spirit schleiermacher's ecclesiology...
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT IN SCHLEIERMACHER'S ECCLESIOLOGY:
THE 1830 AUGSBURG CONFESSION SERMONS
by
Robert Thomas O'Meara
A Thesis submined to the Faculty of Theology of the University of SE. Michad's College and the deparunent of Theolw of the Toronto School of
Theology in partial fuifiilment of the requiremencs for the degree of
awarded by the University of StMichael's Coilege
Toronto 1998
Q Robm T. O'Meara
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In his 1830 sermons commemorating the 300th anniversary o f the
handing over of the Augsburg Confession, Friedrich Schleiermacher advocates
an ecdesiology that is Catholic in spirit wirhin die conton of rhe predominanc
Protert;ant spirit that imbues his theological vision. The thesis charts a path
beginning with desiological dements ffom the original Augsburg Confession
document of 1530 in order to show Schleiermacher's & i t y wirh one of the
founding symbolic books of Reformauon history. The argument then continues
to delineare the consistency with which Schleiermacher pursues an essentially
Cdthoüc view of the Church, fiom the burgeoning ecdesiology of die Speechez
to the mature theology of The Cbn'stran Faith. The thesis condudes with die
suggestion that in his A~gsburg Confession sermons of 1830, Schleiermacher
consuucts a converging "fÙgaln ecclesiology - Protestant at its core but Cacholic
in ics sacramental, ministerial, eschatological and ecumenical anributes.
Essenudy, Sdeierrnacher's theology of the Church is an ecumenical one
seeking to constantly expand 'the ckde of Christian love".
"No one thercfore can bc surprised to find at this point the proposition that sdvution m blrzecdnr iiz in the Chzrrch done, and that, since blessedness cannot enter from without, but can be found wichin the Church ody by being brought into existence there, the Cburcb alone saves.
Friedrich Sdeiermacher, The Chri~tr'an F d h
Professors Iain Nicol and George Schner for their theologid guidance and inspiration.
& Pauicia and Mona for their support of this graduate project.
Inuoduaion
*Ecdesiology" in the Augsburg Confession of 1 530
The "Speeches" : Schleiermacher's " Burgeoning" Ecdesiology
Sdileiermacher's 1830 Augsburg Confession Sermons: The "Mature" Ecdesiology
1) The Context: Theology Serves the Pulpit 21 The Hermeneutics: The Architecture of the Sermons
S dileier macher's "Fu$" Ecdesiology : An Integrauon of the Pro testant and Catholic Visions
Bibliography
AppmdUc 1: Summary Chan of the Ten Sermons and Related Themes
AppendUc 2: Chart of Ham Frei's Typology of Christian Theology
AppcndUc 3: Chan of Sdeiermacher's "Fugaln Ecdesiology
Introduction
O n Sunday June 20,1830, a few days before the tercentenary commemorating the
Augsburg Codesion, Friedrich Schleiermacher addressed his parishioners with the
following cautionary sentiment: *Only if we approach this f i s u d in the knowledge
of our total fieedom fiom the letter ... only then will we be able to reckon this
celebration to our blessingn.1 A few months later, on November 7, 1830, he
completed his series of ten sermons on the Augsburg Confession by achorting his
undschtigen F m n h to ddgently maintain "not a unity written in codes but die
'unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace' ".2 To fiee oneself kom the letter in order
to engage in "noble servitude"3 to the Spirit of Christ - this was the rdying cry of
the pastor-theologian who became, for later generations of Christians, die founder of
modern liberal Protestant theology.
Though a romanticist at h e m for whom feeling took precedence over
knowing4 Schleiermacher's theological vision sought to preserve antithetical
elements in a dialogicd pair, never forsaking one at the expense of the orher. He
remained faithm throughout his life to the "coincidance of...contrariesn~ that
appears to undergird the deep mysterious structure of a human existence ennobled
and divinized by the saving grace of the Redeemer. He espoused the respectful
maintenance of an "equipoisen6 between such ancitheses as freedom and dependence,
sin and grace, humanity and divinity, emotion and reason, the whole and the
ii.agment, unicy and divenity, the individual and the community, the visible and the
invisible Church, and - the Catholic spirit and the Protestant spirit.
1 Friedrich Scblaermachcr, R+rmeti But Ewr RcjGnnmsSmnonr in &&tron ro Che Ce&& of rbc Handng Owr of the A~~ CÔn#mbn (1830) m. Iain N i d (LwLron: Edwin Meilen Press, 1997), p.22 ( F d c r cirations h m this work wili bc abbreviatcd CO Smnonr and the page number.)
S m ~ i y p.175 smns, p33 Friedrich Schleiamacher, The Chdzkn Frlith. edr. H.R Mackintosh and J.S. S m (Edinburgh: T&T
Clark), p.5 (Frurbcr citaaons WU be abbrcviaud CO CFand the paragaph (0) andor page number (p). 5 Jama Joysc, Finnqam W& (New York: Viking Press, 1939), 49 CE p.15
I
In the introduaory section to Thc Chnstàn Faith, Schleiermacher formulates
his dassical distinction between the Pro testant and Cath01 ic positions in
.. the former makes the individual's relation to the Church dependent on his relation to Christ, while the latter contrariwise makes the individual's relation to Christ dependent on his relation to Church.7
Note that on either side of this antithesis, Schleiermacher preserves a baiance
between the individual and the communal elements. He M e r warns that the
"greatest care musc be taken not to carry the antithesis too fir, lest we should fd
into un-Christian positionsn.8 When fàced with polar opposites, we are encouraged
to carry on the dialogue in a spirit of tolerance that seeks not to "constria the &de
of Christian loveng but rather to invite ail of humankind to rnernbership within the
vital fdowship of Christ the kdeemer.10 Ail are ulrimately destined to be eleaed
into the Kingdom of the Fathu. U n d such tirne, the Moravian pastor invites us to a
theological banquet that is emotive, critid and dialogid, where religious feeling
seeks understanding in a tolerant spirit of conversation with "the inhabiced earth".ll
For Schleiermacher, Christian faith is a search for bannony within the spirit of the
whok - a phrase that might summarize his position as a Christian theologian and his
prayer as a Christian pastor.
Wi& this ecumenical/colloquial ethos, I will argue the following thesic
In his 1830 semons cornmemorating the 300th anniversary of the handing over of the Augsburg Confession, Friedrich Schleierrnacher adv ocates an ecclesiology that is Catholic in
' a s 2 4 CF, P 24, p. 107 Sc*mom, p.136
Io ff, § 93, p. 384; § 113. p.525 11 ï h e mot mcaning of ecumcnicai, fiom the Grcek occumrni(os 'of ihe inhabiud d*.
2
spirit within the context of the pndominant Protestant spirit that
imbues his theological vision.
By the Protestant spirit, I refer to that trilithic core of principles that has
fiamed reformation theology since Wittenberg, namdy, s ~ ~ f ; k scn;bwra and
the priesthood of ail believers. Schleiermacher expounds this position throughout bis
sermons but parricularly in Semzon 2 of the Augsburg collection where, with
reference to the New Testament, he writes:
Thus, we have an important and permanent safeguard in scriphae insofar as we truly have concord in our faith in Christ, setting aside ail human authority, and acknowledge that no witness is valid for the development of doctrine and for the ordering of M e other than what is exprcssed in these writings.12
Later on he affirms "that di Christians shodd be priests" so that "the merence in
OU church becween those who prodaim God's word and those who hear it has &O
becorne smder and smaller." 13
As for the Catholic spirit, I dude ro Sdeiermacher's anrithetid views. On
the one hand, he uses the term Catholic to denote whac is "common to the whole
Church"l4, namely the universal, ecumenid, indusivist connotations implied in the
spirit of catbolicity. On the other, he adoprs the traditional Catholic position of
saivific exclusivity, namely, "no salvation outside the Church" or in
Schleiermacherian terms, no blessedness ourside the fellowship of Christ. In the
section on the doctrine of the Church from The Christian Frzith, he explicidy adopts
the position of St. Cyprianl5: No one thereforr cm be surprised to find at this point the proposition that salvation or blessedness is in the Chwch alone, and that, since blessedness cannot enter from without, but can
l2 S ~ O ~ L T . p.41 l3 smnonr , p.45 l4 CF, 5 2 1, p.96
h a c~claxanr dm. (No sabation mroidr the ChUrch) Sr Cyprian was bishop of Cardiagc. 248-258 C.E 3
be found within the Church only by king brought into existence the=, the Chwch alone saves. l6
(Emp hasis added)
This amithetical theme of an inciiuivist catholicity within a seemingly cxcfwivist
ecdesiology continues in the Augsburg Confession sermons as 'the goal toward
which the effort of the Evangelical Church is directedn.'7 AU are inviteci to job the
Church (the indusive thune) but unless you join, you rernain outside the cirde of
redeeming blessedness (the exclusive theme).
Finally, by the term ecclesiology, I point to the structure and role of the
Christian Ch& in the life of Gth. For Schleiermacher, the individu111 life of faith
springs from the communal Me of faith grounded in the reconciling work of the
Redeemer. Church as "the fdowship of believers"i8 arises from the redemptive work
taking effea within individuds. Ultimarely, the fiinaion of the Church is to make
the life of Christian piety possible. In Schleiermacher's vision, piety is an inherendy
ecclesial acuvity and Christian prayer is primarily communal.
The thesis WU comprise four inrerrelated chapters. Firstly, I wiU examine
ecdesiologid elements from the original Augsburg Confession document of 1 5 30 in
order to show Schleiermacher's Sn i ry widi one of che founding symbolic books of
Reformation history. The second chapter will consider Speech 4 from
Schleiermacher's collection, On Religion, ' 9 as the groundwork of his ecdesiology.
The third and most substantive chapter will involve a critical analysis of
Sdeiermacher's 1830 collection of sermons on the Augsburg Confession in order to
reconsuuct his ecdesiology and position irs role within his broader theological
program. As I analyze these sermons, I will atternpt to integrate into the argument
l6 CE 5 1 13, p.527 l7 The d e of h n 10. l8 CE 1 113. p.525 19 F k d k h Schkiamacher. On Rcli@on: Sperrba m ia Cukund Desphen, m. and cd. Richard Cmum (Gmbridgc: Cambridge University Press, 1 988)
4
Schlciermacher's related insights from his other works, pmidar ly The Chrtitian
Faith. In addition, this chapter will indude a section on the critical response to
Schleiermacher's theology fiom both Protestant and Catholic perspectives. The
fourth and 1s t chapter wiil engage the sdient features of Schleiermacher's mature
theology of the Church. I intend to delineate the consistency with which he pursued
his ecdesiology fiom his earliesr writings to hhis latest sermons - essentidy a Catholic
view within a Protemnt theological framcwork.
Cb'ptct 1
"Ecclesiology" in the Augsburg Confession of 1530
In the spring of 1530, the German Emperor Charles V convened a Diet in the
city of Augsburg ordering the Luthcran princes to present a statement of their faith.
Intending to settle the religious canuoversy berween Catholics and Protestants so
they could maintain a united front against the Turks, the Emperor had hoped for a
peaceful settlement among the divergent parties. With the approval of Luther, Phüip
Melanchthon prepared and wrote the document. The confessional statement was
signed by the German princes and presented ro the assembled Church and Stace
representatives at Augsburg on June 25, 1530.
This presentation of the Augsburg Confession ro the secular and sacred
authorities of the day was considered a courageous act of &th on the part of the
protesters "in view of the immense polirical and ecdesiastid power of the Roman
Church at rhat ùmen.20 In the foreword to his collecuon of sermons on the Augsburg
Confession, Schleiermacher echoes this view when he daims that the jubilee of 1830
celebrated "more the act of handing ovcr &e confession than the work or the content
of that document itselF.21 A s m d Christian fellowship expressing ics faith and
confessing it openly for the purpose of extending the cirde of Christian love - this for
Schleiermacher is the essence of being the Church of the Redeemer.
Though we may art01 the act of presenting h e confession, the document itself
was obviously not a blank manuscript, in spite of anecdotal reports that the Emperor
slept through its delivery. It is a carefdly crafied theological statement comprising
twenty-two Artides of Faith in Part I and seven articles d d i n g with ecdesiastid
abuses in Pan II. Its tone is reconciliatory; its theology is catholic; in aim is unity - as a reader c m surmise fcom Melanchthon's summation in Artide XXII:
20 Philip S M , A H* ofh C d of CbMordom (London: Hodder & Scoughron, 1877). p.226 21 Friedrich Schleiamachcr, Foreword. hmunc, p.2 (Emphasis dd4.
6
This is about the sum of doctrine among us, in which can be seen that there is nothing which is discrepant with the Scriptures, or with the Church Catholic, or even with the Roman Church, so far as that Church is known from writers [the writings of the Fathers]..But the dissension is conceming certain abuses. which without any certain authority have crept into the churches ... they should bear with us, since not even the Canons are so severe as to demand the same rites every where. nor w m the rites of ail churches at any tirne the same."
The priority of Scripwes, the importance of a unified uuly "catholic" Church, the
notion of corrective development, the plea for tolerance of the diversified
manifestations of the Christian Church - themes cenual to the proponents of the
Augsburg Confession of 1530; themes equally important to Schleierrnacher's
Augsburg Sermons written in 1830 to commemorate this founding act and
document of the reformed chucch, mer reforming.
The next step to be taken is an examination of those Articles dealing with
Church issues in order to discern the type of ecclesiology that animates this
confessional symbol, an ecclesiology resonant with and yet distanced from
Sdileiermacher's own theologid oudook.
In the Preface irself. we encounter an ecumenical ecdesiology similar to that
espoused by Schleiermacher in his sermons. We note a concern to ernbrace the true
religion "as we are subjecrs and soldiers of the one Christ, so also in uniry and
concord, we may Iive in the one Chrisuan churdi".23 The aim of the Augsburg
Confession is die removai of dissension so rhat dl parries can return "to confess one
ChrisP.24 This suiving for unity, for invithg al1 belicvers to the one Christ underlies
22 con+% f i d e XXI, p. 27 in Thc Cm& of the E v a n g c I ; c a I ~ t ~ n t Chtrtrhcr, mnr. Pbilip Schaff, (Ladon: Hodda & Stoughoon, 1887).
Augs6urg Confcrtion, p.4 24 Ibid p.5
7
most of the document, as it drives most, if not all, of Schieiermacher's theologicai
projm.
Artides V, VII, VIII, XIV and XV explicitly address ecdesiasticd topics:
Ministry of the Church; Of the Church; What the Church 1s; Of Ecdesiastid
Orders; and Of Ecdesiastid Rites. In addition, Anides IX through XII1 take on die
sacramenu as essentid components of ecdesiology. Two related questions need to be
posed at diis point. Firstly, what aspects of these Articles' ecclesiology does
Sdileiemiadier accept? Secondly, what features does he reject?
We can argue convincingly that the only feature Schleiermacher is
uncornforrable with is the condemnatory tone towards those who believe differendy.
The "Damnant Anabaptistas" of Artide V or the "Damnant Donaristas" of h i c l e
VI11 are phrases that Schleiermacher considers incompatible with the religion of the
Redeemer. As he indicares in S m n 8 of his Augsburg collection, to condernn others
is to ignore Jesus' exhonation not to judge or condemn others but to forgive thern.25.
Schleiermacher goes on to opine: Jesus' waming against judging and condemning equdly
applies to what we rake to be mistaken about the notions and opinions of others. as weli as to what we must consider to be wrong in the conduct of a person's life.26
Mu& better and more effective, Schleiermacher would argue, is to invite dissenrers
into dialogue. Conversation is Christian; damnation has no place in o u religion - so
Schleiermacher would condude.
As for what Schleiermacher would agree with, we can delineate five resonating
features in the ecdesially relevant Artides. Firstly, there is the notion that the essence
of Spirit-inspired ministry consists of the two-pronged activity of preadiing the Word
and administering the Sauaments. To quote fiom Artide V: "Nam per verbum et
Sacramenta, tanquam per insuumenta, donatur Spiritus Sanctusn.27 P r e a h g the
Gospel and administering the Sacraments are signs of the continual and perpetud
presence of Christ in the Church.
In The ChtiztKrn Faith, Schleiermacher rdects this view where he proposes six
essential doctrines related to the immutable aspect of the Church.28 Preadiing the
Word, administering Baptism and distributhg the Lord's Supper stand as the most
important activities of Church minisuy and membership. The Minisrry of the Word
of God as a "living witness to Christ" is "taken univenally as the dury and calling of
every member of the Churchn.2g Preaching is "the most spiritual Minisrry"; it is "the
ordered presencation of the Word of God ... from which all radiates out and to whkh
all is in relationn.30 The Word and the Sacraments form and sustain ecclesid
fdowship. In this respect, Sdeiermacher's ecdesiology lies within the sarne vein as
that of the Augsburg Confession.
We note similarities as well with the second and third salienr features of
Augsburgian ecdesiology, namely, the Church as "congregatio Sanctorumm,3' the
congregacion of saints and the locus of Church as wherever "the Gospel is righdy
taught and the Sacraments rightly administered."32 For Schleiermacher also, the
Church is essencially "the fdowship of believers" who concinue "the work of
redemptionn33 initiared by Christ. This "work" is the evangelical and sacramental
activity "in behalfof the Kingdom of God which embraces men together in the grasp
of the love flowing from Hirnm,34 the Redeemer. Wherever there is a "coming
27 Au@& Çon+n, p.10 'For by the Word and Sammcnr, as by insmimcnrs rh Holy SpLit is @ai" 28 CF. 5 127, p. 586 29 CF, p. 588 3O p. 616 31 A~~ Confiion, p. I l 32 hi&, p.11-12 33 m. p.577 34 CF, p.576
togethu of regenerate individuds to form a system of mutuai interaction and co-
operationn,3s there is the hm of Church.
Tolerating the diumity with which the Christian faith can be expressed in
multifanous human traditions constimtes a fourth meeting point between Augsburg
and Schieiermacher. The confession emphasiw that customs, rites or cerunonies "ab
hominibus institut as"^ (iitituted by men) need not be al l alike everywhere. Quoting
from the letter to the Epbaiam, the document rerninds us that "these is one &th, one
baptism, one God and Father of a.Un.37 Expressing this divine onenus through
human divcrsity, however, is the n a d outcome of a fàîth incarnated within history.
