Volume 31, Issue 2

Schleiermacher’s Speeches. About religion . Second edition. Berlin 1806, has never been reprinted. The book is completely forgotten. But it can be seen as a new draft in which the author, who has now become a professor of theology and philosophy in Halle, reacts to the latest developments in philosophy (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel). This is done through multiple exchanges of terms and the insertion of completely revised parts. The new edition is intended to provide a philosophical clarification of the relationship between religion and philosophy. The question arises as to whether Schleiermacher merely gave a nuance or a fundamental change in his view of the nature of religion. This question can only be decided by reading the entire newly edited book.

The article focuses on the Icelandic theologian Magnús Eiríksson (1806–1881), whose extensive writings have hitherto been a blind spot in research. The life and authorship of this controversial and independent thinker from the Golden Age of Denmark are sketched out with constant attention to his dogmatic stance, and key themes and motifs of his thought are explored with the aim of theological-historical contextualization. Remarkable similarities are found with the interpretation of the history of Christianity as a process of alienation, later prominently represented by Adolf von Harnack, while Eiríksson also proves to be a forward-looking theologian in other respects, making an in-depth study of his work both rewarding and profitable.

The study aims to clarify how widespread and to what depth Scheeben’s dogmatic-theological legacy affected Czech Catholic theologians from 1861 to the present day. The research indicates that there was a widespread awareness of both the person and the work of the German professor among clergy as well as laity from 1861 till 1948. The most accentuated themes were the Holy Spirit and grace, Mariology and the Eucharist. Czech theologians highly appreciated Scheeben’s linking dogmatics and spirituality, e. g. Christians’ life as a participation in the Trinitarian life. From 1948 on, the knowledge of Scheeben’s work diminished due to restrictions on the theological reflection during the Communist regime (till 1989), even though some Czech authors who lived and published in exile considered the Cologne professor in certain aspects as a predecessor of Vatican II. In the recent decades, Scheeben’s legacy has been highlighted only by a few Czech authors and is becoming known more through translations of foreign publications.

Dieser Aufsatz ist eine stark kontextualisierte Studie von Paul Tillichs Verhältnis zur Sozialdemokratie vor dem ersten Weltkrieg. Entgegen seiner Behauptung, seine Generation sei vor dem Krieg politisch indifferent gewesen, zeichne ich das Bild einer Generation von Theologen, die sich mit Leidenschaft der zentralen politischen Herausforderung ihrer Generation widmeten: der sozialen Frage. Tillichs autobiographische Tendenz ist, den Krieg als sein alleiniges Moment der Offenbarung gesellschaftlicher und politischer Zusammenhänge zu charakterisieren. Die Quellen zeigen aber, dass er schon als Student und junger Pastor seine politische Meinung bildete und zum Ausdruck brachte. Schon vor dem Krieg vollzog Tillich eine erhebliche Entfernung von den konservativen Positionen seines Vaters. Er konnte mindestens zeitweise eine erstaunliche theologische Würdigung der Sozialdemokratie bieten, auch wenn reale Begegnungen mit den Arbeitern im industriellen Berlin ihn dann zu einer kritischeren Position bewegten. Damit wird aber deutlich, dass Tillichs späterer religiöser Sozialismus nicht als bloße Folge des Kriegs gedacht werden soll, sondern immer auch als teilweise Anknüpfung an frühere Spannungen seines werdenden politischen Denkens.

Theodosius Harnack, a practical theologian who taught in Dorpat and Erlangen, was born in St. Petersburg. Strongly influenced by the Moravian Brethren and the Catholic revivalist movement in his youth, as a professor of theology in Dorpat he became a leading representative of a confessionalist renewal of the German-speaking Lutheran Church in the Russian Empire. Dorpat was the only Protestant theological faculty in Russia and was held in high esteem by Lutherans in the German Empire. In 1871, Theodosius Harnack, who had already travelled to Italy after completing his studies, travelled to Rome for the first time in his life. The fragment of a letter that has been preserved in the possession of the von Harnack family and is now published here for the first time provides information about this trip.