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This work represents the first study in English in over twenty years on the theological thinking of Friedrich Schleiermacher. It invites the reader to try on the thinking in motion of a pivotal figure in Protestant theology. The author believes that Schleiermacher has been misunderstood and misinterpreted first by Brunner and Barth, and consequently by other present-day theologians. Because so few of the Barthian captives have themselves troubled to undertake the eminently worthwhile study of the man’s mind, Dr. Niebuhr, with meticulous attention to Schleiermacher’s own words, documents and assesses anew his thinking on Christ, religion, and theology. Schleiermacher’s thought is described here through a series of moments. The first is his little-known dialogue, The Christmas Eve, which discusses human religion. The second and the third are his lectures on hermeneutics, which develop his conception of speech and understanding, and his lectures on ethics, which reflect on human reason and history. Part II of the book concentrates on the fourth moment, his magnum opus, The Christian Faith. What emerges is a systematic theology which organizes and focuses, in and for its own age–using, as it must, its own age’s words, symbols, and concepts–the content of the consciousness of the church. To acquaint oneself with Schleiermacher’s unending dialectic of nature and grace is an intriguing and rewarding experience.