Ulumately, we are unified as Christians by the Gospel and the Sacraments: "And
unto the uue unity of the Chur&, it is s&cient to agree concernuig the doctrine of
the Gospel and the administration of the Sacramentsm.38
In his discussion of the putative differences between the Lutheran and
Reformed theological positions with respect ro confessions, Schleiermacher works out
of this Augsburg spirit of uniry within diversity when he condudes: "1 did not at all
find that 1 stood in a different relationship to this festival from thar of my Luthman
hothm in the rniniscry on account of my belonging to the Reformed schooln.39
Schleiermacher always underscores the prioricy of perceiving through the cornplex
historid-cultural tapestry of humanity a udying thread, namely, die common spirit
of humankind as responding to the redemption accomplished by Jesus of Nazareth, a
resDonse leadine to a vital fdowshio with Christ the Redeemer.
Lasdy, the efficacy Sacraments as ordained
emerges as a
and commanded by Christ
theme common to both the
conféssion's and Sdileiermacher's sacramental theology. Implicit in this position is
the prioriv of &th-righteousness over works-righteousness. God &OB& Christ
alone brings goodness - no manu what the odds. Christ's definitive victory over the
dark forces of evil is such that even "the minisuy of mil men" is neither "inutile
(useless)" nor "inefficax (in&ective)".41 Sacramental power works through and in
spite of evil to effect its goal of inviting aIl of humankind to fdowship with the
Redeemer. A common ground appcars to surface at this point between the classicai
Protestant principle of sulafide and the traditional Catholic notion of ni opme operato
42 - in that both principles undergird the absolute eEcacy of the Sacramena as
channels of Christ's redemptive presence in the world.
To sum up then, the Augsburg Confession of 1 530 as a foundatiod symbolic
document of Protestantkm ernbodies an ecdesiology echoed in Schleiermacher's own
theology of the Church as evangelical, sacramental and ecumenicai. In short, both are
really committed to the good of the ecclcsia catholira, the univerd, Catholic Church.
4i ~ugsbwg C o n t o n , p. 13 42 'A tcrm uscd by thcol&uir to express the csscnUaIly objective mode of operation of the Sacramena and irs indcpenduia from the nibjmive aGnidcs of ùcher rbe minlrcr or che rccipienr.' The Con& O+& DKtionq of *iu Chturian Churrb cd. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (New York Orford Univa-sjry Press. 1977)
11
c/Jpm2
The Speeches Sdeiermacher's "Burgeoni.ng" Ecclesiology
In his attempt to reach out to the "cultured despisers" of religion,
Sdileiermacher published in 1799 a series of five speeches on the subject of
religion.43 His purpose was ta reach out to &ends and acquaintances in order
to demonsuate that one can be bot . culturally sophisticated and religiously
&ected without having one in codict with the other. In ha, Schleiermacher
goes one step f i d e r and argues throughout the collection that a human being
canno t help but be "religious", rhat is, cannot help but be touched in some way
by an intuition and feeling for the infinite. We each of us arperience in either
impliUt or explicit ways a taste for the infinite, a yearning for a different redity
fiom the one we are engaged in widiin our quotidian context.
The Speeches then as they have corne to be known are essentially an
experiment in uanslacing the "religious experiencen of humanity into a generic
vocabulq that wodd be meaningfd and relevant for Schleiermacher's
contemporaries. In Speech 2, for example, he speaks of being "religiousn not as a
cognitive activity of assent to beliefs but rather as an affective experience of
tasting divinity in and through humanity's communal living. We don't look to
the douds for a God "out there"; rather we enter wi& the imer sanctum of
our consciousness to discover the "God withinn, the divine presence wirhin the
interior casde of our sou1 - to borrow fiom St. Teresa.
Wirhin this rnauix of relevant theoIogical uanslarion, Speech 4appears as
the groundwork for Sdileiermacher's ecdesiology. The f o d speech contains
in a nascent form Schleiermacher's theology of the Church, a theological
position that cornes to fnlltion and manrrity in his lacer work, The Chrisdan
Faith. In this chapter, we will consider cwo aspects of Schleiermacher's
*3 Friedrich Schieicrmuher, On Mgion: Spc& ta ia Cuhred Dnpirm 12
burgeoning ecdesiology: the hmeneutriaf viewpoint ( or the view "from
without") and the c o n d v i e w (or the view "fiom within").
A) The Hermeneutid Wewpoint
An examination of the structure of the Speeches may well lead one to ask
the foIlowing question: Does the order of the Speeches contain a due as to the
theologid intent of Schleiermacher? One could indeed argue affirmauvdy that
Sdileiermacher intends a "movemen t " in religious unders tanding fio m the
isolateci individual to the interacting community, fiom introspection to societal
vision, fiom the self to the world. This intentional undertow in the collection
can be represented as a series of concentric &des - moving away fiorn die self
as "monad" to the self as "manifestation" of humanity. Ultimately, the
"rdigious" self is ineluctably a "communal" self. For Schleiermacher, chue is no
religion without community.
Within the innermost circle lies the self of Speech I crying to End a
religious sense within segregated consciousness. In Speech 2, the self encounters
the Other wirhin others. Speeches 3 ,4 and 5 move progressively ourwards from
persona formation of the religious sense to social and universal development.
The encounter between self and religion is mediated through the selfs
relationships in communicy. By the end of the Speeches, SSdileiermacher has led
us away fiom the dangers of a solipsistic pierism to a community-driven and
cornmunity-defined notion of life lived within a "religious" ethos.
At rhis point, we can dso ask a second herrneneutical question,
particularly in reference to Speech 4 Does the "title" of the fourth speech give
us a due to Schleiermacher's theological projea? Once again, we answer in the
affirmative for Schleiermacher intends to lead us from the social element in
religion to the ecdesial factor in Christianity. The argument is positioned as
foUows: Religion as essentially a socid phenorneno n develops in to Chris tianiry
13
as essenùally an cccksiai phenomenon - where aIl members are expected to be
pr ie~ t~ for one another. To be Cht.frttan for Schleiermacher is co be Chrch.
The C o n t d Perspective
Having briefly examined the Speeches "60m without", we can now focus
on the text of Speech 4 itself in order to discun "from within" the underlying
ecdesiology that imbues this section on the social nature of religion. We shall
consider twehe key themes upon which Schleiumacher's contaal perspective
We begin with a summative statement at die outset, a dedaration that
sets the tone for the enüre speech: "Once there is religion, it musc necessarily
also be sociaY.4 This is Sdileiermacher's resounding theme, namdy, t h there
is an inherent, innate "social" nature to religion. To put it in terms of the
contemporary Catholic spirinia theologian, Henri Nouwen: communion with
the divine inevirably leads to the community of those who have experienced the
divine and wish to share that experience with each orher. T o encounter God is
to encounter the human fdowship of those who are so touched by a sense of
the infinite that die "touch" brings them together to worship in community.
In tasting the infinite, humanity becomes in a sense divinised or deified. In
encountering God, we become like God. We experience what the Eastern
Christian traditon cals theosis or participation in divine life. Recovery of this
concept is a dominant therne in curent Cacholic spiritud/ethid theology as
evident in Mark O'Keefe's Becoming Go04 Becoming H0ly.45 Today's spiritual
theologians may very well find a resonant conversation partner in
Schleiermacher with his notions of religious fdowship.
44 Spmba p. 73 (AU page r d e r m m in rh. thesis rcfer to rhe Crouter mnslauon & edition, 1988) 45 Mark O'KKfe, Brromhg G d kcoming Hob (N.Y.: Paulist Press, 1995)
14
A second theme in Speech 4 cenues around the image of the "city of
GodY ï h e social, commuaal expression of religion fùnctions as a preview and
foretaste of the *heavenly bondw47 among humans who experience mutuality,
cordialiry and "most perfect equaütym.48 The "practiced sense of community" 49
U brings the hearts of al l rdigious persons on to a common sragen.5* This
"common stagew wiil metamorphose in The C M n Faith into the worshiping
stage of believus embraced by the Redeemer, chat is, the Church.
A third element focuses on one of the pillars of Reformation theology,
namely, the "priesthood of aIl beiievers". Religion as a socid phenomenon
engenders for Schleiermacher a society of "priestly people" .5 * An authentic
religious community is a sacerdotal demouacy where members function both as
priesrs and laity, "where each alternately lads and is led; each follows in the
other the same power that he also feels in himself and with which he rula
others."52 Indeed for Schleiermacher, the Church aims to become "a perfect
republicn53, a concept reflecting Schleiermacher's Platonic interests as well as
duding to the "royal priesthood, holy nationn% statu to which God's people
are called.
T d y religious associations are cded to an egalitarian mode of living
that overcomes "discord and dissensionn55 by concentrahg on the notion of a
unified spirit underlying superficial differences. As Schleiermacher puts it in
Speech 4 "1 see nothing except rhat alI is one and that d disUncrions that really
46 Spemha, p. 75 47 %id p. 75 48 Ibid 49 &id. So Ibid
Ibid. p. 76 s2 Xbid. 53 Ibid. s4 1 Pcur 2:9 55 S p m k p.76
e x i s t in religion flow smoothly into one another through the social
association".s6 A universal priesthood engenders a communal spint that
becomes a brce of unification in the world.
In his 1830 Augsburg Confession homiletic collection, Schleiermacher
continues this e!galitarian theme in Smnon 6 under the topic of confession. In
that sermon, he espouses the blessings and benefits of an equal mode of
confession where members confess cheir sins to each other57 such that the
confessional trust among brethren enhances "the unifymg power
faithn.s8 In a sense, confession becomes an ecumenical witness
Church.
of Christian
to a unified
Unity underiying dittmity is a fourth important thune in Speech 4 The
fragments of Me are dl "inseparably bound up with the wholen.sg In so far as
human persons are inexuicably in contact with others, "one bond encloses
them allw60 so rhat we are all "flowing, integraring part(s) of the whole..".61
Later, in his mature theology, Sdeiermacher will ident* the whole with the
redeeming Body of Christ Le. the Chutch - to which all of humaniry is called.
In essence, the individual believer has no life apm from che whole community,
rhat is, apart fiom the Church.
The call for religious tolerance constirutes another therne in Speech 4 and
becornes the leitmotif for mosr of Schleiermacher's work. If one had to select
the key principle that motivated Sdeiermacher throughout his life as both a
theologian and pastor, it would be that of tulerance for all creanires great and
small. In Speech 4, he warns against wresting from a puson whatever "portion
s6 %id. 57 Taking hir cue hom jrrmes 5: 16
Smons, p. 104 59 Spmha, p.?7 60 ibid 61 Ibid.
of religionn62 chat person has chosen for it is society's role to enhance the
religious sense in whatever form it chooses to appear. In S m o n 8 on the
Augsburg Confession, he specifically pleads against condemning those who
believe difKerently for to condemn others is to "wantonly constrict the urde of
Christian lovene and in essence irnplies a condemnation of ourselva. We are
called rather to a *loving forbearance"64 towards d of humanity, caking our cue
from the redemptive love of Jesus of Nazareth.65
Distinguishing between the "uue" church and the *cornmon" church is a
sixth preoccupation in Speech 4 For Schleiermacher, the "tnien church exists
wherever there is a true mutual communication based on a shared affective
experience of the infinite. This "uue" church is the "church uiumphantn, not
the church "that still suuggles against all the hindrances of religious culturen
but the church "that has already overcome everychuig that was opposed to it
and has ucablished itself."66 By contrast, the "common churchn is of'ten a
hierarchic rather than a democratic assembly and la& mutuality. Church goers
remain passive recipients of doctrines, rules and "dead concepts" and fail to
experience the "living intuitions and feelings from which they were origuially
derivedn. 67 We sense at this stage in Speech 4 the beginnings of an ecclesiology
based on an inclusivist sense of the work of the Spirit: The Church is for all and
all are destined to become Chur& h o u & the sustaining and indwelling work
of the Spirit. In a sense, for Schleiermacher, we do not so much belong to a
church as much as we become the Church in our religiously affected fdowship.
62 Ibid p. TI 63 Smnonr. p. 136
Ibid. 65 CF.§ 11.p.52 66 Sp'~~:ha, p. 78 67 Ibid., p.81
The seventh theme appears as a reprise of the who& in thefiagmrna The
prolifération of "churches" doan't bother Sdileiermacher since he views the
rnultif~ious forms of Christian communities as simply "detached fwment(s)
of the m e and universal church, which is just maruring quietly and slowly
toward its union in spirit witk this great who1eB.68 This undercurrent of
"catholicity" in Schleiermacher's ecdesiology points towards a "Catholic" view
of the Church rather than the uaditional Protestant one. There is only one,
holy, catholic and apostolic Church. However, it resides neither in Rome nos in
Berlin but in the redeemed heans of those united around the one Redeemer
who maintains his presence and power in the very process of affective religious
fellowship. For Schleiermacher rhere would appear to be many roads co
Emmaus; it is the common goal which unites us - the coming of the Kingdom
of God in full consummation.69 Until this point of hal completion, we are a
Chuch "on the way", a Church whose goal is unity and peace.
In S m o n I O of the Augsburg collection, Sdileiermacher pursues this
theme of the unifying goal of the Church. The Church in this last sermon is
presented as God's work of continuous sanctification enacted in human form
and fashion and guided by the Spirit.70 This collaborative work calls us to
become not passive spectarors "expecting something fiom beyond", but radier
to engage the world as active participants, as CO-redeemers of Our own
humanity. This would appear to be a Jarnesian influenced works-ethic
"Catholicn theology of the Church rather than the uaditional Pauline inspired
faith-ethic of "Protestantn theology. To be fair to Schleiermacher's overd
theological vision however, it would be more accurace to Say that
68 ibid., p.83 69 CF. 1 157, p. 696
Scnnonr, p. 156
Sdeiermacher ho16 the Jarnesian and Pauline ecdesiologies in a dialogical
pair.
In many ways, Sdeiermacher is both Catholic and Protestant at the
same Ume. He is cornfortable Living with ambiguiry, with the juxtaposition of
opposites. He is not so concerned, as Hegel was, to synthesize amitheticai
rdities. We live in both a s a and a graceful world - where light is the lefi
hand of darkness, where divinity appears when and where we lest expect it. We
are cdled to be in constant dialogue with al1 aspects of a world already
redeemed and yet to k redeemed in full glory.
The eighth theme is a variation on the tme churchlfalse church
dichotomy. In essence, Schleiermacher points out the way in which the spirit of
the uue church can become institutionalized into a "false" church where the
initial affectivelprophetic energy wanes into p e b c t o r y routine rituals. Here
he anticipates the sociology of religion work developed by the mentieth century
author, Max Weber. In his book, The Sociolon ofReiz"''on, Weber idencified
what he termed "the routinization of the charisman7' whereby
inscitutionalization can lead to die de-spiritualization of the church.
As a pastor involved in the socio-political structures of his day,
Schleiermacher was well aware of the dangers when a [rue church of the spirit
becornes "politicized" into a Use bureaucratie entity. The trappings of e a d y
riches can easily replace uue religious feeling, as he writes in a somewhat
rhe torical, poetic W o n : Indeai, if only no prince had ever been aiiowed in the temple before he
had laid d o m in front of the portal the most beautifui omaments, the
nch cornucopia of all his favours and tokens of honoia! But they have
taken it with them: they have presumed that they could decorate the
simple nobility of the heavenly edifice wiâh the tarrers of their earthly
71 Max Weber, Th SbcioI;ogy ofRhcügion (Boxon.1963) as quored in fmmote 12 on page 84 of rhe Crouter edition
19
splmdor, and instead of a sanctified heart they have left behind worfdly gifts as offerings to the highest t~eing.~z
Indeed with institutionalization, "the vitniosos of holinessn who embodied the
uue spirit of religion are replaced by " v ~ o s o s of political bureaucracy" who
instantiate the Çdse spirit of a false church. Schieiermacher pleads against
politid intrusion into religion The resulc of such fore@ importation is the
defilement of uue relqpous füowship. In this appeal, Schleierrnadiu appears as
a modern day prophet c a l h g his flock back to thek original covenant with the
Redeemer. Ultimately, the true chuch as a community of freely chosen
mutually caring reiationships needs nothing ëxcept a language in order to
understand each other and... a space to be togerher , chings for which they need
no prince and his favourn.73
A quadruple litany of pleas comprises the ninth concern in Speech 4.
Firstly, a plea for religious tulerance as there are thousands of individual
intuitions and "different ways in which these intuitions might be put together
in order to illumine each other? As he so eloquently and forcefully describes
ic:
Master and disciple must be allowed to seek out and choose one
another in perfect -dom, otherwise one is lost for the 0 t h ; one must
be pennitted to seek what is beneficiai to all individuais. and no
persons must be compelled to give more than they have and
uncimtand75
If reLgion isn't fieely chosen for Schleiermacher, chen it isn't m e religion.
Secondly, a restated plea for a ciro~aticp~estbuudof all believers such that the
distinction between priests and la ig can be "sofknedn to the point where lairy
can be at the same cime priests. This egalitarian notion of the Church as the
72 SpcmQ4 p. 85 '3 lbid., p.88 74 Ibid., p.89 '5 Ibid.
people of God anticipates, a century before its cime, the democrauc concept of
the Catholic Church resurrected with Vatican II in die 1960's.
A &rd plea calls for an ecumenical spirit that will overcome "the
malicious spirit of sectarianism and proselycizing, which always leads fùrther
away fiom the essence of religion"? T d y religious people do not feel that rhey
belong to hermetically seded "distinct" cirdes. They may identify with a
particular manifestation of the religious experience but they do not d u d e
thunselves nor do &ey ordude others fiom the common taste for the infinite
resident within each member of humanicy. The taste for the infinite in the
Speeches which becomes the feeling of absolute dependence as the "essence" of
religion in The Chnktiian Faith moves on to become the personal relationship
with the Redeemer as the "essence" of Christianiry.
The final plea is an invitation to form a religion of action rather than a
religion of empty words, a religion where one's entire Me becornes a "priestly
work of art". Schieiermacher writes: "If their whole life and every movement of
their inner and outer form are thus a priesdy work of art, then perhaps, by this
mute speech, the sense of what dwells in them will open up in rnanyn.n Indeed
chis is none other than the priestly prayer of Jesus in John's gospel: The world
wiU corne to know you by the love you have for one another.78
The importance of rhefamily as the tirst and last source of true religious
spirit brings us to the tenth theme. "If sounds of love accompany dl
movements", Sdileiermacher writes, "the family has the music of the spheres in
its domainn.79 Pious dornesticity becomes prepararory ground for mature
religious feeling. Indeed, if pushed to the wall, Schleiermacher would concede
76 Ibid., p.91 77 Ibid, p.92 78 john 140 5 79~peccb4 p.9 2
that the priesthood of the fàmily is ultimately the Ü u e " church. ALI other forms
are immateriai: " This priesshood was the first in the holy and childlike
primeval world and it will be the last when no other is any longer necessarym.8O
In Smnon l o f the A u g s b q wliection, Schleiermachu identifia the W y as
the Boden, the foudation of a virtuous society. Though churches may be
scattered, the spirit reigns suprane wherever two or three are gathered in the
name of the Redeemefl* who brings eternal life to all humanity through
community, however smdl and insignificant that community may seem to the
outside world.
