Foundations of Modern Church History: A Comparative Structural Analysis of Writings from August Neander and Ferdinand Christian Baur

The split between Liberal Protestants and Evangelicals began to crystallize within one generation of the theological revolution spawned by Hegel and Schleiermacher. In the academy, this was first reflected in the fledgling discipline, Church history. Ferdinand Christian Baur and August Neander generated early expressions of this split in their towering Church historical writings. They treated identical subjects, yet produced radically different results. Dr. Kaufmann uses structural, semiotic analysis to uncover the divergent patterns of convictions in their works which continue to divide liberal Protestants and Evangelicals today. Foundations provides a penetrating analysis of these pivotal figures in Church historiography, and in doing so identifies issues which define a major, contemporary ecumenical challenge.