Beyond Tolerance: Schleiermacher on Friendship, Sociability, and Lived Religion

178 Pages·2019·1.013 MB·English

by  Matthew Ryan Robinson, Kevin M. Vander Schel

Beyond Tolerance
Theologische Bibliothek
Töpelmann
Edited by
Bruce McCormack, Friederike Nüssel
and Christoph Schwöbel
Volume 184
Beyond Tolerance
Schleiermacher on Friendship, Sociability,
and Lived Religion
Edited by Matthew Ryan Robinson and
Kevin M. Vander Schel
ISBN 978-3-11-061197-7
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-061373-5
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-061219-6
ISSN 0563-4288
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019948043
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Table of Contents
Abbreviations of Schleiermacher’s Collected Works VII
Editors’ Introduction 1
Part I: Friendship and Interpersonal Subjectivity
Graham Ward
Schleiermacher and the Theology of Friendship 11
Arnulf von Scheliha
The Development of Individuality: Some Considerations on the Importance of
Friendship in Schleiermacher’s Social Theory 25
Cornelia Richter
Symphilosophieren and We-Intentionality Despite All
Misunderstandings 39
Jonas Lundblad
Polyphonic Love: A Common Theme in Schleiermacher and Bonhoeffer 51
Matthew Ryan Robinson
Can Friendship be Taught and Learned? 75
Part II Sociability, Culture, and Lived Religion
Dietrich Korsch
The Spirit of Friendship: Thoughts on Subjectivity and Friendship from
Friedrich Schleiermacher 91
Wilhelm Gräb
Individuality and Sociability in Schleiermacher’s Concept of the Christian
Church 105
VI TableofContents
Johann Meylahn
Lived Religion and Populist Reason in an Age of Populist Politics 119
Nadia Marais
Contaminatedby Grace? Salvation, Sociability, and the Church as Collective
Life 129
Andrew Dole
Thinking with Schleiermacher about Religious Polarization 145
Contributors 163
Index 165
Abbreviations of Schleiermacher’s Collected
Works
FriedrichDanielErnstSchleiermacher.KritischeGesamtausgabe(KGA).EditedbyHans-Joachim
Birkner,GünterMeckenstock,AndreasArndt,JörgDierken,LutzKäppel,andNotgerSlenczka.
Berlin:DeGruyter,1980–.
KGAI/1 Jugendschriften1787–1796,ed.GünterMeckenstock(1984)
KGAI/2 SchriftenausderBerlinerZeit1796–1799,ed.GünterMeckenstock(1984)
KGAI/3 SchriftenausderBerlinerZeit1800–1802,ed.GünterMeckenstock(1988)
KGAI/5 SchriftenausderHallenserZeit1804–1807,ed.HermannPatsch(1995)
KGAI/6 Universitätschriften,Herakleitos,KurzeDarstellungdestheologischenStudi-
ums,ed.DirkSchmid(1998)
KGAI/9 KirchenpolitischeSchriften,ed.GünterMeckenstock(2000)
KGAI/10 Theologisch-dogmatischeAbhandlungenundGelegenheitsschriften,ed.
Hans-FriedrichTraulsen(1990)
KGAI/12 ÜberdieReligion(2.‐)4.Auflage,Monologen(2.‐)4.Auflage,ed.GünterMeck-
enstock(1995)
KGAI/13 DerChristlicheGlaubenachdemGrundsätzenderevangelischenKircheim
Zusammenhangedargestellt,2vols.,ed.RolfSchäfer(2003)
KGAII/10/1–2 VorlesungenüberdieDialektic,ed.AndreasArndt(2011)
KGAII/16 VorlesungenüberdiekirchlicheGeographieundStatistik,ed.SimonGerber
(2011)
KGAV/2 Briefwechsel1796–1798,eds.AndreasArndt,WolfgangVirmond(1988)
KGAV/3 Briefwechsel1799–1800,eds.AndreasArndt,WolfgangVirmond(2015)
KGAV/5 Briefwechsel1801–1802,eds.AndreasArndt,WolfgangVirmond(1999)
KGAV/6 Briefwechsel1802–1803,eds.AndreasArndt,WolfgangVirmond(2012)
KGAV/8 Briefwechsel1804–1806,eds.AndreasArndt,SimonGerber(2008)
KGAV/9 Briefwechsel1806–1807,eds.AndreasArndt,SimonGerber(2011)
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110613735-001