The penulumate theme in Speech 4 centres on the notion of what later
came to be known in mentieth cuiniry theology as p u n - m - t h ~ . 8 ~ This is the
recognition of the Pauline position that the coming of Jesus as the Christ
reconciles all creation back to God83 so that in effm, as Sdileiermacher writes
at the end of Speech 4 : "Everydimg human is holy, for everydiing is divinen.84
To recognize infinite divinig within &ily humanity becaux die Word became
flesh and dwelled arnong us - this is Schleiermacher's reminder. We cannot
denigrate ueation for the Redeemer completes the creauon begun by the Father
and brings humanity to Godtonsciousness, to participation in divine Me.
Appropriately, Schleiermacher brings Speech 4 to a dose with the reprise
that there is noching nobler in human life than community where ëach is
simultaneously conscious of the otherm.8s We are calIed to become and to
continue to be a "band of brothers [and sisrers]" thar together form a choir of
fiiends singing the praises of the God that lives within human fdowship, the
8o Ibid., p.93 81 M& 1820 82 q. P d Ti&. ~ I ; O s . Vehme In 83 Cid 1:19-20
S'ha, p. 94 85 Ibid, p.94
22
God that caa be touched here and now. In this way and only in this way are we
'on the way to uue immortality and eternit.."
Chaper3
Schleiermachet's 1830 Augsburg Conféssion Sermons: The "Mature" Ecclesiology
1) The Con- Tbeology Smfi aSc Pdpit
On the fourth of April in 1830, King Friedrich Wihelm III issued a royal
directive for a festival to ammunorate the presentation of the Augsburg Confission.
Considering this symbolic document as the "principal foundation of the Evangelicd
church",87 the govanment intended to promote a spirit of unity arnong chuch
members and hopefùlly consolidate the ecumenical work of the Lutheran-Reformed
union begun in 18 17. This unification process had unfortunately corne to an impasse
with rhe radical muenchment of the confessionalists on one side and the rationalists
on the other. The former appeared committed to suingent doctrinal uniformity and
rectitude in a blind, unchanging sok fi& seemingly without thoughr; the latter
rernained coldly isolated in a "calculated policy of soia ratio in al1 matters
theologicaIn,*8 seemingly without &th.
Into this dichotomous arena, Schleiermacher emerges as a mediator,
anempting to inject a dialogid spirit into the controversy. He calls for a balance
between &th and reason; he advocates M r y wichin diversity; he incends primarily to
heal the divisions wichin his own ch& in Berlin. As Iain Niwl has aptly argued in
his introduction, Schleiermacher's 1830 response to the Augsburg Confession was
not so much an acadernic one benr on resolving the Halle dispute berween the
confessiondisa and the rationalists, but more a partoral one intent on h&g the
disorder in his own congregation. With this goal in mind, Schleierrnacher puts
theology at the service of the pulpit and delivers a series of ten sermons in the
summer and f d of 1830 on the subject of the Augsburg Confession.
87 Quopd ti I i n Nicol, introduction. h n r , p. a8 Ibid, p. ix
24
As we h ten to this collection of sermons, we can &cem three key intercalated
presupposiuons in Schleiermacher's presentation, The h s t presupposition States that
Christian doctrine as a human, historid formulation of Spirit is subject to a
continuous process of development. There is therefore no furcd body of docuinal
knowledge; docuine is forever cvolving.
The second presupposition daims that the Church as "an organic
of faith and life is, essentially, a living and dynamic historical
wmmunity
" 8 9 process
Consequently, the ecdesia is noc a fxed, unchanging institution; like its own
doctrine, the Church &O evolves over Ume undu diverse manifestations.
A third presupposition posics a threefold didectic of spirits underlying the
historical development of the Chrisuan Church. Firstly, there is the "original"
Christian spirit of the Gospel preached by the early diurch. Secondly, there is the
Catholic spirit as manifested in Roman Catholic traditional documents. Lady, the
Protestclnt spirit surfaces as embodied in the confessional wrirings of the Lutheran and
Reformed churches.
In this dialectic, all historical manifestations of the spirit of Christianity,
Catholic or Protestant, are to be "measured and judged"g0 against Scripture. In the
foreword to his collection of Augsburg sermons, for example, Schleiermacher
indicates his ailegiance to the Confssio Sigismandi of 161 4, "as long as it is in
agreement with holy scripnirem.9i Scripture aione is the n o m non nomanda, the
unnormed norm - a tmer of &di and argument held by most (if noc all) Protestant
and Catholic thinkers throughout the history of theology. For Aquinas in m e d i d
times, for Luther in the Reformation era, for Schleiermacher in the Romantic puiod
and for Barth or Rahner in our own cencury, Scripture is the theological cenue and
- p.
Ibid., p.xvii Ibid.. p. n
91 Schleiermacher, Forcword p. 4. noo 6 25
within Scripture , Jesus as the Word and the Christ is the "ascriptive subjectm92 of the
Christian f i t h cxperience - explicidy or implicitly. We would do weil to remember
this common evangelical ground when hced with ciassical Catholic-Protestant
theological debates. For Schleiermacher, diverse eccIesiologies are welcome
multifàrious epiphanies of the urilfying spirit of Jesussf-Nazareth-asasRedeunu. From the presuppositions stated above, a number of implications suggest
themseives.
Firstly, one of theology's task is the continuous reformulation of tradition,
assisting the process of doctrinal deveiopment rather than arresting ireg3 What was
"theirs badc then" cannot "be ours now" in the same sense. We need to maintain
continuity with the past while redescribing it for the present, neirher kidnapping a
ton from the past nor leaving it buried there. To the ment that Christian doctrine is
subject ro development and that the Spirit must be freed continually from the letter,
then the process of reformulation is never-ending, can never be brought to closure,
can never lay down its head until the eschaton and the final corning of the Kingdom
of Christ. Consequently, doctrinal documents like the Augsburg Confession are
syrnbols "surcharged with meaning", to borrow from Ricoeur, and confessional
interpretations can never be exhausred or condusive. In fact, on-going debates are a
sign of doctrinal health for Schleiermacher. Diversity of the letter within a unified
spirit of Christianity is co be encouraged.
A second implication is the emergence in Sdeiermacher's ecclesiology of an
eturnenical approach avant Ir temps. D o m i d differences are co be resolved not with
anathemas but in Smit und Liebe, in controversy and love. Evangelical freedom
arising fiom the spirit of Protestantkm can sustain "a plurality and diversity of
92 Hans Frei, T~pcr of Cht;Mn Thcology, eds. George Hunsingcr and Waam C Plachcr (New Haven: Yale Uniwticy Press, 19%) 93 Niad, li=oduuion, p. xvii
26
doctrine and pracricen?4 Within the same Christian fold devoted to the Spirit of
Christ, there is a place for the "plurality of voices" to put it in twentieth centwy
terms. Schleierrnacher exudes an inspiring confidence that the fieedom inherent in
the GospeI WU bring humanity together, mting that Christ is present wherever two
or three are gathered in His name whatever the words of the prayer or hyrnn may be.
As Nicol condudes: "Sdeiermacher may weU have prophesied the advent of the
Ecurnenid Movernent of the twentieth ~entuq?"'~~
The third implication arising from Sdeiermacher's presupposirions is that by
irs very developmental nature, the Chur& is indeed r@mata semper r(omczn& a u reformed church, ever reforming. This ever reforming" spirit applies to its
confessions, its liturgies, its theologies. The church lives in a dynamic state of
permanent dialogue. It is a church in perpetuai motion, subject to no human
document or institution, Save to Christ and His Spirit.
Christian faith calls us to be "pilgrims on the way to an
church forever on the horizon. We can take hem about
for Christ has promised to be with
For Schleierrnacher, the
Emmaus c h u r ~ h " , ~ ~ to a
being immersed widiin a
us to the very end of the
2) The Hèmzmeuh'cs: T h Architecture of the Snmons
Prior to a detailed invesrigation of the acmal contents of the Augsburg
Conlession sermons, we WU examine the underlying architecture upon which t h i s
collection is based. This query involves looking at three hermeneutical areas: the
s@tural, the ordinaIand the structural
From a scriptural viewpoint, Schleiermacher's choice of introductory New
Testament texrs for each sermon is significant for the dwelopment of his argument.
% Ibid., p. xxiiï 95 Ibid. p n i v 96 Nd., nv '' Ma.2820
We note the following selections, the combination of whidi reflects the dialcctic of
spirits that generates and sustains Schleiermacher's ecclesiologica discourse.
S i x of the sermons are based on Pauline letters - 1 and II Corinthians,
Gahtiuns, Ephesians and PhiIippians. Hcbrews is also induded as the source for
Snnion 5 on the uonce-for-all" sacrifice of Christ. These passages dearly represent the
Prot~skmt spirit. Constiniting seventy percent of his choices, there is no denring that
Schleiermacher wem his uue coloua as a theologian working within a traditional
Pro testant h e w o r k .
As for the remaining epistolary selections, however, both are caken from the
"Catholic" epistles - 1 Peter and James. The choice of chese New Testament texts
rdects an authentic concern for the C'tholic spirit - the Peuine drive for a unified
Church as well as the Jamesian cal1 for a "good worksn cornponent to faith.
Interestingly, in S m o n IO, Schleiermacher underscores the importance of being
active participants rather than passive specrators as believers involved in ecdesial life.
Instead of "expecting something fiom beyond", he writes, "we ourselves need to get
involved" for "the divine completion of this work is always at the same Ume a human
onem.9* Christ alone redeems, but as members of his vital fdlowship we are cded and
ordained to extend the redemptive cirde ro humankind in our daily lives. In this
particular instance and in fact throughout his ecdesiology, Sdileiermacher conrinues
to hold faith-righteousness (the Protestant spirit) and works-righteousness (the
Catholc spirit) in a didogica pair.
The only Gospel text selected for this collection of sermons is that of Luke
637. Considering Schleiermacher's predilection for John i Gospel in most of his
writings, it is most notable that on this occasion, he selects Luke. Why? Because
Lukei is the irenic gospel of tolerance, forgiveness and universality, chemes central to
his Augsburg sermons.99 Further, Lake's gospel and its sequel, Act% constitute the
sacred books chat establish the Church as the conünuauon of Christ's redeeming
work for humankind. LuAeMcts is the CatholiclEcclesiaI text suited to
Schleiermacher's Catholic-leaning ecdesiology and so he makes use of Luke ro
underpin these sermons d&g with the meanhg of being Church.
AS a theologian hl ly cognizant of hermeneutical infrastructures,
Sdileiermacher's placement of the Augsburg sermons in the panicular order in which
they occw is consequenrid. As with the Speeches, SdileiermacherS ordinal choice
with the Augsburg Semons dearly reflem an ecdesially-driven crajectory towards a
d y spiritual Church. The concern for avoiding inauthentic servitude to the Letter
of Smnon I leads to the championhg of m e ecdesial unity in S m o n IO, a uniry noc
written in codes but in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
Beginning with the Pauline exhortation to be suvants of Christ and the Spirit,
not slaves to men and leaers (Snmon I ) , Schleiermacher nert c d s upon the Peuine
challenge to defend the "hope that is in youw, but widi gencleness and reverence.
( S m o n Z). The handing over of the Augsburg Confession in 1530 is a dassic
example for Sdileiermacher of defending the Christian f ~ t h and cxpanding its hope
to d widrin an acmosphere of colaance and forbearance.
Snmons 3 and 4deiineate the implications of the Christian faith. We are fmr
justified by faih in Chrisr and rhrough this fith-righteousness, Christ cornes to live
in us. We then share his God-consciousness and participate in His divine Me. Rather
chan being reduced to doctrines, faith becomes a living, communal redicy. This c4 sharing and participation" howwer does not occur in a ghostly vacuum. It becomes
incarnared in the sacramenrd action of the Eudiarist (Smnon 5) and Confession
( S m o n 6). Confessing our sins to one another and s h a h g the Lord's Supper are
g9 Only Ucmnczins such unique pasages as rhc parable of the Prodigai Son (Lk 15:I 1-32), rhe thief who enurs paradise wich Jesus (Lk 2343) and the wrds: "Fathex. hrgive thcm for thcy know not what chcy don.(Lk 23.34). surely rhe cpitomc of rhc Spirit of forgiveness - CO forbcar one's o m accurionen.
29
signs of the presence of the Spirit in our communally- expressive faa . Although as
Christians we are al l called to be spiritual priests for one another, there is scill the
necessiry for public minisuy (Smnon 3, for a d e r i d priesthood ro oversee the f ~ t h -
community - protecting, encouraging and enhancing the fellowship with the
Within this sacramentallecclesial community, there is no room for
condemnation of those who believe differently (Smnon 8 nor for a wrathf'ul,
vmgeful God ( S m o n 9) to frighten humans into a fear-ridden belief. Rather the
Church as the Redeemer-cenued community lives with tolerant kindness and prays
to a loving, forgiving God. (Smnon I a)
Findy, the ultimare goai of the Christian life is not perfect adherence to
human rules and rimais (the Letter) but rather a love-abounding ecclesid unig (the
Spirit) that instantiates in human form die divine completion of the sanctification of
the world. This sanctification is enacted through the service of human beings.
To sum up then, Schleiermacher's hermeneutid ordering of the ten Augsburg
Sermons erects a matrk upon which his thematic arguments WU lie. The very order
of these sermons reveais Schleiermacher's theological, pastoral intent - to coax and
coach his parishioners away from a self-preoccupied, letter-enslaving, exclusivist
pietism towards an ecdesially-cenued, S pirit-driven, inclusivis t faith.
The f d hermeneuticai aspect to be considered in Ais section is that of the
consistent structure with which Schleiermacher builds each sermon. He begins with a
s c r i j m r a l tnct, spells out its theologicai impCicatiom and suggests its ethicai applicationr
for the Christian Me of communal piety.
Consider, as an example, S m o n Gon rhe exhortation to confess our sins.
Based on the James 5: 16 tan, Schleiermacher's introduction immediately situates
confession within die conrext of the Eucharistie sacrament. Confession is not
wncerned wih "an enmeration of panicular trespasses".'* Rather the confession of
sias "belongs to our partaking of the supper of our Redeemer as a fiesh reassufance of
the divine f~r~iveness".'~' The theological iimpiicah.on of the Jarnesian text is that
confession is really a "subject of prayer"l02 and is meant for healing and
remnciliation, not for piuiishment and atonement. The blesings of confession in an
d i t a r i a n mode reflect the priesthood of all believers. Ultimacely, confasion
becomes an ecumenical witness, a witness co the "ulufying power of Christian
fàith".'03 The ethical appIicatioon of James' exhortation for Schleiermacher is to act in
such a way that brotherly and sisterly ~t is ro undergird aIl our relationships with
each other as a refleaion of our uusting relationship widi C.hist.
This three-fold movement of scriptural text, theological implicacion and
ethical application aco as the homiletic paradigm for all of Schleiermacher's sermons
in this collecüon. As a model, rh is structural componenr of each sermon rweds a
theology concerned about and devored to the pastoral needs of the rccksia, a theology
gui* parishioners towards a bdief-and-behaviour mode refleccive of their common
faith in the Redeemer.
3) The Te, At Lad : T h m s and Variiations
Having considered the contemual and hermeneutical framework for the
Augsburg sermons, we can now oramine the text itself in order to tease the fàbric of
ecdesiai themes and variations wntained herein, a capestry cornprising an essenudy
Cathotic ecclesiological foregound w i t b a Protestant theologid badcgroundP
Smnon I : Admonition Concming Serf-Induccd Smi t zuù
For Schleiermacher, the "whole kernd of this confession"lO5 comprises the
Redeemer as the only-begotten Son of the Fathes and the Spirit "whose outpouring
on his people he first requested of the Fathern.106 In other words, it is the expression
of a Redeemer-centred cornmunitarian faith, a faith chat generates, sustains and
celebrates a communal life refleccive of the divine life of the Trinity.107 The
communal iife of the eccksiia acts as a window to the communal life of 3ie Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
What are the feamres of this ecdesial life? It is characterised not by a self-
induced slavery to institution or confessionaf document but by a "noble, spirirual
servinide in Christ".l08 It is animateci by an egalitarian spirit of friendship where none
c d each 0 t h masrer, for the only master is Christ. It c d s al1 of us to share in the
work of Christ who transfers us fiom the "kingdom of darkness" ro the "kingdom of
lightn.lOg Christ has already accomplished die wosk of salvation and in faith we
gracefùlly receive the fnrits of His labour - Protestant spirit territory. But, as noble
s e m t s of the Redeemer, "we too are part of this stniggle and ic behooves us too to
share in paying the price to be paid for odiersn.l10 There are " M e r bades" to be
A s u r n r ~ ~ ~ rhut of the ren wrmonr rnd rhur rdevant themer ir provided for the rcadcr in Appuidix 1. los h m , p.23 *O6 Ibid. lo7 For Schleicrmachcr, the Triniry' is m d l y &n in the modalistic seme of Srbellius. Sec p.750 of chc CE IOr, Ibid. p 3 3
%id. p JO Io Ibid. p 3 1
32
fought and more suffiring required "to complete Christ's afnictions"~~~ - Catholic
spirit terrain. Schleierrnadier appears to wak a ughuope: as a Protestant, he can
never let go of fàith-righteousness; yet, the im plici t necessity of worlcs-righteousness
haunts him like a spectre. His Protestant side assures hirn of the Redeemer's victory;
his Catholic side calls him to the everlasting stniggIe und we do achieve the
"uninterrupred enjoyrnent of al l blessiqp of the kingdom of Godm.1l2
Unfomuiately, while we toil on this side of paradise, we are faced widi not
only a divided world but a divided diurch. This divisive ecdesial condition shodd
not lead us to grievous despair but rather should evoke a 'loving forbearancen and an
"&hg compassionn~~3 for uuly we know not what we do. We conrinue to live in die
shadow of Calvary, with the cries of the Redeemer redounding in our ears. Yet, we
cake hem that we will be with him in paradise. In the interim, we act to "ensure that
the bond of the unity of the Spirit will not be dissolved by these divergent
tendencies". '4 We live as fiee suvants of Christ dedicated ro the Word, never forcing
others ro become "slaves
this: that all is ours, but
of any human word or prescription, for
we are Christ'sVs The Word of God
our freedom lies in
before the word of
By the end of this fxst sermon, Sdileiermacher has dearly delineated some
essential features of his ecdesiology. He cds his flock to a spiritual, egalirarian,
compassionate church where much work of service
fdow pastors to become leading examples to the
s r i l l needs to be done. He c d s his
flock, servants to the communiry
and "stewards of the mysteries of Godn.116
l3 Ibid. p 3 2 l4 ibid. p.33 '5 Tbid.
