a “Theological Reason”: Reassessing the Antithesis Barth- Schleiermacher – Sergio Sorrentino
Schleiermacher’s Concept of Ministry: Proclamation in the Christian Life (An Opening Note of Celebration) – Terrence N. Tice
Schleiermacher on the Ordering of the Platonic Dialogues – James Stamm
Schleiermacher and Troeltsch: A Dialogue on the Glaubenslehre – Christopher Adair-Toteff
Schleiermacher’s Transcendent Ground Argument – Jeffery Kinlaw
Historical Consciousness in Hegel and Schleiermacher: A Comparison – Jack Crossley
Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Reinvention of the Christian Faith: Die Weihnachtsfeier as a Vision of Christian Humanism – Michael D. Ryan