Editors’ Introduction
While Schleiermacher’s unique contributions on themes of piety and religious
subjectivityhavegeneratedrichdebatesinmodernandcontemporarytheology,
hisinfluentialanalysesofsociabilityandintersubjectivityhavegarneredsignifi-
cantly less scholarly attention. Within Anglophone scholarship in particular,
treatments of Schleiermacher’s theological and philosophical writings have
often proceeded through a limited focus on themes of individuality and the in-
teriorandaffectivedimensionsofreligiousfaith.¹Thistendencyreflectsthehis-
tory of the twentieth-century reception of the Schleiermacher’s theology amid
theriseofdialecticaltheologyinNorthAmericaandGreatBritain.Yetitobscures
a crucial aspect of Schleiermacher’s novel understanding of piety and religion.
His discussions of religious consciousness and interiority are couched within
his innovativeand comprehensive understandingof sociabilityandthe broader
treatmentoftheformationofpersonhoodandcommunitiesthatSchleiermacher
develops through his early writings, his foundational work in Philosophical
Ethics, and his related studies of Christian Ethics and Pedagogy.With the on-
goingworkoftheKritischeGesamtausgabe(1980–)affordingaccesstotheseim-
portant yet overlooked resources in Schleiermacher’s thought, recent scholar-
ship has engaged in an important reassessment of the social, ethical, and
interpersonal dimensions of Schleiermacher’s understandingof religion.²
Beyond its importance for correctly grasping the contours of his own
thought, however, Schleiermacher’s understanding of sociability also presents
intriguinganalysesofsocialdivisionandinterpersonaldevelopmentthatantici-
patepressingcontemporaryissues concerningthe roleof religiouspracticeand
identityinthecontextofsocialandpoliticalupheaval.Theriseofpopulistmove-
ments and nationalistic fervor throughout the West have raised concerns about
thefragilityofliberalpoliticalvalues,chiefamongthemtolerance.Moreover,as
contemporary political philosophers such as Charles Taylor and Jürgen Haber-
 See,forexample,GeorgeA.Lindbeck,TheNatureofDoctrine:ReligionandTheologyinaPost-
liberalAge(Philadelphia:WestminsterPress,1984),15–29;WayneProudfoot,ReligiousExperi-
ence(Berkeley:Univ.ofCaliforniaPress,1985),1–40;andProudfoot,“ImmediacyandIntention-
alityintheFeelingofAbsoluteDependence,”inSchleiermacher,theStudyofReligion,andthe
Future of Theology, eds.Wilhelm Gräb and Brent Sockness (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), 27–38.
 OnthesenewerdevelopmentsinSchleiermacherscholarship,seetheessaysinTheCambridge
CompaniontoFriedrichSchleiermacher,ed.JacquelineMariña(NewYork:CambridgeUniv.Press,
2005); Schleiermacher, the Study of Religion, and the Future of Theology; and Schleiermacher
Handbuch,ed.MartinOhst(Heidelberg:MohrSiebeck,2018).
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110613735-002
2 Editors’Introduction
mashavenoted,westernclaimstosocialandpoliticalprogressareoftenaccom-
panied by truncated conceptions of personhood and civil society and cramped
perspectivesofhumangoods.³Ifadefiningcharacteristicofcontemporarypop-
ulisms is their staunch resistance to diversity, a simple plea for greater toler-
anceappearsinadequate.Butwhatalternativesocialresourcesexistforcultivat-
ingtheinterpersonalrelationshipsandmutualgoodwillnecessaryforsustaining
vibrant and peaceable communities? And how might the lived practices of reli-
giouscommunitiescarrypotentialtoreinterpretorre-circuittheseinterpersonal
tensionsandtransformtherelationshipwiththecultural“other”(Fremde)from
“foe” (Feind) to“friend” (Freund)?
The ten essayspresented in thisvolumeseek toprovideaunique construc-
tive analysis of this shifting social discourse through the lens of Friedrich
Schleiermacher’s thought, by focusing on themes of friendship and sociability
as a potential path beyond mere tolerance. Each essayof the volume is written
by an internationally-recognized scholar and examines Schleiermacher’s novel
reflections on individuality, friendship, and sociability,while also attending to
recentdebatesconcerningtherolesofreligionaslivedincontemporarypolitical
society.
The essayspresented here reflect an intensive seminardiscussion that took
place on November 17, 2017 at the inaugural meeting of the International
SchleiermacherWorkingGroup,aninitiativethatgrewoutofthe“Schleiermach-
erUnit”oftheannualAmericanAcademyofReligionconferencewiththeaimof
fosteringgreaterinternationalcollaborationandunderstandingofSchleiermach-
er’s writings. Participants from Germany, South Africa, Great Britain, Sweden,
and the United States gathered at the campus of Boston College in Chestnut
Hill,Massachusettstopresentanddiscusspapersontheinterconnectedthemes
of friendship, sociability, and lived religious practice in Schleiermacher’s
thought. The papers discussed at this workshop provided the initial drafts for
the essays presented here.
Features of the Present Volume
Thiscollectionofessays,asitemergedfromtheworkshop,presentsanumberof
notablefeatures.First,itilluminatesthecloseinterconnectionbetweenthecon-
 SeeCharlesTaylor,Sources oftheSelf:TheMakingofModernIdentity(Cambridge:Harvard
Univ.Press,1989),495–521;andJürgenHabermas,BetweenNaturalismandReligion:Philosoph-
icalEssays(Cambridge:PolityPress,2008),251–70.