Ibid. p27
Smnon 2 : On the Handng Uuer of the GnfMOn
lu Giving an Accountfir the Ground of Hope
Tho* it begins with a Catholic epistle~~' exhoning us to ddend our &th,
the second sermon is for the most part a classical expression of the three pillars of the
Protestant spirit: justification by faith alone; scripture as the sole norm for Christian
doctrine and practice; and the priesthood of all believers.
Lest we suspect that he h a defmed to the Catholic camp, Sdileiermacher
unequivodly reminds us that neither extemal works nor any meritorious activities of
o u own can "bring peace with Godn.l18 Radier, righteousness cornes from God
through the one He has sent so that in communion with the Son we might have
eternd life. This communion involves a "living faith in the Redeernerm1I9 who done
brings salvation and peace. AU other things are to be rejected, even confessional
documents, for "the letter of the text" should nwer prevent "the advance and increase
of knowledgen120 of the life of the Spirit.
On this latter issue, Sdileiermacher departs from many of his confessionalisr-
oriented Protestant contemporaries for whom confessional symbols like the Augsburg
document were written in Stone with the same degree of normativity as die original
tablets of Exodus or the Bearirudes of the Gospels.12l O n the contrary, for
Schleiermacher, the understanding of Our faith evolves over tirne so chat the
articulation of this faith in written documents &O develops over urne. In shon, the
meaning of a tnct. even a scriptural text, depends on the hiscorical c o n t a It meant
something then in its own tirne; it means something different now to us in our own
l i7 I P e r 3 : 1 5 l8 Scimonr, p.38
1 19 Ibid. 120 %id. p 3 9 121 It is &rcsting CO note chat contcrnporary support for Sdikicrmrcher's notion of docuinal devdopmcnt came fiom thc Gtholic rheologian, johann S&artr;afi Drry (1777-1853). thc founder of the Gchoiic hculv nt the University of Tübingen. Drcy's rchnonship with Schieicrmubu's cheology is addressed in n rubsequent sedon of rhis thesis.
34
situation. Docuine, as the expression of &th in a given contua, ineluctably changes
and develops over time. The rask of the pastoral theologian is to discern, preserve and
enliven the spirit of &th thou& its letter may change over tirne. The husk may fd
by the wayside; the kernd m u t be protected and sown und the h d wming. Each
generation will address &th in irs own dothing so that it speaks relevantly to its own
rimes. The danger, however, might be that we lose sight of the core of our %th.
For Schleiermacher, the continual presence of the Spirit within the vital
fdowship of the Redeemer will dways Save us fiom any impending loss of sight of
our &th. The preaching of the Word ensures us of this presence. This preaching
aaivity is not limited to formal addresses fiom the pulpit. It is ofkn instantiated in
public actions such as the very act of handing over the Augsburg Confession in 1 530.
Schleiermacher cites thee praiseworrhy aspecrs surrounding this deed of living
&th. Firstly, it was an exemplary action of faithfulness, the faith of die Evangelicd
church in action in the real world of its own cimes. The procesrers in 1530 did not
cower in underground caves or escape to monastic enclaves to profess their faith.
Radier diey courageously stood in a public forum addressing the polirical-ecclesial
powers of the day to confess their religious bdiefs and practices.1~
Secondly, it was an atrempc to maintain unity within a diversified expression
of &di. The aim "was not ar ail to establish a new and separate community but was
simply to preserve their liberty of consciencen123 within a unified church.
Schleiermacher argues that had the Church of Rome been willing to dlow divergenr.
regionai tendencies within on overriding unity, the Reformation would perhaps no t
have spawned a schismatic but rather a renewed church.124
lu Srnnonr, p.39 Ibid. p.40
124 Infttcstingiy, the r c m d of rhc notion of diversified expressions of hich with VaScan II in the 1960's rcsonaoa 4th Schicicmachcr's insighc Schkiermachu wouid probably have beni a welmmc guesr ac &e Vatican II sessions.
35
Thirdly, the deed of 1530 d h t e d the principle of sokz s+nrra The Word of
God, Christ embodied in suipture, is the sole unnormed norm against which to
judge the development of doctrine and the ordering of the Chrisuan mord life. For
Schleiermacher. no witness is vaIid except for "what is atpressed in these writingsW.l25
In addition to his exposition in this sermon of the fuith-abne and srripture-
&ne principla of Protestant theology, Schkeiermadier also reiterates the democratic
notion of the u n i v d t y of Christian priesthood. He a f E m s :
.Aat aU Chnstürns . . should be priests and that m t s of Godos Word
w a e d e d not to be rnasters of people's consciences but rightly to
divide the Word of God so thai everyone might freely mite use of it.
Lhwise, ever since ihen the difference in our church berween those
who pmlaim God's Word and thox who bear it has also becorne
smaiier and smaiier. lZ6
Does this mean that Schleiermacher eschews a derical ministry? Not at d, ro judge u fiom his observation at the outset of this sermon where he writes: Great care musc
be taken in selecting reachers for the new congregations and in nrruring th& propu
ovmighf .127 Sdeiermadier reveds his Cdvinist roors in espousing a cornmuniry-
driven notion of church. We don't express faith by ourselves; we srpress it in
communal worship. We don'r read scriptures by ourselves exclusively withour
communal oversight. We give an account of o u faith "noc rnerely each person for
oneself but also as one communiry"W
Once again, in spite of the predominanc Protestant theological landscape in
this sermon, we can reasonably dixern lurking in the tan ecdesial elemencs of a more
"Catholic" nature : not only faith-alone but works-with-others; noc oniy scriprure-
125 Srnnons, p.41 nid ~ . 4 5
ln Ibid. p 3 7 femphasl &&dl l* Ibid. p.44
done but worship within community; not only universal priesthood, but episcopai
oversight as wd.
Smnon 3 : The Rehtiumhip of Euangeiicd Fuith to the Law
Within the context of determining which Jements of a confession are
universal and et ernal and which are transienc, hist or icall y-condit ioned feawes , the
chird Augsburg sermon is euentiaily a reprise of the theme of the priority of faith
over works of the law. Basing his homily on the dassic Galarians tact "thar a man is n 129 not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ ,
Schleiermacher cautions his parishioners against the tendency for Law and the
works-righteousness mentality to seep badc into the church cornmunity through
idolatry to doctrines or confessional documents. A dear distinction has to be drawn,
Sdileiermacher warns, between living faith and doctrinal ietter."" As a Christian
communiry, we must avoid the reductionist tendency to distill a truly living fiith
into pe&ctory adherence to moribund doctrines. The "faith that matters" is not
concerned with "legalistic puriry of doctrine" but with Lebensgmpimch~fi, with the n 131 "living communion offered to us by Christ . Faith is truly dive and active in us
not so much through doctrinal beliefs as through loving action.
For Sdileiermacher, there is one unambiguous choice to make as a believer:
Do you have faidi in Christ or do you put your faith in arternal works? 1s Christ
alone sufEcient for you or do you rely on other things as "still necessary and
salutary"?l32 An immediate objection to diis dichocornous position aises as follows:
If &th is loving action within a living community, does it not by definition involve
external works as expressions of that faich? Otherwise, we end up with an
129 G~1Cathu2:16-18 I3O smnomi p.59 13' %id. 132 Ibid. p.56
interndised, individudistic piecy which Schleiermacher consistently shuns in favour
of expressive communal action. Schieiermacher would probably answer, dong with
Luthu, that though works don't count, they do, nevedeless, matter in the life of
&th. Works don't justify us in themselves; only Christ does. But =th in Christ only
cornes alive through loving action within the fellowship He inaugurated and
continues to sustain.
A M e r darification is chat in this contact of a sermon dealing with the
Augsbutg Confaion, Schleiermacher appears to be concerned not with works of
loving communal action but rather with that "legalistic, hypocritical sanctity ml33
assoùated with die excessively rinialistic devoriond practices of die Roman church at
the tirne of the Reformation.134 The commercial procurement of indulgences as a
ticket to heaven or similar acrivities reflecting a ledger-book religiosity - this is the
type of "works" Schleiermacher is warning us against. His point as a self-critical
Reformer is that such tendencies c m surreptitiouly creep badc into religious practice
under different guises - such as uncritical adherence, in his own Evangelicd church,
to die lener of a doctrine or to a confessional document. Blind belief in the
Augsburg Confession as a document is not an adequate mesure to appraise
Christian commiunenr.135 Nor are attending pious assemblies or abscaining fiom
enjoyable activities necessarily signs of "good Christiansn.136 Living, active faith in
the vitd fdowship of the Redeemer - this is the only maure for "Christ gave no
commandmenr other than that we should love one another with the same love that
he has loved usn.'37
- - -
133 Ibid. 134 Schlcicrmachcr üm: 'pilgrimaga, fastingr and puimm, aims for the poorw. Srnom, p. 49 '35 Ibid. p.57 1% &id. '3' Ibid. p.62 from jn 1334
38
Therefore, Schleiermacher concludes, let us not be led to "the slavery to
human regulations" but rather build the church upon *the foundation of faithwla so
that we can rejoice in the Spirit.
Schleiermacher's ecdesid vision provides a sigruficant suuaural background to
the discussion of &th and law in this tertiary sermon. Faith and law are not treated as
isolated theological concepts in a cornplex cognitive-driven system of thought.
Rather, these keystone notions of Christianity are contextualised within an
ecclesiological matrix that searches for and succeeds in fmding die meaning of being a
fàithful church that uuly and fàithfUy reflecrs and cclebrates the vital fellowship of
the Redeemer. The Church that Schleiermacher preaches is not a church based on
pious attendance and doctrinal adherence. Ir is rather a Church based on the living
faith of a loving community committed to expanding the circle of participatory
divine life to humankind. This sermon preaches the church not as institutionai
assembly bowing to flickering images on a cave wd in obsequious consent to robed
figures; rather it preaches the Church as the faithfd People of Cod. It is also the
definition of "Church" found in the new Catechim of the Catholic Church " 'The
Church' is the People that God gathers in the worldn; it is "die whole universal
communiry of believers" .139 Schleiermacher could well have written these sections of
the Catholic catechism.
Somon 4 : On Righeoumess B d on Faith
Schleiermacher's fourth serrnoni** continues to explore the implications of the
Pauline sense of justification by f ~ t h whereby "it is no longer I who live, but Christ
138 %id. p.63 139 Gttcrhrim of the CàthIK Ch&, paragraph # 752. English d a c i o n , Omwr: Pubiiauon Servias of rhe CÎn& Conférenct of Gtholic Bishops, 1494. ï h i s arechism is remarkably ehe &sr ncw atechism since the Council of Trent (1 545-63). 140 Siknificmdy, ir is oniy in rhis sennon char the 'Augsburg Confessionn (p.65) ir cxplicidy namcd. This ir congru&r wirh Schieiemacfsefs ugumenr, nuncly, rhar we are nor concrmed wirh the document p a u but with tbc fvrh rhac ir vrcmpo CO aprers.
39
who lives in cc becoming
eccIesiology.
me". l41 There is a dynamic quality
righteous", an attribute driven
to this process of gwecht mrzchrn, of
by an eschatologicdly-oriented
Ta begin with, faith in itself involves a dyadic movement. Firstly, God
through Christ evokes it; that is, the first step of faith is itself a "graced" step.
Secondly, as a person addressed by God in Christ, I respond and succumb to his
influenual grace. Divine initiative precedes human action since, before 1 can respond,
1 have to be addressed. As Schieiermacher writes: "Faith is simply that surrender to
his influence, and
doctrine of divine
homily.
there would be no &th if he did not evoke itn.142 The Protestant
prevenience no doubt undergirds the opening paragraphs of this
Schleierrnacher however is much too aware of the ambiguity of life co be
content with diis potentially passive view of f~th. The surrender of f ~ t h is not a
fàlling into a cornplacent quietism. On the contrary, it is a d l to an "mer renewing
processn143 of receiving the Redeemer. There is a realised righteousness and a yet-to-
come righteousness implicit in Sdileiermacher's argument for the kingdom that
Christ has inaugurated is also both retzksed and yet-to-cornp. Such a dyiamic
eschatologid view is implied in Schleiermacher's notion of the whole and the
W e n t . He posits that "the divine eye sees the future in the present and the part in
the wholen.1" In other words, God sees in the Church now, as an embodiment of his
Son, "the new Me that has come upon the human racen14s as a glimpse of the final
consurnmation of His Külgdorn. In the incerim, we are calleci to surrender to Christ.
-
l 4 I G r l e 2 : 2 0 142 h n r , p.68-69 '43 Ibid. p.69 144 Ibid. p.72 45 Ibid.
To surrender to the Redeemer is to become "CO-workers"146 who serve and
promote *the kingdom of God accordmg to our capaciry"? As Schleiermacher puts
it, "our taking hold of him and our taking him into ouaelves must dso be renewed
over and over againn.M8 The renewd process commands us to ensure that "the
interconnection with Christ" is never sewered. Otherwise, "love will shrivel up and
the kingdom of the Spirit will tall into rui.nm.l@
How do we maintain this interconnection with Christ in a post-apostolic age?
We can only do so through that extension of Christ in t h e and space, that is,
through the Church. As fiithful CO-workers in the Church, we can ensure that the
kingdom of the Spirit does not fd into niin but rarher continues to bear the rorch of
the Redeemer's righteousness to the world. Furdier, Christ cannot continue IO truIy
live in us unless we "refer everyrhing to the universal sdvation of alln.i5o We are not
really justified, we are no1 redy his Church, unless we open up the doors of our
communai banquet to the inhabired earth.
For Schleiermacher then, faith-righceousness is inherently, intimately and
inexorably bound up with a Cburch-at-work-and-on-its-uray to a finalised
righteousness, a Church both assured of 3ie Redeemer's victory and cded to ensure
its uiumph as well - a Church Militant and a Church Triumphant at the same time;
essentidy a Catholic Church.
Snmon 5 : On the S'$ce of Ch& Tbtzt Makes P6ect
Working fiom the Hebrezus text that "Christ had offered for all time a single
sacrifice for sinsm,lSl Schleiermacher's fifdi sermon unfolds the implications of the
Ibid. p.77 14' Ibid. p.74 148 Ibid. p.72 '49 Ibid. p.75 150 Ibid. p.76 =sl Hcbrm 10:12
Redeemer's oncefit aÜ salntic act for humankind. Christ's sacrifice is not so much a
reminder of sin but a removal of sin, more a process of reconciliation rather than
expiation. It is the perfect hilfdment of the WU of God throughout his life that
makes the Redeemer who he is, not just the sacrifice of his body on the Cross, the
latter, at bat , a symbol of a Me of ~ ~ g i v i n g .
The sacrifice that mates perfect then is the accomplishment of the WU of God
at d times and in a.U places. Consequently, for Sdileiermacher, there is neither need
for nor worth in the repetitive sacrificial rites of the Roman Catholic Mass.152, for it is
not the rinidistic adoration and consumption of the host that saves us but the
reception of the life of Christ spirimaliy in ounelves. In some ways, this misrepresents
traditional Catholic sacramental theology where the proper inner disposition to
receive the Lord is a concurrent condition to the ourward recepuon of the bread and
wine as the body and blood of Christ. The point Schleiermacher appears to be
making however is to attend primarily to the spiritual rather than to the ritual
cornponent of worship, as in the previous sermons he underscored the imporrance of
living f i th over doctrinal leaer.
Does the sacrifice chat makes perfect continue to be enacted? Yes,
Sdileiermacher answers, for as the will of God was accomplished through Christ's
body while He dwelt among us, so too now the divine will continues to be fùlfdled
through the Churdi as the body of Christ extending through Ume. Taking his cue
Zrom the Corinrhian textl53 and resonating with the tradition of Carholic ecdesial
theology, Schleiermacher expounds on the Church as the mysticd Body of Christ:
..we are al1 united in one body, and this body is also his because in it
we likewise do the wiU of God together in that we support one another
as its members in the various offices apponioned by the one ~ o r d . l S ~
Consequently, though Christ's sacrifice was once for L& we concinue, as his
Church, to embody in our daily lives the sacrifice over Ume. As the author of Hcbreurs
d o m us, we cannot neglect to meet each other. W e need to encourage each other
and "stir up one another to love and good worksm.l5s The greater rhe work of
community, *the better the work of sanctification flourishes".ls6 The measuse of
sancufication, the masure of becoming good and becoming holy in the image of the
Spirit, is the vitality of the fdowship of the Redeemer, the life of the Church.
Instantiating Christ's sacrifice over tirne by enacting the wiU of God involves a
recognition that "we were a l l baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or bee - and all were made to drink of one Spiritn.1s7 In the contact of the f i f i sermon,
Schleiermacher attempts to guide his flodc co the practice of living within a cornmon
ecdesial spirit. He does this by encouraging them noc to end communion with those
who believe Uerendy but rather ro "diligently seek the uuth together widi themn.*58
We neither give up our position nor do we enforce ours on others. Rather we engage
in a Spirit-filled dialogue that tolerates dissent as an integral part of ecdesid life.
Schleiermacher's f i f i homily is really an invitation to follow the ecumenical
voice of the Redeemer calling us to become one as the Son and the Father are one. It
is the tolerant voice of the renewed Caholicism of Vatican II, a century before its
Ume.
S m o n 6: Exhortation to Co+ Our Sins
With the sixth sermon, Schleiermacher plunges into Catholic sacramental
waters. The very mention of confnnng sins in many consenrative Protestant &des is
apt to trigger a conditioned response that Papists have infiltrated the church.
l55 Smnons, p.84, where Schkicrmachet quotes He6rrws 1054 156 Ibid. p.84
1 Cor. 12:13 Is8 ~~ p.91
43
Stereotgpically, Protestant Christians daim to have Gad's direct e-mail address - no
need to go through a p h t or the Pope to obtain forgiveness; that's for Catholic
Christians. For the Protestant Schleiermacher, then, CO exhort his no& to conféss
their sins, based on a text which Luther considered an epistle of straw,lsg is to surf
ciangesous waves. Of course, conuovusy is never a problem for Schleiermacher who
thnves on didectic and diaogue in the s a c h for uuth.
