Digital Logos Edition
Gain insight into the father of liberal theology’s thought by studying the words he shared from the pulpit. This volume contains 26 of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s sermons on a range of topics—marriage, service, death, the resurrection, and more. This controversial theologian questioned traditional Protestant thinking and developed a system of theology based upon human experience and emotion. Any study of liberal Christianity or the Neo-Orthodoxy that responded to it should begin with Schleiermacher’s own teachings.
Logos’ cutting-edge research tools make it easy to compare Schleiermacher’s theology with others such as Barth or Bonhoeffer. Scripture citations appear on mouseover in your preferred English translation. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) was born in Breslau, Silesia, Prussia. His father was a Reformed chaplain in the Prussian army. Schleiermacher attended a Moravian school and eventually went to the University of Halle. He graduated from Halle in 1794 and began to tutor the children of an aristocratic family. He left after two years and took up a chaplaincy at a hospital in Berlin. While in Berlin, Schleiermacher was influenced by the Romantic movement, particularly the emphasis on imagination and emotion. He read the works of Baruch Spinoza, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Fichte, and Schelling. In 1802 he became the pastor of a congregation in Stolp, Pomerania. He left in 1804 to accept a position as preacher and professor of theology at the University of Halle. In 1807, he accepted an offer to become pastor of Trinity Church in Berlin. While there, he helped found the University of Berlin and accepted a chair of theology. He also became the secretary of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Schleiermacher’s advocacy of the unification of the Reformed and Lutheran branches of the German church led to the Prussian Union of Churches in 1817. Schleiermacher wrote his magnum opus, Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der evangelischen Kirche (The Christian Faith according to the Principles of the Protestant Church), in 1821 and revised it in 1831.