What accounts for Albrecht Ritschl's profound effect on modern theology? Philip Hefner proposed that he so energetically brought together in his work the elements of his generation, that all theology now stands on his shoulders. Many theologians have attacked Ritschl's ideas, others vigorously defend him, but all must confront him. The essays presented here will enable students and scholars to experience the force of Ritschl's writing for themselves. Ritschl was born in 1822 into the intellectual, social, and ecclesiastical elite of Berlin. After finishing his studies at the University of Tuebingen, he taught at Bonn for eighteen years and at Goettingen for twenty-five. Hefner shows that Ritschl spoke a word to his own age that was so appropriate and so in resonance with his contemporaries in Germany that despite its weaknesses it became the dominant theology of his generation. Ritschl's impact can be traced to three major factors: forceful statement of Christian faith, positive link to tradition, and scientific method. He exhibited a remarkable combination of scholarly integrity and devotion to the Christian life, as seen in his ten-year study of pietism - a movement he opposed. His theology also contributed to much that followed, including historical-critical studies and dialectical theology. These essays offer a balanced sample of Ritschl's thinking. In the Prolegomena to 'The History of Pietism' he establishes his method of studying different confessions on the basis of Christian lifestyle. Theology and Metaphysics offers his celebrated rejection of metaphysics in favor of a christocentric approach. Instruction in the Christian Religion, the writing that won for Ritschl his popularity among students, sets forth his specific doctrinal beliefs. Today's students will discover that Ritschl is both an intriguing historical figure and a thinker worth grappling with. These essays, along with Philip Hefner's extensive introduction, provide needed material for a reevaluation of Ritschl and of nineteenth century theology.

The Ritschlian theology, a reaction against rationalism, was influential in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ritschl held that God could be known only through the revelation contained in the person and work of Jesus. His theology stressed ethics and the community of man and repudiated metaphysics. Ritschl's most characteristic work is presented here and has been translated as 'The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation'. In it Ritschl proposes understanding the doctrine of justification in interpersonal rather than juridical categories.

This book provides a new approach to Albrecht Ritschl’s theology. Leif Svensson argues that Ritschl’s theological project must be related to three cultural developments – historical criticism, materialism, and anti-Lutheran polemics – and understood in the context of the de-Christianization of the Bildungsbürgertum in nineteenth-century Germany. “Albrecht Ritschl remains the great unknown of nineteenth-century theology. In this important study, Leif Svensson sheds new light on Ritschl’s thought by relating it to contemporaneous social and cultural developments. Rooted in deep familiarity with German intellectual life of the time, the book convincingly illustrates the value of a history of theology that is mindful of its various contexts.” – Johannes Zachhuber University of Oxford “I confess I was hesitant to blurb a book on Ritschl, but then I read it. Svensson’s well researched presentation of Ritschl’s thought is compelling and forceful. I highly recommend this book.” – Stanley Hauerwas Duke Divinity School “Svensson’s work ably places Ritschl’s contribution to theology in the broader context of the intellectual and cultural history of the nineteenth century. Students of Protestant theology and thought and all interested in the complex relationship between Christian theology and modernity will learn something of value from this important study.” – Thomas Albert Howard Valparaiso University

Modernism's theological project was an attempt to explain two things: firstly, how faith might enable persons to experience their lives as hanging together, even in the face of disintegrating forces like injustice, tragedy, and luck; and secondly, how one could see such faith, and so a life held together by it, as self-expressive. Modern theologians such as Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Ritschl, and Tillich thus offer accounts of how one's life would have to hang together such that one could identify with it; of the oppositions which stand in the way of such hanging-together; of God as the one by whom oppositions are overcome, such that one can have faith that one's life ultimately hangs together; and of what such faith would have to be like in order for one to identify with it, too. So understood, modern theology not only sheds light on faith's potential role in enabling persons to identify with their lives, but stands in unexpected continuity with contemporary "contextual" theologies. This book offers clear, careful readings of modernism's key figures in order to explain their relevance to practical concerns and to contemporary understandings of faith.

This book, published in 2000, is about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as it has developed in Germany.

Winner: 2012 The American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Theology and Religious Studies, PROSE Award. In this thought-provoking new work, the world renowned theologian Gary Dorrien reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology. Presents a radical rethinking of the roots of modern theology Reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology Shows how it took Kant's writings on ethics and religion to launch a fully modern departure in religious thought Dissects Kant's three critiques of reason and his moral conception of religion Analyzes alternative arguments offered by Schleiermacher, Schelling, Hegel, and others - moving historically and chronologically through key figures in European philosophy and theology Presents notoriously difficult and intellectual arguments in a lucid and accessible manner