Interwoven then within a Protestant tapesuy, Schleiermacher embroiders a
Catholic sacramental theology of confession.
The theologicai context of confession is set f ~ m l y within the Protestant
principle of sacerdotal democracy. As a universal priesthood, Christians are invired
neither to confèss to the select féw nor to elders but "to one anotherm.160 The making
and receiving of confession then is a "calling that we then share in common."~6~
The scriptural context, however, is the Catholic letter of James wich its
emphasis on good works and the efficacy of such Catholic sacrarnents as confession
and the anointing of the sick. In this epistle, confession is related to healing, prayer
and the power of die righteous co effect change. It is imbued with a works-
righteousness ethos not norrnally conducive to Protestant thinking. Schleiermacher
overcomes diis barrier by emphasizing che social nature of confession as an essential
healing ingredient of church Me.
Indeed true Christian confession is communal by nature and is an integral,
necessary part of the Eudiarisuc meal. It is not so mu& an isolated, penitential U enurneration of particular trespasses" '62 but more a reassurance of divine forgiveness
as we corne together co share in the Lord's Supper. Although sin includes the
transgression of spec6c laws, it is much more a reality of severing the relauonship of
l59 j w 5: 16 16* Ibid. p.98 161 Ibid. 162 Srnnonr, p.93
trust with God and out neighbour. Confession of sins then is a public act of
overcoming the breach of trust and re-establishmg a loving relationship with che
fdow members of our Eudiaristic comrnunity. As Schleiermacher orpounds:
..those who share the Lord's Supper together at the same tirne aiso
renew their cerîainty of the forgiveness of sin beforehand and so meet
together there as those who rejoice in this divine grace with fresh
remembrance. but we iink this assurance only to a cornmon confession
of sin such that no ChrMan can shun it at any lime.163
Confession then is indeed a requiremenc of Chrisuan life but wirhin a public,
eccbsiial contacc. When confionted with our sinful nanise, we place ourselves in the
living presence of the Redeemer who then restrains our hem so thar rather than
condemnauon. there is consolarion. However, since the Redeemer is no longer widi
us in the flesh but with us as the ecdesial cornmuniry of his fairhful followers, we are
to conféss our sins to one anodier and pray for each ocher so that we may be healed.
There is no need to stand alone in our s h f d struggle. As we are all mernbers of the
Body of Christ. our brothers and sisters are there to succour and supportJM
Now this ecdesial nature of confession does not imply Aar private confession
should be avoided dcogether. O n the contrary, Schleiermacher invites his f d o w
Christians to the "blessings that corne from the specid confession of sins to a a t e d
soulm.16s Working through the "sincere sympathy of an intimate spiritn*66 divine
Face brings consolation to our lives of suuggle. Ic is part of the work of ministers a entnisted with the care of souls" to "provide aid and cornfort to everyone in
everyrhing that one is kely to encouncer in the course of one's spiritual journeymY
163 Ibid. 11.101 164 Ibid. P.97 165 Ibid. p.98 166 Ibid. '67 Ibid. p.99
Confissors need not be priests but we ail need confesson as an integral part of our
Christian life to encourage us in the healing of brokemess.
For Schleiermacher then, both public and private confession are necessary
components of the Christian's life within an ecclesial contact. Once again as a
pastoral theologian concerned with healing ecdesiological divisions, Schieiermacher
places on the table a codated ProtestandCatholic view of sacramental confession as
essentidy ecumenical witness. For the Moravian pastor, there is no suonger symbol
of "the unifj.ing power of Christian faidin to uanxend ail barriers than "the trust of
confession". 168
Srnnon 7 : On the Public Minisv of the Word of God
By invoking the tradition of the early Church to support the notion that a
system of ordered ecdesial leadership has dways been necessary to guide the f~thfiil,
Sdeiermacher establishes himself distinctively within a Cacholic ecdesiology. Indeed
the seventh sermon in this collection represents Sdeiermacher's most "Carholic"
sermon, ac least in its endorsing the Wtues of an officially ordered minisuy.
Once again, lest we think that he has abandoned his Protestant roots,
Sdileiermacher does remind us of the continuous responsibility of ail the faidiful to
pastoring. Neverthdess, some members are singled out for specific leadership roles as
ordained ministers within a hierarchic framework. The church community cals for
"an ordered ministry of the divine Wordn.169 Anyone not called to the office of
pastoring and teaching "in a firring and orderly way may not and should not interpret
the Word of God in public or dispense the holy pledges of his promiseV0 Furrher,
Sdileiermacher argues that "this highly important, even indispensable task of public
Christian discourse and everydiing else that pertains to it m u t be enrrusted only to --
168 Ibid. p.105 169 Md. p.108
Ibid.
some and ordered in a specüic waym.l7' This advocacy of a hierardiical dergy as
infrastructural support to a priesthood of dl believers establishes a synergistic
ecdesiology resonant with Schleiermacher's Calvinist tradition and prolepcic to
Vatican II Catholicism. The Church is indeed bath the People of God and the
himurchical institution cailed to the task of sustaining, enhancing and celebrating the
&Mid fellowship of the Redeemer as the Body of Christ. As Scbleiermacher prays at
the end of his homily:
"So, may this blesseci Company of the body of Christ continue to be
transfomed also through the faithful ministry of its pastors and
teachers! Strengthened by the encouragement and love of the
congregation, may they a h continue to advance the cause of the
Church ever more! 172
Pastors and the fàithfùl are both called to work togerher to build up the body of
Christ in the world, each according to their own gifts.173
In the second hdf of his sermon, Sdileiermacher underscores ac least three
differences becween the rninisrry of the Reformed Church and that of the Roman
Catholic Church: the mode of minisq; the modality of oversighc and the marital
status of the dergy. The differences in die first two issues have become somewhac
blurred in post-Vatican II Catholicism; the third issue continues to be an obvious and
For Schleiermacher working within the nineteenth cencury church, the
Reformed minisuy was primarily qdhzrian in mode while the Roman minisuy was
sigdcantly awhoritarian in its ecdesid &S. Inspired by the fust letter of Peter,
Schleiermacher reminds us chat elders are really fellow-dders cded not to a
domineuhg position over people but to an exemplary one.174 Further rhey are not
171 Ibid. p.113 172 %id. p.125 173 Epkhzsr l : l l - l2 l7* Smnonr, p.I l6
subjm to an obsequious obedience but to a critical loyalty where faithful dissent is
welcome. Consequently, they are to extend a respectful tolerance to others'
judgments as well as advise and assist without intufering in the domestic lives of the
members of the congregation.175
A second difference for Schleiermacher centres around the modality of
oversight in the Reformed Church, essentidy an cpiscopal one where elders are
elected from within the congregation, thereby practicing Jesus' exhortation to remain
equd to each other as fiiends for no one should be master of another. By contrast, the
Roman Church relied on the papal mode1 of appointhg bishops to serve sdected
communities. Although bishops in the contemporary Roman church are still
ap~ointed rather than dected, the Pope as the Bishop of Rome is ecdesiologically one
among equals with episcopal collegiality having priority over any pyramidal authoricy
- in theologid theory, ifnot always in ecdesiai practice.
The third, and in many ways die most signifiant difference, benveen Roman
priests and Reformed minisrers is the way in which the latter "have been released
from the prohibition chat exduded them from marital happiness and from the
U n e s of domestic life". 176
For Sdileiermacher, there are two key advantages to die maritalIfamilid status
for pastors. Firsdy, there is a greater understanding and empathy for the no&, most
of whom are married with fadies. A celibate d e r g is inherend~ limited in advising
fmilies for their c o u e l is not based on their own experience.ln Though they may
know what it's like to be a member of a b i l y , they have no exoerience of beeettine
and heading a family.
Secondly, a rninister's family can stand as a
Indeed for Sdileiermacher, family is the Bo&, die
175 ibid. pl18 176 Ibid. pl20 ln Ibid. p.121
mode1 for the fmily of others.
foundacional ground for sociecy
and community. As we indicated in the chapter on Speech 4 family is the ccchiola,
the 'ïittle churdi" on which the larger ch& community is built. Anything that
enhances h i I y life ultimately b d d s up church Me. For Sdileiermacher, a married
minisuy is an important part of this process.
In conduding our analysis of this sermon, we can reasonably affirm that in
spite of the cosmetic ciifferences between Schleiermacher's and the Roman church's
nouons of minisuy, there is a common ecdesiological ground: the Church as either
the vital fellowship of the Redeemer (Sdileiermacher) or the People of God (Vatican
II) needs a public, ordered ministry of leadership to organize, assin, advise, admonish
and d o r t the congregation to become what it is destined and called to become - the
Body of Christ.
Smnon 8 : On the Conrimrnation in Our Confission
of Those Who Bel& DrffiktntCy
Organizationdly, theologians trace the gestation of the modern ecumenical
movement to the begiming of this century.178 Theologically however, as well as
practically,179 this movement begins arguably with Schleiermacher's work in the early
nineteenth century. One of his dearesr staternents on this subjecr comprises the
theme of the eighth sermon in the Augsburg collection. Let us not, Schleiermacher
advises, condemn those brothers and sisrers who believe difFerentIy. Rather than
chaskg away dissenting members of die redemptive fdowship with condemnatory
anathemas, let us engage in loving and forbearing dialogue with OUI fdow uavellers.
We are d on the way to Emmaus. Why not help each other instead of osuacizing
17* 'The modern ecumcnid rnovemcnt may be ditcd fmm rbe Eâinburgh Conferencc of 19 1 O, though rhL owcd much CO cariicr dcvelopmcnts. Ir kd ro tbe cstlblishmenr of the inounaaorill Missionary Council; its impctus w*s bchind the acation in 1925 of the Universal Chrisaan Conference on Lifi and Work and of the first Worid Confèrene on FYth and Order which met in LÎusannc in 1927. -TClcse w o bodies wcrc &d in the World C o u d of Churchts'. n e Con& *rd Dirrionq of thr Chhhzn Churrb, p. 167 179 SchlQ-achcr9s dfom in conaibuthg to rhc L u r h e ~ -Reformed union o f 1817 provides a good aamplc.
49
ourseIves into hermeticdy-seded diques? The Redeemer calls us to universal
brotherhood and sisterhood. How can we ignore his prayer to become one as He and
the Father are one? The eighth is indeed Schleiermacher's most emotionally inspired
plea to remain open to the Christian no& everpvhere so that its unity can be
Significantly, this plea is a key thune in the ecdesiological section of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church. In the paragraphs devoted to the unity of the
Church, we find the following affirmation: ... one cannot charge witb the sin of separation those who at present are
born into these communities [th& resulted from such separaiion] and in
them are brought up in the faith of Christ and the Catholic Church
accepts them with respect and affection as brothers ... Furthemore. many elements of sanctification and of tmth are found
outside the visible confines of the Catholic Chusch-Ail these blessings
corne fiom Christ and lead to him. and are in themselves calls to
"Catholic unityw.
Likewise, in the eighth sermon, Schleiermacher writes: How then should we want to condemn fellow-servants of whom we
might hope that their Lord will fmd them ever watchfd? Shodd we not
gladly remain united with them in the community of teaching and
inquiry. of love and prayer?
Therefore, together to seek truth in love. to move toward saivation in
undisturbed peace. richly to divide the Word of the Lord among us that
it may be ever more clearly revealed to everyone, this is the excellent
work of community in which we are united with one another through
the gracious calling of ow God and ~avior. 182
This ecumenical "desire to recover the unicy of al Christians"lB3 as a gifc of Chrisr
and a cal1 of die Holy Spirit consutuces the common foundation Stone to the
- -
I8O Semons, pl36137 I8 CIltdhm of the Gtbol ic Church, # 8 1 8 18* h o r u , p. 139-140 183 Gmrhtjm, # 820
ecdesiologies of buth Schleiermacher and Catholicisrn. Indeed both search, pray and
work for a uuly "Cathoiic" Church.
In this eighth sermon, as weli as in the ninth, Schleiermacher contends with
what he terms the "shortcomings and of5ensesmi84 of the Augsburg Confession,
thereby practicing the criticd theology he always professed. Although it is an
important foundational ecclesial document, the Augsburg Confession remains a
human document with "impufections and deficienciesn~85 that need CO be addressed
and corrected. Neither the condemnation of ohers (Sermon 8) nor the invocation of
the wrath of God (Sermon 9) have any place in Christianity for Schleiermacher. The
d o m m a t e lingering presence of condemnatory sentiments induded by the authors
in the Augsburg Confession is "something chat we can only forgive them as a human
weaknessn. is
As Ignatius of Loyola advised his followers centuries before, so Schleiermacher
counsels his flock not to condemn but to persuade. He exhorts thun to seek insight
into the cruth of Christian faith in stillness and humility, wirh "steadfastness in
Christian piety"187 as the masure of faith. Christian piecy cals for tolerance towards
those who believe differendy for to exdude others from our community is to
surrender our capacity to influence them. Our work of love as a unifjing force &en
"no longer resides within our cirdem.18s In condemning others, we condemn ourselves
189 for we then abandon the work of the Spirit to which we are cded as die living
fellowship of the Redeemer - namely, to embowes the inhabited earth and encide
the globe with an ecumenical love.
184 Srrmonr, p.127 185 Ibid. 186 Snrnonr, pl31 lû7 Ibid. p.138 188 Ibid. p.135 189 Ibid. p.134
Smnon 9 : That We H m NonCling to Teacb Rgarding the Wrath of God u If Christianity is the ministry that proclaims reconciliationW,~9*
Schleiermacher argues in the fùst pages of the ninth sermon, then we have no need to
invoke the math of Godas a doctrine of fiaith. The latter is a pagan concept having no
basis in Christian scripture or doctrine. In fact the more we attempt to cal1 on the
wrath of God, the more we deviate fiom "the true spirit of ChrisUanity",lg1 a religion
of loving enemies, not seeking vengeance. For Schleiermacher, there has been roo
much use of the notion of an angsy God swing children and addts inro being
faithful. The Redeemer does not frighten us into belief; rather he invites us to die
living hith of a loving communicy.
The Redeemer himself never spoke of the wradi of God, except in parabolic
references where the lessons are meant to be metaphorical rather than categorical.1"
As his followers then, what need have we to dwell on the wrath of God? Ic will only
detract us fiom our ministry of reconciliation.
As for the dassic motif of the zeal and wrath of God that nuis through the Old
Covenant, Schleiermacher dedaims that the coming of Christ as a new creation
means that the old has passed away. Old concepts and images of the anger of God
have passed
or tablets or
is written in
us from evil
away and are no longer needed. The wrarh of God with its threat of
belongs to the same category as the law of the flesh prescribed in Stone,
in the letter. By conuast, the New Covenant wrought by the Redeemer
the h e m and minds.193 "The love of Christ is all we needml% to deliver
and guide us towards righteousness and reconciliation. The Redeerner
was sent not to condemn the world but to Save it, even to the point of forgiving those
who denied him. What need of divine wrath if enemies are forgiven? ppppp-
lgo Ibid. p.141 lgi Ibid. p.142 Ig2 Schieicnaader ârer M a n 22:11-14 as an example whue a king gcrr mgry and drrows our an unprepxed guet. Ig3 Shzuns, p.144
Ibid. p.145 52
In this sermon, Scldeiermacher appears to be retrieving the notion of
a+-195 or universal restoration prevaient in the theology of such early Church
Fathers as Onpl96 and reconsidered in Our own cuitury by prominent Catholic
theologians.
Hope 'That
Ham Urs von Balthasar, for example, in his seminal work, Dam We
A l Mm Are Saved? 97redescsibes a p o k t m h s in the context of a
theology of hope that seeks to balance divine justice with divine mercy. Although
divine justice requires that the damned be lefi in torment under the wrath of God,
the Creator seems to have pre-empted his own plan by offering his Son for all. As
Bdthasar writes. "Christ damned for all, so that al damned arrive at sdvation*.*ga
Alchough we cannot assume nor presume restoration for all, we are s f l called to live
and pray in hope for the universal redemption of all humankind in Christ.
So too in Schleiermacher where the "divine displeasure ar sin"199 implied in
the retributory wratb of Godbecomes the "divine compassion that sent Christ to Save
sinners"200 in the reconciliato ry love of God Indeed, according to Schleiermacher,
"the m e power of Christianity will shine ever brighterm201 the more we dispel the
wrath of God and the more we espouse the notion diat die only knowledge that
makes for sdvation is the knowledge that "God is loveB.2O2
Once again we encounter in these Schleiermacher sermons a universal,
indusivia, redemptive porrrait of what constirutes a credible and veritable "Catholic*
Church.
195 'Apo&& is the Gr& word for the doctrine chat ulrimacely aii fiec morai creamres -an& men and devils - wilI be s a d " Tbe Co& O+rd DiCtionq of the ChrtMn Chrrb, p37 1% For Origai, Goci's 9 powrfùi love wül dtimady persuade dl rationai crames CO a a p r rh offer of salvauon. 197 Ham Un von Baichasar, Dure We Hope 'Tbm AIIMrn An S a d ? (San FML~o: Ignauus Press, 1988) lg8 ibid. p.154 '99 SmMnr. p.151 zoo Ibid. p.151-152
Ibid. p.154 202 Ijobn 4:8
Smnon O : On th Goal Towurci Which
the Effort of the EumgeIicuI Cburcb is Direcd
Appropriately, the last sermon in the Augsburg series deds with the
~~chï~tobgiccal goal of the Church. Essentially, it is the work of a Triune G0d203
embodied and enacted "in human form and fàshionm.204, bringkig creation to its
"completion at the day of Jesus Christm.20s. God the Father creates the world; God
the Son takes on human form as the Word becomes flesh and dwds among us to
inaugurate sdvation and the Kingdom of God. God the Holy Spirit completes the
work of creation and salvation acting through the Church where in the seNice of
human beings, the work of the Lord is brought to its consurnmation. Everyching is
God's work but it is ccbrought about through chose he has prepared to serve himn.206
The final sancufication of creation Lr the eschatological goal of the Church.
