Schleiermacher's Preaching, Dogmatics, and Biblical Criticism

The Interpretation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John

Catherine L. Kelsey

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN:
  9781597529051
  9781498248648
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630879938
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Friedrich Schleiermacher, the "father of modern theology," found his voice first in preaching. This book demonstrates how Schleiermacher moved between the critical reading of Scripture, the proclamation of Christian faith to congregations over a forty-five-year period, and, eventually, the work of theology in all its disciplines. Schleiermacher's Preaching, Dogmatics, and Biblical Criticism is the first work to fully unveil this interaction by focusing on Schleiermacher's 228 known sermons on the Gospel of John. Kelsey shows in detail 1) how the central insights of his theology emerged first in his preaching, and 2) that his dogmatic writings provided a context within which these insights could be related to all the major doctrinal themes of Christian faith. The study concludes by drawing implications for theological reflection and its relation to worship life in our own time.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: An Introduction to Schleiermacher’s Preaching and the Difficulties It Presents
• Chapter 3: Schleiermacher’s Interpretive Frame for Preaching on John: Three Presuppositions
• Chapter 4: A Reading of Christian Faith in Light of Schleiermacher’s Preaching on the Gospel of John
• Chapter 5: A Reading of the Life of Jesus Lectures: A Historian at Work
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Appendix A: A Listing of Schleiermacher’s Preaching on Texts from the Gospel of John, Arranged by Biblical Text
• Appendix B: Church Prayer from 1713
• Bibliography