This work is a fresh, unusually lucid approach to Christian theology and interfaith dialogue fromÊIndia.ÊIts basic aim is to examine the Christian consciousness of God's work in history--redemption history within the entire Êhistory of the world.ÊIt uses Christian Faith by Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) as its main text, so as to view this theme in a reversed order from the way it is presented there. This approach, which centers on God's new creation in Christ, leads to an incisive understanding of Christianity's relation to other modes of faith.ÊThroughout, Dr. Kunnuthara compares the thought of another Indian Christian leader steeped in Hindu thought, Pandippedi Chenchiah (1886-1959), to enable renewed interfaith dialogue across a wide spectrum.

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

Known as the 'Father of modern theology' Friedrich Schleiermacher is without a doubt one of the most important theologians in the history of Christianity. Not only relevant to theology, he also made significant contributions in areas of philosophy such as hermeneutics, ethics, philosophy of religion and the study of Plato, and he was ahead of his time in espousing a kind of proto-feminism. Divided into three parts, this Companion deals firstly with elements of Schleiermacher's philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology of religious knowledge, ethics, hermeneutics, and contributions to Plato scholarship. It goes on to discuss theological topics such as sin and redemption and Christology, and the final section is devoted to Schleiermacher's understanding of culture. This is the first book in English introducing readers to all the important aspects of Schleiermacher's thought in a systematic way, containing essays by some of the best Schleiermacher scholars in Germany and in the English-speaking world.

Since its first appearance in 1821/22, The Christian Faith has had a fractious history of reception. It implements decisive departures for theology, founding the possibility to speak about God on human freedom. It recognises the role of historical consciousness, and the need to relate to advances in the natural sciences. The study investigates the early critiques of Schleiermacher’s analysis of the feeling of utter dependence, of his conception of Christ as the archetype of the God-consciousness, and of his doctrine of God in terms of absolute causality. It reconstructs the revisions carried out in the second edition of 1830/31 as a break-through to a transcendental argumentation. Does Schleiermacher’s elaboration of the anthropological turn in theology leave it defenseless against the dissolution of faith in a saving God in Feuerbach’s projection thesis? Does it offer a naturalising account of religion? And where does the interconnectedness of nature established by God leave what was prized by the Romantics, human individuality? Ongoing objections and new constellations of questions are examined in their relevance for a modern theology that spells out faith in God as a practical self-understanding. “Maureen Junker-Kenny’s book is an outstanding presentation of Schleiermacher’s theology. She attends not only to the development of his method from the first to the second edition of The Christian Faith, but also to his concrete interpretation of Creation, Christology, Redemption, Theological Anthropology, especially human freedom, and his understanding of God. The book has an exceptional value in the way she relates Schleiermacher not only to his contemporaries, but also contemporary concerns. Schleiermacher’s theology is shown in its relation to the modernity of his age, but also the ongoing modernity of today. The book has a depth and breath that make it indispensable not only for historical theology, but also contemporary constructive theology.” – Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School “In Self, Christ and God in Schleiermacher’s Dogmatics. A Theology Reconceived for Modernity, Maureen Junker-Kenny proves herself to be not only a distinguished interpreter of Schleiermacher’s work, but a creative practitioner in her own right of his dialogical method. Elegantly conceived and beautifully written, the book shows how Schleiermacher connected the different aspects of his thought—form/content, structure/doctrine, piety/critical rigor—into a coherent system. Self, Christ and God in Schleiermacher’s Dogmatics is now the only guide to Schleiermacher’s magnum opus, Christian Faith, anyone needs.” – Christine Helmer, Northwestern University, Chicago

Many scholars believe that Friedrich Schleiermacher relegates the doctrine of the Trinity to an appendix at the end of his magnum opus, The Christian Faith (1830/31); his alleged disregard for the Trinity is the supposed death knell for serious consideration of his work within the history of Christian thought. This volume argues that Schleiermacher not only calls for the doctrine's revitalization, but also makes it the centrepiece of Protestant Christianity. Following Schleiermacher's own thought experiment, Poe presents his doctrine of God in reverse order of its original presentation. Her examination centres on the Trinity, treating it as the keystone of the entire work, while analysing the divine attributes: love and wisdom, justice and holiness, eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. When viewed from the standpoint of the conclusion, the Trinitarian shape of Schleiermacher's theology comes to the fore. What emerges is a middle way between merely economic Trinitarianism and a full-fledged development of immanent Trinitarianism, examining divine personhood and the union of the divine with humanity. The central thesis of this work runs boldly counter to the prevailing academic account of Schleiermacher's doctrine of the Trinity, and offers an innovative and constructive reading. Readers will be privy to a fresh look at Schleiermacher's doctrine of God and its importance for contemporary theology.