Skip to Main Content

Theology and the University in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Online ISBN:
9780191826306
Print ISBN:
9780198783381
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Theology and the University in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Zachary Purvis
Zachary Purvis
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
Find on
Published online:
18 August 2016
Published in print:
28 July 2016
Online ISBN:
9780191826306
Print ISBN:
9780198783381
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The modern university and modern Christian theology both spring from the same headwaters: the German university of the nineteenth century. This book examines the dual transformation of institutions and ideas that led to the emergence of theology as science, the paradigmatic project of modern theology associated with Friedrich Schleiermacher. Beginning with earlier educational reforms across central Europe and especially following the upheavals of the Napoleonic period, an impressive list of provocateurs, iconoclasts, and guardians of the old faith all confronted the nature of the university, the organization of knowledge, and the unity of theology’s various parts, quandaries which together bore the collective name of ‘theological encyclopedia’. Schleiermacher’s remarkably influential programme pioneered the structure and content of the theological curriculum and laid the groundwork for theology’s historicization, which is here investigated comprehensively for the first time through the era’s two predominant schools: speculative theology and mediating theology. Ultimately, the endeavour collapsed in the context of Wilhelmine Germany and the Weimar Republic, beset by the rise of religious studies, radical disciplinary specialization, a crisis of historicism, and the attacks of dialectical theology. In short, the project represented university theology par excellence. Engaging in detail with these developments, the book weaves the story of modern university theology into the broader tapestry of German and European intellectual culture, with periodic comparisons to other national contexts. In doing so, Zachary Purvis presents a substantially new way to understand the relationship between theology and the university, both in nineteenth-century Germany and, indeed, beyond.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close