His career was opened by his Reden, addresses to cultivated unbelievers (1800). This work made an epoch in the German nation. It called the cultivated circles away from their pride in a high-sounding philos- ophy and from their contempt of what they called re- ligion. There is no incongruity, said the young proph- et, between culture and religion. The culture that de- spises religion is but shallow presumption ; the religion that despises culture is but a caricature. The founda- tions of religion are as deep as intuition and as broad as humanity. Each individual of the race is a vital mem- ber of the universe. By the universe he is sustained and furthered. In every life there come moments when this dependence on the universe is thrust upon the consciousness and made the very life of the soul. Such moments are as a conception, a birth, of the Eter- nal and Absolute within the limits of the finite and de- pendent. Keligion is art, taste, a consciousness of the All. In becoming conscious of the Infinite we have the sentiment of our immortality. Keligion is not mere dogmas and s3-stems. It is the deepest and truest life of humanity itself. Men may sneer at religion, but they cannot get awaj' from religion. Scorners turn from dry dogmatics to living nature. But what do they re- vere in nature? Not dead matter, not prosy, chemical elements, but rather nature's orderly march, its adapta- tion of means to ends. But this is, after all, the very essence of religion; it is a sympathy with the eternal basisof all being. Keligion is thus universal. We can escape it only by putting out our reason. It is not from wholeness, but only from partialness, of vision that the cultivated turn aside from religion. The first three of the discourses treat, thus, of the nature of religion in general. The last two give a survey of religion in its historical reality. As the essence of religion is com- munion of feeling with the Absolute, the One, so its tendency is to organize man into communities and to express itself in organized worship. As there are in- finite varieties of manifestation in nature, so the appre- hension of the Infinite in the soul of man takes place under endless varieties. Hence the multiplicity of his- torical religions. But there are here points of greater
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and of less approxiraation. Ancient Israel stood excep- tionally close to the Infinite. In Jesus of Nazareth, the One, the Infinite reached its (or his) intenscst manifes- tation. Such is the general drift of these celebrated Reden. They were accused of a tendency to pantheism, though Schleiermacher resented the imputation. They were certainly not positively Christian. But they tend- ed towards Christianity, and they unquestionably pro- duced a more fruitful effect on the specific audience 'which they addressed than if they had been of more confessionally orthodox form. This effect was sudden and immense. In his preface to the third edition (1821) Schleiermacher had occasion playfully to remark that there was then really a greater call for discourses to the over-righteous and the creed-worshippers among the cultivated than to unbelievers. The Monolorjen, with which Schleiermacher greeted the dawn of the 19th century, stand, as an ethical work, by the side of the religious tendency of the Reden. They are a self-scru- tinizing and self-exhorting journey through the relig- ious consciousness. Man should not be simply one of the monotonous members of the universe ; but he should, by self- concentration and self-virtualization, develop himself into a rich and relatively independent individ- ual. Means to this are reflection, meditation, retire- ment from too great absorption in dissipation, business, and external routine — in other words, the due conse- crating of our secular life with the devotional element. As in the Reden an influence of Spinoza has been no- ticed, so in the Monolof/en some have found a trace of Fichte. These two works present their author in the first stadium of his development. The Christmas Cele- bration {Weihnachtsfeier [1806]) is a transition step to- wards positive theology. It is a charming dialogue, in the fashion of Plato, on the significance of the birth of Christ. The three speakers defend, each his peculiar view. Neither of them represents the author's exclu- sive views, but rather all of them in turn.
When we pass to Schleiermacher's critical treatment of the Bible, we meet with his least satisfactory works. And yet there was combined with his rather negative tendency very much which has enriched the results of exegetics. Ignoring the dogma of inspiration, he laid free hand upon the sacred book, just as upon the dia- logues of Plato, or any other ancient documents. But he did not doubt the substantial genuineness of the Bible, and he was confident that critical science is ca- pable of drawing the line between the essential and the non-essential. His posthumously edited lectures on introduction to the New-Test, hermeneutics and criticism have not fully answered all expectations.
In his outlines of theology {Kurze Darstellung des theologischen Studiums), which appeared first in 1810, and then, enriched with notes, in 1830, Schleiermacher assumes very positive dogmatic ground. He bases him- self upon the objective fact of the Protestant Christian consciousness. Theology is a positive science, the ele- ments of which are evolved from the Christian con- sciousness and from the exigencies of Church govern- ment. It is not a branch of philosophical science in general. With philosophy it must neither interfere nor by philosophy be dominated. Its truth is ascertained by historical criticism and by the comparative study of other religions. This forms the philosnpkiad part. Its product is the historical, and out of the philosophical and historical parts results directly the practical part. This little work is of great originality, and has exerted wide influence. Its classification, however, has not been extensively followed.