What is involved in sancufying or fÙKi11ing the work of God? Essentidy, it
entails becoming a blameless, sinless, grace-fdled community thar reflects the divine
Me enjoyed by the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Of course, on diis side of paradise,
we are never completely blameless for no marter how f u we forge ahead, we are still
pilgrims on the way to the final consummation.2O7 However our goal remains one of
becoming good becoming holy, to use contemporary Catholic moral theological terms
or in Schleiermacher's words: "co be Christ's and present Christ so that everydiing
&en is set aside and to give fidl and free course to the Spirit done so that all offense
is removedm.208 Only then will God be able to carry out "the creation of the new
human being in one and allm209 wherein the Father, Son and Spirit will dwell. - - --
203 Noubly, Sdikiermachcr &O ends The C- Faithwih a section on rhe Trinicy whae he advoam ch S a k l l i u i view (p.750). Though be k a i a d of the Arhanasiui docuine of rhe Triaity. ncvcnficIcss Schleicxmachcr's G d runains a uiniruian God. 2û4 h o * pl56 2OS P M 1 :6- 1 l 206 Srnnons, p.157 207 %id. p. 1 59 208 Ibid. 209 Ibid.
Schleiermacher ends his collection of the Augsburg sermons with a
consideration of the contribution of the Rcformed chuch to the Christian religion.
Basically, Reformed theology for Schleiermacher recovers the Pauline justification by
faith done as w d as the centrality of Christ as the only one necessary for Our
sdvation. This hith however is a living experienual, expressive &th immersed and
instantiated in communai love, not a theoretical, cognitive bdief obsessed with u precision of expression".210 It is a hith of the Spirit, not of the letter. Ir seeks not to
separate and divide but to become one body and one spirit; to sustain and bear
witness not to a superficial unity "written in codes" but to "the unity of the Spirit and
rhe bond of peacem.2l1 It is the &th of an ecumenically-driven Church determined to
preach and celebrate its cathdicity. It is arguably die &th of a Catholic ecdesiology.
210 Ibid. p.171 21 l ibid p. 175; Eph.42
4) Th Critics : S&ming with Scbbe~m~t~hm
The response to Schleiermacher's theology down to our present day is c y p i d
of the human reaction to innovative, ground-breaking thought. The Moravian pastor
has indeed had his supporters and detractors. Praised as the saviour of modern
Christian theology by some, he has also been denounced by others as having sold
Christianity's birrhright to the "cultured despisers" of modernity.
We shall now consider a range of critical responses co Sdeiermacher's
theolow first, a nineteenth century Catholic v i e - represented by Johann Sebas tian
Drey of the Tübingen school; secondly, mentieth century Protestant reactions
exemplified by Karl Barth, Brian Gerrish, Hans Frei and othen; lady, a mentieth
century Catholic conversation with Schleiermacherian ecclesiology as articulaced by
Charlotte Joy Martin, representative of the curent Catholic theological inrerest in
S chleiesmacher s tudies.
johunn Sebustzan Drg (1777-1853) : Vatican II Cathoiicism Brfore Its The?
Although we have no evidence that Schleiermacher was familiar with Drey's
writings, scholars have long recognized that Drey had boch read and been influenced
by Sdileierrnacher's major works.212 The Catholic Tübingen response ro Protestant
Berlin theology was for the most part quite favourable co judge from Drey's own
publications. Although a staunch institutional Catholic loyal to Rome, Drey
advocated a developmental theology resonant with Schleiermacher's and anticipating
a century before in t h e the theological rediscoveries of Vatican II Carholicism.
Drey's pioneering notion of doctrinal development based on a dynamic radier than
static theology of history was apparently buried by the magisteriurn of the nineteenth
212 I am indcbud in this section ro rhe erdcnr compararive rtudy of Sdikiermachcr and Drey by Bndford E. Hinzt in bis book, Nurratiirg -7, Deuchping Domine(Atlanca: Scholvs P r w , 1993). part of the Amcrican Aademy of Religion Series.
56
century Catholic Church only to resurface in our own times in the work of
contemporary Catholic theologians,213 who then set the stage for the Vatican II
Drey and Sdeiermacher stand on common theological and ecumenical
ground in their mutual espousal of a theology of history as developmend,
sacramental and ecdesial. Our understanding of revelation evolves and develops
within an evolutionary historid process. Within this process, the Church has a
mediating role to play as the agency that continues Christ's work of uansforming
history into the Kingdom of God. In the tradition of Augustine, Aqullias and Caivin,
both Drey and Sdeiermacher advocate a sacramental vision of history where, as
B d o r d Hinze writes, "the Spirit-aled Chur& becornes the primary sacrament of
Christ in history, the body of Christ, the earthly extension of die risen Lordn.214 In
this view, the time from Christ ro the eschaton is "the tirne of the Churchm.2~5 In
post-apostolic times, as Sdeiermacher underlines in The Christian Fuith, Christ can
be met only in and through the Church.
This sacramental and ecdesidly-grounded cheology is the key motif thac bonds
Drey and Schleiermacher together within an ecurnenical spirit of inquiry. For both,
ecdesiology is Christocentric and yet, pnematologicdly-driven. The Church is
inherently inclusive of all humanity because of the presence of the Holy Spirit as the
common spirit of the community. Both retrieve a scriptural theology of the Spirit as a
holy and common force which "qualifies and limits the hierarchical nature of the
Churchm.216 It is a theology of the Spirit which supports a democratic mode1 of
leadership "more receptive and responsive to the community of the faithfül"217 dian
the authoritarian one ofien practiced by the instituuonal Church. Although for Drey
213 Ku1 Rahncr, Ham Küng. Bernard Loncrgan m name a fou. 2i4 Hinzc, p.7 215 Ibid. 216 i id . , p.277 2i7 Ibid.. p279
not al1 are equal in the Church according to fiinaion, thue is "a cornmon spiritual
priesthood in whidi ali participatem.21a Likewise for Schleiermacher, although there is
a universal prieshood, there is also a public ordered minisuy guiding the fàithfûl.
A p a ~ from similar ecclesiologies, Drey and Schleiermacher also share a
common approach to theology as essentidy pastoral, mediationai and communal.
Paztorally, boboth interpret Christ's Great Commission2ig to baptize all nations
as offixing to their contemporaries the Christian taich as a credible dioice for the
critical mind, where faithhfulness to ecclesial traditions indudes creative
reformulations of those traditions for our times.
Both insist on theology's mediatngfuncuon. To the extent that Christian f ~ t h
is incarnational, then theology as the articulation of that faith dso has to be
incarnational or mediacional. In responding to contemporary historicallculturd
situations, theology is not just a marrer of retelling but "entails critical assessrnent and
Lady, theology is communal in providing that kind of organic leadership that
will adiiwe three interrelated goals: one, "foscer the life of the believing cornmunity
through discourse and dialoguen"1; two, "afirm and clarify the identity of the
Christian Churchnn as the vitai fdowship of the Redeemer; three, expand the cirde
of t h ï s cornmunity beyond the visible chuch to a l l of humankind.
To condude then, we can reasonabiy srace that Schleiermacher in his own day
wasn't done in his reformed notions of ecdesiology. Unknown to him, he had a
theological soulmate in the Catholic facdty at Tübingen, the beginnings perhaps of
an ecumenid dialogue that took a century or more to corne to its miition in the
Catholic Church at Vatican II.
218 Ibid., p.281 219 MO# 28:16-20 220 Ht, p.293 221 Ibid. $97 U2 Ibid.
As the shadow of Beethoven hovered over Brahms most of his musid life,
likcwise the spirit of Schleiermadier haunted Kari Barth most of his theologid Me.
Barth appeared to live in a dialectically ambivalent relationship with his predecessor.
We cannot ignore his intamous dedaration that the Rdomed tradition ninning back
to Calvin and Paul "does not inciid SchIn'mkd.223 Nevezthdess, in spite of this
blatant anathematizing of a fdow chwchman, Barth maintained a distant admiration
for the Berlin pastor. In the forcword to his Dogrnatics I n Outfine, Barth shares a
somewhat touching anecdote in the context of the post-war ruins of the Kurfümen
Schloss in Bonn: About eight o'clock the rebrrilding in the quadrangIe b e p to advertise
itself in the male of an engine for breaking up the ruins. (1 may say that
with my inquisitive ways. among the rubbish I came upon an
wzdamaged bus; of Schleiermacher, which wes rescued and somhat
restored ro honour again.)*4
sermonic output.
understanding his
the severe criticism of whac he felt was Schleiermacher's
of theologyn~s, Barth conrinued to admire his antagonist's
He considered Schleiermacher's sermons as the key to
theology. Indeed Schleiermacher saw himself primarily as a
preacher and only secondarily as an academic rheologian, as he States in his BriEf
Ou& on the S d y of Theology: 1 raîher consi&r the position of the preacher as the m a t noble. capable
of king wmdiily fiiied onfy by a mly religious, Wnious and senous
nahne: never of rny oam wiil would 1 exchange it f a a n ~ t h e r . ~
223 iGI B a d , 'The Word of God and rhc Tuk of the Minisay," in Buth, The Word of Cod and the Word of Man, mm. Dougias Honon (1928; reprd, New York,1957), p. 195. Bath's cmphk. 224 Kul B a d , 'Forcwordm. Dogwmiis In crans. G.T. Thompron (Ncw York Hlrper & Roar. 1959), p. 7 Empbvis aàdcd. 2îS Kari B d . Tkr T h m k ofSh-bm tmrmar Cüningm I92K24, mns. Geofky Bromily, cd. Dietrich Riochl (Grand Rapids: Eerdmurs, 1982), p. 269 Zî6 BWOudinc III p. 376. quo~d in Manin Rrdtker , SrhCrvrmrrchc~: Lij5 nnd Tbmght, mnr. John Waühwsscr, (Philadciphi= Fomcss Press, 1973) p. 199
59
Theology is meant to serve the pastoral needs of the Chur&, contributing to the
Church's understanding of its distinctive nature and mission in the world. On this
notion of the eccksialpuspose of theology, Barth and Schleiermacher appear to be in
agreement.
Lest, as we mol their implicit camaraderie, we inadvertently gloss over the
significant clifferences between thcse w o gants of Christian theology, we s h d now
consider Barth's fundamental objections to Schleiermacher's theologid enterprise as
articdated in the Gottbgen Lmures of 1923/24.
Firstly, Barth objects to Schleiermacher's integrationist tendency, his
predilection for making theology a "part of the cosmic interconnection of spirit and
nanueS.*7 For Barth, theology d d s with the Word as radicaily different from the
world and supreme over it. Its tendency is primady discontinuour as a way to ensure
thar the Word of God maintains its priority over the word of humanity.
A second related objection cenues on Schleiermacher's notion of the continuiv
of hurnan and divine history so that revelation is construed as a nacural organic
outgrowth of creation. By conuasr, revelation for Barth is a radical intervention of
the divine into human history. Once again Barth's penchant for discontinuiry surfaces
as the key presupposition for his cheologizing . As a counter-objection to these firsr two points, we wonder whether Barth's
insistence on discontinuity could perhaps engender a docetist view of Chrisuanity
that leaves God in his heaven in spite of the mediation of the Word. While
Sdileiermacher sees the Redeemer as annding the distance berween the narural and
the supernamal, Barth insists on mainmining the distance. Whereas Schleiermacher
builds a bridge across the great divide, Bardi erects a drawbridge and cames a moat
around the supernanual. Transcendent life remains r a d i d y other and ultimately
unanainable in spite of the Incarnation. For Schleiermacher, on the contrary, die
Raieunu br+ God-consciousness to humanity so that we can now participate in
divine life. Radical otherness is overthrown as Father, Son and Spirit corne to h e l l
within the hean of the believer.
Barth's third objection questions Sdeiermacher 's tthics-bmed theology with ics
emphasis on feeling, piety and fdowship. Barth prefers an ontoCogy-bd theoiogy
underlining truth, the dyadic relauonship to God and assent to revelation as
prioriries. What Barth could possibly be concemed with here is the Jarnesian theology
ofworks implied in Schleiermadier's ecdesiology. The Church as che vital fdowship
of the Redeemer is called to continue his ethical work in building up the Kingdom of
God. 1s Sdileiermadier sounding p h p s too "Catholic" for Barth?
In his critical review of Barth's Gottingen Lectures,2= Richard Niebuhr draws
an insightfùl condusion to the radical difference between these two theologians.
While Schleiermacher xeks absolute communiry, Barth leans towards absolute uuth.
Schleiermacher is concerned with the actudizing of well-being on earth as the cal1 of
the Church and a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. Barth is consumed with the
establishment of theological certitude, "a quest for the supremacy of biblicdly
warranted uuth over lifen.ug Su& obsessive quests inevitably f d for human d l c and
divine talk are ineluctably interwoven. Barth hirnself reminds us in his cornmencary
on Romans that we can't speak abour God without speaking about ourselves. To
theologize is to anthropologize. To speak abour God is ro speak about humaniry.
Christ as the redemptive Word made flesh makes this conversarion continuously
possible in the context of the fdowship of a Church which seeks not a radical
transformation of the world but a regenerative reconciliation of the world wich the
Word. The Redeemer came not to condemri the world as radically different fiom its
Creator but to Save it as an integral part of irs original life. The Chuch as the
228 Richd Niebuhr. 'KYI B d ' r 'Schlù-ocha': A RMm Essayu. UnMt Snimvy Qumafi RNim 39.129-1 36 229 Xbid. p.135
61
continual embodicd presence of the Redeemer is calleci to the same agenda - bringing
the world back to fdowship with its Creator.
As commicted Christian pastors and theologians, both Barth and
Schleiumacher would no doubt agree to this calling. It seems to us however that
Schleiermaches would probably be a more tolerant fellow uavelier on the way to
Emmaus than Barth. Schleiermacher calls us to cdebrate the world as gifi of God;
Barth appears to be obsessed with judging it. He would do well to listen ro
Schleiermacher's puorarion fiom the eighth sermon in the Augsburg collection: When we consider from this viewpoint the human, often so arbitrary
and poorly grounded divisions in matters of salvation, how tme will we
not ben fmd the saying of the Redeemer that whoever condemns others
also condemns oneself! 230
Therefore, let us not oursdves condemn Barth for what Richard Niebuhr
d e d "the Barthian captivig of the history of modern Christian thoughc".23i Let's
not "demonize Barth"232 as we attempt to resurrect Schleiermacher frorn the ashes of
the neo-orthodox critique.
In the lasr few decades, a number of prominent Protestant theologians have
aaempred to re-instate Schleiermacher within the pantheon of die Evangelid diurch
tradition. Probably no one has been more successful or enrhusiastic about diis work
of retrievd than Brian A. Gerrish of the University of Chicago Divinicy School. In a
number of seminal essays and books,233 Gerrish has restored Schleiermacher's rightfd
place in modern theology by re-establishing his links with Calvin. In diis process, ir
is primarily the resonant ecdesiological components in Caivin that surface in
Sdileiermacher's work, features redolent with a "Catholic" view of the Church.
In the introduction to his collection of essays, The OU Protrstantim and the
Nnu, Gerrish highlights a number of key Cavinist notions that can be consuued as
"Catholic" in spirit, notions that reappear centuries Iater in Schleiermacher's work.
Firstly, there is the principle that scriptural interpretation is ecdesiaily-based.
Thue is a "diaracter i~t id~ 'catholic' insistence that the Bible is the church > book."^
Christian bdievers are not called to read scripwes in isolation but in communiry.
Reading the Word, as well as preaching it, is an ecclesial activity.
Secondly, sacraments are also ecclesially-centred. They are efficacious
communal activities not merely didactic signs. The Eudiarisr, for example, is a gifi ro
be cherished in an ecdesid contex not an insular devotionai exercise or sequestered
good work.235
Lady, for both Calvin and Schleiermacher, the concept of piery is "the
hermeneutic rde"a6 with which al1 things Christian are decided. Piety as Christian
faith lived in a Christ-centred fellowship becomes the norm of a truly practicing
catholic church - for Calvin, for Schleierrnacher and for the contemporary Catholic
Church.
As we examine these diverse Christian cheologies, we begin to discern a greater
continuicy between the Protestant and Catholic positions. In Gerrish's view of
Schleiermacher for example, the Reformation was not so much a radical break from
the Catholicism but more an overdue corrective to the errors and abuses of the
Roman church. Gerrish reminds us that in Sdeiermacher's lectures on Reformation
hiscory, it is not the Protestant voices of Luther or Zwuigli that earn hû highest praise
but the Catholic voice of Erasmus advocacing a tolerant approach to the diversity of
doctrine. For Schleiermacher, both Cacholicism and Protestantism are "distinctive
-
234 Brian Gurish. The OU Protcrtantirm Md the Nm: h p s on the RtfOmaion Hnitge (Edinburgh: T.&T. Cluk Limitcd, 1982), p. 4
Ibid. p.5 236 Ibid. p.7
63
expressions of the Christian idea, joint& necessary to the historid manifestation of
Christianity".a7 It would seem in hindsight that what Erasmus and Schleiermacher
were attempting to achieve in rheir own times to maintain a unified catholic church,
Vatican II leadership attempted in our own century to renew and revive the Roman
Church so that it would uuly reflm the spirit of catholicity to which it is c d e d by its
redemptive founder. Vatican II documents on the Church reveal a recovered
spiritual/democratic ecdesiology resonating in many ways with the spirit of the
Augsburg Confession and other Reformed symbolic books. namely, giving the
Church back to the people and the Spirit that guides it to the end of time.
We shall condude this section on the Protestant reaction to Schleiermacher's
perspective with reference to Ham Frei's typology of Christian theology.238 Frei
suggests that most Christian theologies can be placed widiin a spectrum or cyde of
five mes. The key criterion for deciding a theology' s type is the relative importance
given to the "communal religious self-descriptionn239 vis-à-vis the ambient cultural
description. In Barthian terms, ir is a matter of deciding die extent to which the
Word of God cakes precedence over the word of humanity.
In Types Iand II, the ambient philosophical culture takes a prior hold over the
Christian theological ethos.240 Theology concerns itself with construction or
convmtztio?P while biblical exegesis reduces Jesus to a type or symbol. Type IIIposits
an equilibrium becween the dominant culture and the Chrisrian community;
cheology is primarily mpression of religious feeling. In Type N the Christian
237 Brian A. GcMh, 'Schleiamuher and <h Reformacion: A Question of Docuind iIvciopmenr", Chvrcb Hhmy 49:147- 1 59. Emphasis dded. 238 Hans Frei. Typa O f C ' n 7 Z c o f u ~ . eb. Gmrge Hunsinger and Wdiam C. Plrchcr (New Haven: Y& University ~rro,-1992). For chme r d & nor fàmiliu wirh FI& cypology, 1 have provided a gnphic schcmara in Appendes 2. 239 Ibid. p2-3 240 Gordon Kaufman's An a Tbmhgicd Mahodis Frei's aumplc of Type 1. whilc David Tracy's B M Rhgcfir Ordrrarapiifies Type II. 24i The iaiicisad LhL for the dinne rypa wichin Frei's d e m e are s-rcd by Pmf-r George Schner. Regis Collcgc, Toronto SchooI of Thcology. T a tht bar of my knowltdge, Frei h i m ~ l f docs not w any labels other than the numcric ones.
