To start with, the translators want you to know two things: Schleiermacher’s theological work has been life-giving to us for decades. And there is no way around it, this book is not an easy read. Schleiermacher sought conciseness, and the result was both clarity and density.1 Following Schleiermacher’s own instructions to translators, however, our translation seeks to offer his exact meaning and intent, so that you can make of it what you will. Perhaps you will find this way of describing the shared faith of communities of Jesus followers sets you free to follow God more fully. Perhaps it will just challenge you to think more analytically about what you see is essential in Christian faith. Either result could be life-giving for you too.
Schleiermacher’s Christian Faith is likely the most precise, interconnected account of Christian theology ever written. Schleiermacher focuses on 172 tight propositions, closely related explanations, and carefully shaped arguments. We have added a number of things that could aid the reader of English, and maybe German readers too: explanatory notes, translations of quotations given in other languages, their sources, and a bibliography. We have also broken down his typically long sentences, fortunately aided by his own logical practices (including punctuation and what we call “the little words” that connect and move the argument). We have left no German word unaccounted for and have added in the main text nothing but what a faithful rendering into precise English might require. The result is as exact a transmission of his discourse as possible. Yet it is also an “interpretation,” as every translation is. Our aim, like his, is not to prove, to defend, or to sell his account of Christianity to you but to present it clearly.
Things to Notice
1. The word “we” that Schleiermacher continually uses in this book refers to members of his own Protestant, “Evangelical” churches, which specifically meant persons within German churches within the German territories in the 1830s. This means that he assumes that his readers see themselves to be Christians and, for that reason, have their own experience of redemption through Jesus Christ. He is not trying to prove the value of Christian faith to readers. Instead, he is trying to provide language that will help persons from different backgrounds within Protestant and other faith communities see their commonalities, even while they retain distinctive differences. In his 1829 public letter to his colleague Friedrich Lücke, translated as On the “Glaubenslehre,” Schleiermacher calls John 1:14 “the basic text for all dogmatics” (59). That verse is a statement of having experienced redemption: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (RSV). The “we” who have “beheld his glory” is the “we” whom Schleiermacher invokes in Christian Faith.
2. Christian Faith is only half of Schleiermacher’s dogmatic project. It is the half that examines what Christian faith communities experience and think and believe about their experience of God in Christ. The other half is Christian ethics. That is where Schleiermacher describes the distinctive features of living in the reign of God as redeemed followers of Christ. So you will find few real examples of how to live out shared Christian beliefs in this book. (See the bibliography to find the publication of his lectures on Christian ethics in German.)
3. The table of contents is your best guide to the organization of this book. Notice that the Introduction (§§1–31) and Part One (§§32–61) are each preliminary to Schleiermacher’s account of specifically Christian faith experience in Part Two and the Conclusion. As a result, Part Two is much longer than Part One and is two layers deeper in the outline. If you look carefully, you will see a recurring pattern of analysis built around three features: Christian self-consciousness of oneself, of God, and of the world. In Part Two you will also see a contrast between Christian consciousness of sin and Christian consciousness of grace. You will stay oriented if you know where you are reading in relation to these features and in the outline as a whole.
4. Schleiermacher examines the potential value of many theological ideas that he ends up not adopting. He thinks about their implications, especially if those implications conflict with something more central to shared Christian experience of redemption. He does hold exactly what he says in the propositions themselves. The rest of what he says clarifies what he does and does not mean by the words in the propositions.
5. Plan to read slowly and to think as you go. Schleiermacher refers to confessional statements and many individual theologians of the church. They are all writing in the abstract. Many readers will find it helpful to identify particular examples that fit the abstract language. You might ask yourself: what in my experience of the faith of some Christians is this sentence describing? Frequently Schleiermacher examines a particular theological view in only one (long!) German sentence. In this translation that sentence might be rendered in a short paragraph. Slow reading helps you notice all the different views he considers. Connecting them to your experience helps you recognize those views as they appear around you.
6. The editors’ notes contain several different kinds of information. Schleiermacher himself says in his notes: “see” or “compare” (cf.) in relation to other propositions in Christian Faith. The translators have added additional connections to propositions in our “Ed. notes.” Schleiermacher’s thinking is interconnected between his various writings as well. At many points he said something in another book that might help a reader think about what he says here. He provided some of these connections, and we have provided you with many others, particularly to the third edition of On Religion (OR), both editions of Brief Outline (BO), On the “Glaubenslehre” (OG), and his sermons. If you know German, note that we have given you Schleiermacher’s exact words in the notes when his word choice is important for grasping the specific range of nuances or when the word has become a technical term for him. And we have found English translations for all the quotations that Schleiermacher left in their original Latin or Greek in his own notes. The accompanying editors’ notes tell you where to locate both the translation provided and the original language.
7. We have not attempted to provide biographical information that would help you to think about the context within which Schleiermacher was writing. If this book is your first encounter with him, you may find it helpful to consult one of the fine theological dictionaries or one of the brief introductions to his thought. We also encourage you to generate your own interpretation of this work as you read it rather than relying on that of others.
8. The 1830–1831 edition of Christian Faith has been reprinted many times in German and now in a second translation into English. As a result, scholars have found it more helpful to refer to the proposition (using this sign: §) and subsection number rather than page numbers, which vary from edition to edition. Hence, you will find references such as §97—which refers to the proposition itself. §97.2 refers to the entire second subsection under proposition 97. §97n4 means footnote 4 in proposition 97 and its subsections. §14.P.S. refers to the postscript section found at the very end of the subsections under proposition 14 (most propositions do not have postscripts). The abbreviations list will help you remember such shortcuts when you need them interpreted.
9. There are a lot of footnotes. Three options are open to you for reading. (1) Read the main text alone, ignoring the footnotes. (2) Dip down to the footnotes whenever you feel curious or confused. (3) Read in conversation with the footnotes, which only occasionally overstep sparse explanation and which will lead you into the work’s exquisitely organized interconnectedness. We think you’ll likely come to know what you want or need as you go.
That’s it! The rest is up to whatever relation forms between you and Schleiermacher’s ideas as you read and ponder.
1. Cf. §12.1 on his distinct resolutions of difficulties faced throughout this work and §29n9 on aspects of viewing “scientific method,” including procedures of “framing” and pragmatic evaluation.