Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834,) fully Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher, was a German theologian, preacher, and classical philologist. Frequently recognized as the originator of contemporary Protestant theology, he produced Der christliche Glaube (‘The Christian Faith,’) a systematic interpretation of Christian dogma.
Born in Breslau, Lower Silesia, now Wroclaw, Poland, Schleiermacher was brought up in the Moravian faith but became intellectually disenchanted with its dogmatism and studied philosophy and theology at the University of Halle.
In 1796, Schleiermacher became a clergyman at the Charite, a Berlin hospital. He joined the literary and intellectual circles associated with Friedrich and August Von Schlegel, and Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt. Schleiermacher became a professor at Halle (1804–06) and Berlin (1810) and had a substantial role in the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Prussia in 1817.
Schleiermacher’s works include Reden Liberdie Religion (1799, ‘On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers,’) Monologen (1800, ‘Soliloquies,’) a translation of Plato (started in collaboration with Schlegel, 1804–10,) and his major treatise Der Christliche Glaube (1821–22, ‘The Christian Faith.’)
Schleiermacher was involved in German romanticism and the critique of traditional and Kantian religious and moral philosophy. He defended a view of religious liberalism and an understanding of Christianity rooted in historical tradition.
Martin Redeker wrote Friedrich Schleiermacher: Leben und Werk (1968; Life and Work, 1973.)
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If your whole life is guided by religion, the hearts of others may be touched by this mute language, and may open to the reception of that spirit which dwells in you.
—Friedrich Schleiermacher
Topics: Religion
Since each person, as an individual, is the not-being of the other, it is never possible to eliminate non-understanding completely.
—Friedrich Schleiermacher
Topics: Individuality
Protestantism makes the relation of a man to the Church to depend upon his relation to Christ; Romanism makes the relation of a man to Christ to depend on his relation to the Church.
—Friedrich Schleiermacher
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