64
community's self-description is absolute, relativising all other cultural criteria.
Theology is rEIponse to the Word of God with a Christologically-cemred biblical
exegesis that devates Jesus to his role as "the mnj~& subject"242 of the scripcures.243
Lady, in Type Ç: the Christian communiry and the surroundhg culture appear to be
hermetically-sealed. Theology is reduced to rtpetition within the liturgial practice of
the reiigious group.24 Exegesis is reduced to "humeneutical silencen24s as the faithful
repeat rather than interpret biblical statements.
Within this typologid scheme, Frei places Schleiermacher in Type III
theology. For Frei, Sdeiermacher is perceiveci as hovering between the two worlds of
human experience and divine intervention, " risking contradictionn246 in at tempting
to Uitegrate theological description with philosophical method. For some this may be
consuued as a safie strategy of theologid fence-sitting. For Schleiermacher however,
equaiizing the Word and the world is possibly a sign of theologicai rnaturity as the
acceptance ofambiguiry, that is, oppositu need nor be diametrically positioned but
rarher can be dialogically embraced, like human and divine nature in Christ or like
error and truth within religious description. In the introductory section to The
Christian F A , Schleiermacher espouses this juxtapositionai thinking: The whole delineation which we are here introducing is based rather on
the maxim that emr never exists in and for itself. but aiways dong
with some mth, and that we have never fully understood it until we
have discovered its connexion with mth, and the tnie thing to which it
is a t t z ~ h e d . ~ ~ ~
In this same passage, Schleiermacher goes on to say that even Polytheism as a
perversion of God-consciousness is neverdieless "an obscure presentiment of the true
- -
242 Frei, p-5 243 For Frei. h l B a d is the prime aexnplar of chir type. 244 Frei cim du work of rh contunporuy philosopher of religion. D.Z. Phiiiipr. as repacntacivc of 7jpe K 2 4 Ibid. p.6 246 Ibid. 247 CFp.33
65
Godm.24 Indeed for Schleiermacher as for Paul or Aquinas, the Word is not
necessarily in opposition to the world for the Word incarnated in the Redeemer has
come to bring the world badc into the bosom of the Father.
Lest we surmise wrongly that Sdileiermacher puts the world before the Word,
we need to renirn to the foundation Stone of Sdileiermacher's entire theologid
universe, the Christo-soteriologicd principle of paragraph 1 1 in The ChtXrtian Faith: Christianity is a monotheistic faith. belonging to the teleologiml type of
reiigion. and is essentially distinguished h m other such faiths by îhe
fact that in it everyrhing is related ro the redem@on accomplished by
Jesus of j oz are th. 249
Christ the Redeemer is the absolute against which all human experience is to be
evaluated; He is the centre who relativises al1 human effort. Possibly, this
presuppositiond kernd rises and sets premawely in Schleiermacher's output, like the
Arctic sun at the dawn of winrer. Unforrunately, critics can easily lose sight of
Schleiermacher's Christocentric theology while engaging his philosophicd
In Sermon 4 of the Augsburg collection, Schleiermacher reminds his
congregation that Christocentric cime is the only tirne worthy of consideration. As
the Church, our c o m m d self-description is defmed by it: The t h e of the One who is to come is the fuial time. If you turn away
h m him with the notion that you can bnng about yet another time, a
more beautiful time of greater autonomy and thus also of greater
rejoicing in the achievements of the human spirit. you are mistaken. for
there is no such tfiing as any new time to corne. Everything is fuifiiied
in h h ; eveqthing is to develop h m h . 2 5 0
The thne of the Redeemer is the final time and plays second fiddle to no one. We
rejoice in the adiievements of rhe Spirit, noc the human spirit. The Word Mfills
248 Ibid. p 3 4 249 Ibid. p.52 Ernphvis added. 250 Srnnonr, p. 76
everyching, not the world. Contrary to Frei's typologid judgment, Sdileiermacher
dtimately stands under Tjpe IV theology responding to the call of the Redeemer
revuberating through ecdesid fellowship as the prima1 value for divinising human
Me.
Charlottr Joy Martin : S c h ~ ~ h a and a Rcconstnated Catbolic EkcIfsiolOgy
Charlotte Joy Martin is one of a number of contemporary Catholic
theologians who have found an amicable and inspirational conversation partner in
Sdeiermacher. The common ground for this dialogue is the domine of the Ch&.
Martin writes that "it is in the area of ecdesiology that Schleiermacher is most
amenable to Catholic sensibilities, while at the same tirne ecdesiology is the area
where most voices of dissent within Catholicism would be looking for
amendment" -25 1
Within the task of developing a reconstructed Catholic ecdesiology that
attends co diversified voices, Martin finds a resonant foundationd principle in
Schleiermacher's egalitarian notion of the Chu& "as a relationship of people seeing
each other as equals by virtue of God's willingness co forgive their sinsn.2s2 The
Church as the Christ-cenued fdowship of die forgiving and the forgiven becomes
the platform upon which any subsequent ecclesial polity or policy WU be based.
Martin suggests at least three parallels benveen Schleiermacher's ecdesiology
and the dieologica pictue of the Church delineated in the Catecbùm of the C~zthoZic
Church, an affinity suongly supporting the thesis that Schleiermacher's Protestant
fiaith lives widiin a Catholic ecdesial framework.
2s1 Chylom Joy Manin, 'Scblciermachefs Rdormcd Docuine of the Chur&: A Raourcc for Gntempomy Grholic Thcology'. Papa prcruiud ac the 1995 annuai meeting of the Inumauonai Schlcicrmvhcr Society (North Caroliril: Elon Colicgt, 1995) 252 Ibid. p 2 6
67
To begin with, for both Schleiermacher and the Catechism, the Church is a
missionary community called "to incorporate ail within die riches of Christ's
communion with Godm.2s3 In the Catecbism, the Church is by iu very nature "the
'convocation' of aU men (sic) b r salvation".~ In Schleiermacher, "ail belonging to
the human race are e v e n d y taken up into living fdowship with Christw.2ss
Secondly, although we are a gathering of sinners "still on the way to
holiness"P6 the Church, according to the Catecbism, is a sancti3ing presence in the
world rransforrning it into the "holy People of GodW.257 Likewise for Schleiermacher,
it is within the Church that we become holy, "akin to His perfection and
blessednessn.258 Sanctification is a process of "striving for holiness "259 with the
assurance that "sin can win no new groundm.260 as we engage in the ëver self-renewed
willing of the Kingdom of Godn.261
A third common feawe tying Schleiermacher with the Ciztechism is that both
espouse a Euchutr.stic view of the Church. The Catechism ciearly teaches that the
Church is "made r d " as a linirgical, Eudiaristic assembly.262 The Church manifests
its charactes most M y when it cdebrates the fellowship of the Lord's Supper. For
Schleiermacher as weil, the Lord's Supper is the "climax of public worshipn,263
confirming ourwardly our inward fellowship with Christ. It is a reminder that the
individual's union with Christ "is unrhinkable apart from his union with
believersn,264 a union best exempEed in the Eucharistie celebration.
253 Ibid. 254 Gttech;mt, # 767 25s § 1 19, p.549 2% Grteckum, # 827 257 Ibid. para. 823 2% CF. 5 I IO, p.505 259 Ibid. p.506 26û Ibid. p.508 Mi Ibid. p.509 262 CouchXmr, # 752 263 CE, p.640 264 %id. p.65 1
It is primarily within this Eudiaristic view of the Church that Martin offen a
reconstructed ecclesiology for die Catholic Church, an ecdesiology suggested in
Sdileiermacher's work. It is an ecdesiology that fosters incerhuman relationships
based on our equality as forgiven simers. In Smnon 6 o f the Augsburg collection,
Schleiermacher &med the importance of rd iung that the Lord's Supper indudes
the sacrament of forgiveness of sins - d sins, not just vuiid sins as suggested in the
C i ~ t ; c c h ~ ~ ~ ~ So too in Martin's reconstructed ecclesiology, the Eucharist is itself the
sacrament of fbrgiveness. In renirning to table fdowship with Christ, we are forgiven
and re-enter his vital fdowship. We become equals because of the catholicity of
divine forgiveness. This vision of equality =tends not only to fellow believers but tu
all of humankind, levelling not only the pulpit and the pew, but the Church and the
world.
A Church construed as the vital fdowship of the universally forgiving and
forgiven carries a regenerative and uansformative power. As Martin points out, such
an ecclesiology relativizes "any of the nondivine things which we mi+ be inclined to
see as absolute determiners of a person's worthn266 - wealth, beauty, intelligence,
ecclesid posirion or moral superioriry. It relarivizes any human artifacrs that seek to
rend the vital fellowshi~ asunder - civic laws, confessional symbols, ecclesiastical
dogmas. It difises any weapons chat seek to undermine the Redeemer's farewell
prayer to his friends that they may become one with die One who loves us all.
The Church as the forgiven fdowship of humankind is meanin@ divine life
here and now. The sweer hereafier is already upon us and in Our midst, ofien in
places we least expect. Indeed, according to the Catechism itsdf, the presence of grace
lies beyond the "visible confines of the Catholic Churchn.267 A truly 'Catholic"
ecdesiology then indudes both a visible and an invisible church. In effect, it is a
vision of the Ch& preached and practiced by Schleiermacher whose spirit animates
many of the pages of the Ciztechh of the GztboIic Chutch.
Chqtw 4 Sdileiermacher's "Fugal" Ecdesiology:
An Integation of the Protestant and Gtholic Visions
"1 saw that of the two natures that contendad in the field of m y consciousness,
even if 1 could rightly said to be Uther, it was only becaw I was radicaily both." Dr.
Jekyll's d y s i s of bis dual pcrsonality in Robert Louis Stevenson's dassic story could
well be applied to Sdeiermachtr's approach to theologicai discourse - r a d i d y both:
both fàithful and critical, both sacreci and secular, both Protestant and Catholic - at
the same tirne, in a kind of cognitive-emotive "fugd" state. As a Bach fugue
interweaves many voices to produce a euphonious musical score, so does
Schleiermacher's ecdesiology integrare many influences to produce a mcllifluous
unified and unifLing theology of what it means to be the Church in the world,
not of the world, to be a Church called co carry creation to its consummation as
Kingdom of God.
In this concluding chapter, we shdl review the salient attribues
Ye=
the
of
Sdileiermacher's "fùgd" ecdesiology as die outcome of a fusion of the Protestant and
Catholic viewpoints. These aaribures will then be placed within a quincuncid
structure that undereirds and inteerates the diverse feanues inco an ecdesiologically
unified field.
Firsdy, as described in our thesis statement, Schleiermacher's
essentidy "Catholic" in spirit yet arising out of the Protestant spirit
ecdesiology is
that lies at the
kernel of his theological vision. The Cadiolic metaphor ddares that w e ger to Chrisr
through the Church, while the Protestant view is that we get co the Church through
Christ. Schleiermacher wodd appear to espouse the former position, namely, the
Church cornes first. The Church is the d d c channe1 tkough which we encoumu
the Redeemer and corne to share in the same God-consciousness that Jesus'
contemporaries were blessed with. In f ia there is an equation implied in Speech 4
which fin& its "Catholic" expression in The Christian Faitha Speech 4 dedares:
"Outside human fdowship, there is no religionw. In T h Christian Faith, this
equation becomes: "Outside the Church, there is no salvationw. Sdileiumacher
makes this explicitly dear in paragraph 113 of Thr Christian Fkth "..sdvation or
blessedness is in the Church alone.. the Church abne savesn."8 This view, as srated
previously in our introduction, is a redescription of the dassic Carholic Church
soteriological position epitomized in St. Cyprian's famous adage: IEXtra e ~ ~ l i n a m ,
ndh saltls. In adopting this ecdesioumued soteriology, Sdeiermacher reveals that
he is essentidy, at lem in his ecdesiology, a Catholic theologian.
The next logicd question to ask however is: Whax is the Church for
Schleiermacher? 1s it the spirinia community bonded to the Redeemer consiSung of
members who may or may not be aware of their desuned election? Yes, for the
Church is Spirit on die way to the final consummation in the Kingdom of God. But
is it also a clerico-bureaucratic institution immersed in the world? Yes,
Schleiermacher answen, for the Church is d o Matter set in human history to
instantiate the presence of Christ the Redeemer in overt insricuciond activities. For
Schleiermacher, as for Catholic theology, these activities of Redeemer-presence are
primarily sacramental, namely, the beliwer encounters die Redeemer and enters the
viral fdowship embraced by him in and &ou& Baptism and the Eucharist.
A second salient characteriscic of Schleiermacher's ecclesiology is that it is
mharidca The Church is best m d e s c e d and bears wiuiess to the Redeemer ac its
best within the conrext of the Lord's Supper. Here within communal celebraüon,
the "vital fellowship with Christn269 shares a med rogether as a living surcharged
symbol of sharing God-consciousness, that is, participaring in divine life.
Intereshgly, for Schleiumadier, forgiveness of sins arises out of this vital fdowship
with Christ, not out of his suffèring. Schleiermacher considers the language of
atonement and divine wrath out of place in a love-centred Christian vision.270
Indeed the su)fesing of Calvary is peripherd to the fdowship of the Last Supper.
This m e of fellowship-centred theology anticipates the work of the
contemporary radical Catholic theologian, John Dominic Crossan. In his infamous
book, The H ~ o r i c u l J i e m , ~ ~ Crossan underscores what he considers distinctively
radiai about Jesus of Nazareth, namely, his "open commensaiity" .272 Crossan uses
this term to indicate the way in which Jesus invites everyone to table fdowship with
him - maie or femde, rich or poor, saint or sinner. Al1 are accepted; none are
rejected. If, for Sdeiermacher, Jesus was the ultimace "virtuoso of holiness", for
Crossan, Jesus was the ultimate "virtuoso of table fellowship". For borh
Schleiermadier, as nineteenth century German Protestant theologian and Crossan,
as twentieth century American Catholic theologian, the life-sustaining open
fellowship of believers in Jesus is the core of the Christian faith as eucharistically-
cenued.
Schleiermacherian ecdesiology is also ecumenicui and inclusive in
tendency arises from the invitation to religious tolerance championed
nature. This
in Speech 4.
The religious feeling exists in all of us and we are all called ro seek understanding of
this feeling in a tolerant spirit of conversation with die inhabited earth. Although
there is no saivation outside the Church for Schleiermacher, this doesn't necessarily
exdude anyone for ail are potentially elected to enter and become Church. In
paragraph 1 1 8, he dearly writes:
'hveryone still outside this fdowship will some t h e or anothes be laid hold of by
the divine operations of grace and brought within icn.273 Each human person is
270 Schicierrnachcr devclopr'chl rhme in rhc CF. § 1 O 1. pp.434-437 ; wc &O cnaounrcred ir in S-on 9 of the Augsburg collection: 'Thar WC Have Nothing to Tcach Rtgarding the Wmrh of Goci". 271 John Dominic Crossan. The HritmiraiJ~~~ (San Francisco: Harpa Colins. 199 1) 272 Ibid., 261-264 273 CFp.WO
73
regenerated in his own time. AU individds will pass 'inco the full enjoyment of
rdempuonw for it is "the inevitable condition of aIi activiry in Ume " that results
ftom "the Word made fleshm.274 If divinity enrers humanity, then all are ultimately
saved through the redemption accomplished by Jesus of Nazareth.
Schleiermacher devdops an incIusive lioctrine of election in the latter part of
Tb Christian Faith. Election doesn't mean that some are saved while others are
damned. Rather some members of the human race are &edy elected while others
are yct-to-6e elected. Schleiermacher at chis point appears to borrow from
eschatologicd notions of the Kingdom of God as b o t . re&d and still-a>-corn His
position here harkens back, as we saw in Somon 9, to the soteriology of Origen with
its emphasis on qoRatlLtkZStj, the recondiation of al1 creation in Christ. The task of
the Church is not to use the eleaion doctrine to exdude any member of the race.
Rather its goal is to awaken within each individual the "longing for the KUigdom of
Godn,*75 the yearning to be induded widiin the vital fdowship of the Redeemer.
Consideration of the relationship of the Kingdom of God to the Church
brings us to yet another feanire of Schleiermacher's ecclesiology, namely, chat it is
escha~ologicaI~~dritlen. For Schleiermacher, rhere is a "realized" component co
eschatology. The Redeemer has already inaugurated the Kingdom of God so that die
Church membership has a foretaste of die final Kingdom. As he wrices in The
Chn'stian F&: "The Kingdom of God is actudiy present in the fdowship of
believers".276 However it is a deuelopmentzzi tfch/~tofogy whereby the building of the
Kingdom of God involves the progressive emergence of the whole out of the
fragments - "less and less of fragmentary details and more and more to be a
wholen.* The Church organization has received a guarantee by the Redeemer thac
274 Ibid. 275 %id., p.542 276 Ibid., p.528 277 Ibid.
addcd)
it will overpower 'the unorganized masses to which it is opposedn.n8 This is
Sdileierrnacher's Johannine f i th in the light that shines in the darkness and
ovucomes the world.rg
A fi& aspect of Sdiieiermacher's ecdesiology is that it is confrznonal in
nature. In other words, you have to be a player on the field, a participant within the
organization, to be able to make valid statements about the Church. You cannot
really "understand" the believer's lifé unless you become a believer yourself and "feeln IC the presence of the Redeemer within ecdesial fdowship. Schleiermacher writes: ..
aiTumations concerning the Christian Church can be rightly made only by those
who know its inner life thr~ugh personal participation in itm.280 Only in the context
of "being Church" can we really be Christians and have any valid Christian theology.
A last feature to be considered regarding Schleiermacher's ecdesiology is that
it is a Nèw Testummt/loannine/Spirit-cnttred thcology of the Church. It is New
Testament-barcd in that the Church for Schleiermacher has little or noching to learn
from die Old Testament. A neo-Marcionire tendency is unmistakably present in
Schleierrnacher's theology. In his postscript to the doctrine on Scriptures.2al
Sdeiermacher s taces categorically: "..the Old Testament Scrip tures du nor on that
accounr share the normative digniry or the inspiration of the Newm.282 The New
Tescarnent Scripmres alone are the authentic and sufkient norm for Christian
doctrine. Christianity doesn'r complete Judaism; rather as the religion of the
Redeemer, Christianity represents a radical depanure fiom any other religion.
Schleiermacher has ohen been criticized for this la& of recognizing the
continuity between the Old and the New Testaments. Unfortunately, this criticism
has O fien turned into scathing accusations of ami-Semitism against Schleiermacher .
27* Ibid. 279 j o b ~ 1:s 280 CE p.529 281 Ibid., 5 132 282 %id, p.608
This is a rather udGr and erroneous judgment of a theologian who went out of his
way to indude al1 membea of the human race in his vision of a Redeemer-cenued
religion.
Two things can be said about Schleiermacher's New Testament bias. Firsdy,
he did not know the Hebrew language as he so proficiently knew Greek. From his
own hermeneutid principle that we can't get to really undentand an author unless
we read and encounter him or her in his or her own language, we can perhaps
suggest that Schleierrnacher never really encountesed the Yahweh of the Hebrews,
the Suffiering Servant of Isaiah, the God of Love in the Song of Songs.
Secondly, what Schleiermacher opposes in the Old Testament is the God of
Wrath. We've seen how he m h this parricularly dear in S m n 9 of the Augsburg
collection where he writes that we have nothing to teach about the wrath of God, a
pagan legacy based on primitive judicial systems. Radier Chrisuanity is a religion of
reconciliation, not vengeance; love, not wrath. To invoke the wrath of God as a
technique to scare people into a forced fairhfulness is an "offensive imperfection" in
any Christian confession. The Redeemer embraces and saves; he does noc judge and
desuoy. He creates a New Testament, a new way ro God-consciousness. He doesn't
arise out of the Old Testament. The Hebrew scriptures are husks thar have fden
away. The Christian scripnues alone hold sway. And within these scripcures, John's
gospel alone epitomizes the essence of Chrisuanity.
Ir is quite a sign$canr presupposition in Sdeiermacher's body of work chat
Johannine theology has centre stage. Even in his Lifc ofjessur, Schleiermacher
dismisses the Synoptics as less historical than John's version. The history of biblical
scholarship has of course proven him wrong. The "hi$ Christology in John's story
is no doubt history re-created and elevared into theologid vision. But, one can dso
argue that the Synoptics are theologically-biased re-creations as w d . It's jusc that the
theology differs. While the lana focuses on Jesus' humanity, the former concenuates
76
on his divinity, on his power to bring us eternal life - in Schleierma&er7s
terminology. God-consciousness; in current Catholic mord theology, theosiz or
divinization. Schleiermacher obviously acknowledges that the Redeemer was a man
born into human history, Jesus of Nazareth. Once this is established however, he
drops the humanity and builds his entire theologicai opus on the Redeemer as the
Way, the Tmth and the Life,m3 as the one who brings humanicy into divinized
fdowship.
In spite of this predominance of the Redeemer in Schleiermacher's
ecdesiology, he does noc forget the pneumatologid basis that has made possible the
sustaining of the Christian fellowship across history. This fdowship is Spirit-cenued
taking iû guide from John 4:24: "God is spirit and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and cruthW. Schleierrnacher devdops this theme in paragraph 12 1 of
The Ch&zizn Faith where the "cornmon CO-operative activig" of the Church is
perceived as "the common Spirit of the new corporate life founded by Christn*84.
This common spirit instantiated in the Christian's universal love for al1 citizens of the
Kingdom of Cod is "the same One Holy Spiritn.285
Our last remaining cask in this thesis is to suggest how a quincuncial
suurne286 inregrates the Protestant and Catholic fcatures of Schleierrnacher's "fugaln
ecclesiology. Unarguably, at the centre of this geometric arrangement lies
Schleiermacher's kernel of Protestant principles -sula fidc, sukz sm)tara and the
priesthood of ail believers. Semons 2, 3, 4 and 7 of the Augsburg collection dearly
substantiate this trilithic a r e . As we move out to each of the four corners however,
the Protestant core undergoes, arguably, a metamorphosis inco more of a Catholic
manifestation of the same Christian spirit. The ecdesiology becomes significandy
283 j,6,14:6 C E . p.510
uis ibid. p.565 286 A graphic visduliraion of h i r ruggaccd mcnue is provided in A p p d i x 3.
77
more wramoitd ministrrurl rwhawlogical and emnttnical as Smnonr 5 through to
I O can anest. It is more s m a m m d i n that a greater emphasis is placed on the role of
the Lord's Supper as an &cacious sign of the living presence of the Redeemer. It is
more ministcnrrl in its advocacy of a publidy ordered institution as an essential
condition of Church life. It is more eschmdogicaI in that it calls us to the works-
righteousness-related task of becoming "CO-workers" in building up the Kingdom of
God. Findy, it is more emmenical in that its notion of catholicity artends not only
to Christian believers of diverse denominations but to all humans everywhere. In
short, the Protestant spirit t h on a Catholic mande in a sacramentally-cenued and
community-&va ecclesiology.
In this "hplw ecdesiology, both the Protestant spirit and the Catholic spirit
are ùiexuicably linked across the landscape of the life of pietYs of the Chrisuan life of
vital fellowship with the Redeemer. To eliminate one is co silence the other. In
Schleiermacher's theological vision, light is the lefi hand of darkness, the sacred lies
within the profane, Jesus is found in the eyes of the suanger and - the Prorestant and
the Catholic shall lie down togedier like the calf and the lion waiting for the l ide
child who shall lead them.287
Bibliognphy
A) Primary Sources
Sdileiermachet, Friedrich 1997. RcfOnnrd But Evw Rrfonning : S m o m in
Rekztion to the Ce&brution of the Hclnding Ove of the Augsburg Confrson
(1830), trans. Iain Nicol. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
1 9 8 9 . Thc Cht.r';rtian Faith, eds. H.R Mackintosh
and J.S. Stewart. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
. 1 988. On Rrligion: Speeches to ia Cultuml Desp Lrm.
uans. and ed. Richard Crouter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
. 1966. BncfOutCine on the S d y of Thcology, tram.
Terrence N. Tice. Richmond: John Knox Press.
B) Secondary Sources
Barth, Karl c 1 982. The Theubgy of SchIpimacher: Lectures at G~ttingm 1923-24.
crans. Geoffrey Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdrnans.
Clements, K W. 1987. Friedrich Scbi~inmabm: Pioneer o f Modern ThPolog. San
Francisco: Collins.
Corduan, WiAied 1983. "Schleiermacher's Test for Tmth: Didogue in the
Chuch". Journal of the EvangeIicaI Theologicd Society 26:32 1 -328 S.
Crouter, Richard 1992. "Friedrich Sdileiermacher: A Critical Edition, New Work
and Perspectivesn in kiigiour S d i e s Review 18.
DeVries, Dawn 1996. ]esus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schkimcher.
Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Dding, Dennis 1982. "The -dom of God in the Teaching of Jesusn. Wordand
Wodd2:117-126 Spr.
Fiorenza, F.S. 1996. "Schleiermacher and the Consuuction of a Contemporary
Roman Catholic Foundatiod Theology" Harvard TheohgicaI RPView 89: 175-
194.
Frei, Ham 1992. Typa of C h W n Tbeology , George Hwinger & William Placher,
eds. New York: OUP.
. 1 993. Theolgy and Namztive, George Hunsinger & Wiam Plder ,
eds. New York: OUP.
Funk, Robert ed. 1970. Sch l r im~cher as Cuntrporary. New York: Herder &
Herder.
Gerrish, B h 1980. "Sdileiermacher and the Reformation: A Quesrion of Doctrinal
Development", Church Histoly 49: 147- 1 59.
1982. Th OldProt~zktntirm and the N m h y s on the RPfomation
Hmtage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
. 1 984. A Prince o f the Church: SchIeiennacber 6 the Beginnings of -
M o h Tbeo&. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
.1993. Continuing the R c f o d o n : h y s on Modern Re1iigioz.u Thougbt
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hinze, Bradford E. 1993. Nawating History, Ddop ing Docm'ne. Adanta: Scholars
Press
Mackintosh, H. R 1 937. Typa of M o h Tbeoiogy. London:Nisber & Co.
Marcin, Charlotte Jay 1989. "The Media- Function of the Church in
Schleiermacher's Glaubenslehre" in Nnu Athmaeum 1 .
. 1995. "Schleiermacher's Reformed Doctrine of the Church: A
Resource for Contemporary Catholic Theology" in Sch&ennachm i W o d Doctrtene & Ek&a and His Contributions to Libnïrtion/Feminist Tbeology To&y.
Phildelphia: Schleiermacher Group & International Sdileiermacher Society.
McNd, John Thomas 19&Q. MaCm of the ChtXrtitzn Traditioon: Fwm &fierd thc
Great to Sch/nnmachm. New York: Harper & Row.
Niebuhr, Richard 1 964. ~chkmMcher un Chrifi and Rrligion: A Nnu I n t r o d d n
New York Suibner.
. 1984. "hl B d ' s 'Schleiennacher': A Review Essayw. Union
Sm*nu?y Qwm/u h i c t u 39 No. 1-2: 129- 136
P d , Klaus 1964. "A Chapcer in the History of the Ecumenicd Quest: Schekg
and Sdileiermacher" Chutch Histoty 33:322-337 S.
Redeku, Martin 1 973. Scblk~nnrzcher: Lifr and Tborrght. Philadelphia: Foruess Press.
SA&, Philip 1877. A Hktog~ of the Creedr of ChrXstmdom London: Hodder &
Stoughton.
. 1 87% Tbr Crcedr of the EvangcLcd Protert;c2nt
Hodder & Stoughron.
C r z ~ c h ~ of Th ClaSolic Church 1994. Ottawa: Publicarion Senices ot the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Churcbes. London:
- - - .
Sermon Text
I Cor: 7.23 "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men".
I Peîm 3:15 "Always be prcpared to make a defense to any- one who calls you to account for the h o p that is in you".
.c
I
3 p
Guhtiuns 2: 16- 18 "..that a man is not jus- tified by the works of the law but through
l
I l 4
m
fàith in Jesuc Christ.."
Schleiermacher's Augsburg Confession Sermons of 1830
Admonition Concerning Self-Induceû Servitude
On the Handing Over of the Confession as Giving an Account for
the Ground of Hope
The Relationship of Evangelical Faith to the Law
I) Christian vocation to "the noble, spiritual servitude in Christ", not to iny human servitude, institution or confessional document. !) The price we have to pay for a disunited, divided Church: "loving for- Karance and aching compassion", perseverance, patience and frcedom fiom iny imposed human regdation or document, for we bclong to Christ and Lhrist's word alone is the only norm of hith. 5) The ecumenical call: "Al1 of us arc his servants and arc brethren among ~ursclves"; "the unity of the Spirit and of îàith".
I ) Thc "trilithic corc of the Protestant spirit": sola fide ; sola scriptura ; the priesthood of al1 believers. 2) Schleiermacher's ecumcnical spirit: a unified church informed by scrip ture, freedom and tolerance. 3) Contrast between the Protestant and Roman Catholic spirit. 4) The "text or document" vs. the "deed or act". 5) The event thnt in 1530 and the cvent now in 1830.
I ) The priority of faith over works of the law. 2) ~ e n d e n c ~ for Law and "works-righteourness" mentdiry to seep back into our church through idolatry to "doctrine". 3) Distinction between "living fàith" and "doctrinal letter", with caution against reducing hi th to doctrine. - 4) The truc and valid universal and eternai elements in a confes- b sion vs. the transient historically-conditioned changeable ele- 'O
ments. 3
Sermon Text
Schleiermacher's Augsburg Confession Sermons of 1830
Galacians 2: I W O .,I have bcen crucified vith Christ; it is no onger 1 who live, but 2hrist livcs in me.."
Hebrnur 10: 12,14 'But whcn Christ had iftircd for al1 timc a ;ingle sacrifice for sins. i e sat down at the ight hand of God.."
James 5: 16 'Confcss your sins to Jnc anothcr and pray lor one anothcr, that
you may LK healtd."
Toplc
On Righteousness Based on Faith
On the Sacrifice of Christ that Makes Perfect
Exhortation to Confess Our Sins
I) Christ lives in us and in fàith we forcvcr renew the proccss of receiving he Lord. !) The whole lies in the fragment - God sees the future in the present and ;O do we in faith as Christ reveals this eschatological h o p to W. 3) We need rcly on nothing else but that Christ lives in us; the sufficiency ~f Christ's love within us, 4) Righteousness as a dynamic proccss of constant rcniwal; complacency is :O be avoided.
1) The once for all nature of Christ's sacrifice as obedience to God and iource of our salvation; the eternal and universal cfficacy of this sacrifice for dl hurnans and for dl time, 2) The htility and repudiation of Christ's sacrifice represented in the repet- itivc sacrificial rites of the Roman Catholic Mass. 3) The cal1 for tolerance and the ecumenid spirit.
1) The blessingsl benefits of confession in an egditarian mode as part of the priesttiood of all believers. 2) The distinction between private and common confcssion and relation of confession to the Lord's Supper. 3) Why it is unnecessary to enurnerate "lists of sins" as in the traditional Roman Catholic practice. 4) Ecurnenism as the ultimate effect of confession; the ultimate value of confessional trust among brcthren = "the unifying power of Christian faith". Confession as "ecumcnical wit ness". 5) Confession as reassurancc of divine forgiveness rather than a lcgalistic "enurneration of particular trcspasses". Sin is severance of rclationship with God*
Sermon Text
Epbesiunr 4~11-12 And his gifis wcre that ome should bc apos- les, some prophets, ome evangelists, some ustors and teachers, to lquip the saints for the vork of ministry, for d d i n g up the body ~f Christ,"
Lukt 637 'Judge not and you uill not be judged; :ondemn not and you uiIl not be con- kmncd; forgivc and fou will be forgiven."
Schleiermacher's Augsburg Confession Sermons of 1830
Toplc
On the Public Ministry of the Word of God
On the Condemnation in Our Confession of Those Who Believe
Differently
- -- - - - -
I ) The bencfits of an ordaincd ministry for its congregation: i) reminder of the "unbroken continuum of rcsponsibility lrom dl the
iithfùl" to pastoring i.e. the "Protestant" spirit. ii) Yet, some members are singled out for specific leadership as ordained
ministen within a hierarchic fnrnework i.e. the "Catholic" spirit. 2) How the spirit of the Reformed ministry differs from the Roman Catholic ministry:
i) egalitarian ii) range of rnodalities of ovcrsight iii) a married clergy & its benefi ts: "fàmily life as foundation (Boden) for state and the place of virtue (1 38). 3) Pastoral vocation as parity and sanctification.
1) The plea for tolerance and loving forbeannce towards those who belicvc differently; (compare with paragraph # 818 in the Catbulic Catechism) 2) To condemn others is to "wantonly constrict the circlc of Christian love" and the work of the Spirit ; in effect, it is to condemn oursclves. 3) No hurnan letter exhausrs the truth; we can never presume to be privi- leged holders of truth; therefore, WC cannot condemn others. 4) Priority of liturgical practice over doctrinal beliefi The world will come to know who you are by the love you have for cach other, not by the com- mon beliek you happen to have in common. 5 ) Thc confession as a human document contains "offensive imperfec- tions": i) the condemnation of others ii) the wrath of God (in Sermon 9).
Sermon --
11 Cor: 5: t Z 18 "If anyone is in Christ, he is a ncw crcation: the old h a passed away, behold the new has come, Al1 this is from God, who through Christ remn- ciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."
PM. 1:G- J 1 "And 1 arri sure that he who began a good work in you will bnng
Schleiermacher's Augsburg Confession Sermons of 1830
That We have Nothing to Tach Regading the Wmth of God
On the Goal Toward Which The Effort of the Evangelical Church is
Diiiected
1) Christianity is a religion of reconciliation, not vengeance; love, not wrath 2) The power of the love of Christ replaces the wnth of God as our guiding iymbol and spirit. 3) ~chleierrni&er neo-Marcionite tendcncy in npudiating the wrathhil images of Cod from both Old Testament and New Tatament. 4) Further implications of "the canon within the canon". 5 ) To use the wrath of God as a technique to scare people into king hith- fil is an "offensive imperfection" in thc confession, a vestige of prc- Christian paganism.
I ) Schleiermacher's ecclesiology bved on the consciousness of a Triune God in Sabellian mode, 2) The Goal of the Church:To cornpletc the work of sanctification begun by God in the penon of the Rcdeemer and continuing now through the presence of the Spirit in the community of the fàithful. 3) The divine completion of sanctification is enacted in human form and fashion, through the service of human beings. 4) The C h u ~ h is Cod's work of continuou sanctification enacted through human action guided by t hc Spirit. 5) We are not here to be passive spectators "cxpccting something from beyond"; we are called to bc active participants; "WC ourselves nced to get involv~d". 6) True unity lies not in wrinen codes but in the Spirit and bond of peace.
Hans Frei's Typology of Christian Theology
AC.= Ambient Culture. C.C.S.D.- Chriath Community Self -Descript bn. > u takes prbrity over
\ + not connecteci whh
Theology as Expression:
Psychic Exegesis C.C.S.D.= A C
(Schleierrnacher)
Theology as
Theology as Response:
Christological Exegesis C.C.S.D.> A.C
(Karl Barth) _I
Jesus as the Ascrlptlve Unsubstitutable Subjecl V P ~ 5
_t b
- Christological Bias .11111) C.C.S.D.+A.C (D.Z. Phillips)
Conversation: Construction: Symbolic Exegesis Jesus as or ~yrnbot 4 Reductionist Exegesis
AC.> C*CmS,Dm AC.> C.C.S.D. a (David Tracy) 1 (Gordon Kauf man) R
Ir)
SamoHnentaIl: ' LarCrs Supper
as Llvlng Presence
of the Redeèmer
Schleiermacher's "Fugalw Ecclesiology
CATHOLIC SPIRIT
O
PROTESTANT
MInIsterlak Publlcly Ordered
Insthution as Essential Condition
of
Trilithic Cam: Sola Fide.
Sola Scrf ptura,
SPIRIT
CATHOLIC SPIRIT
o...
Ecum8nlc611~ Catholidty :
A Church for All &
Ali for the Church
