Friedrich Schleiermacher On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (German: [ˈʃlaɪɐˌmaχɐ]; November 21, 1768 – February 12, 1834) was a German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant Christianity. He also became influential in the evolution of Higher Criticism, and his work forms part of the foundation of the modern field of hermeneutics. Because of his profound effect on subsequent Christian thought, he is often called the “Father of Modern Liberal Theology” and is considered an early leader in liberal Christianity. The Neo-Orthodoxy movement of the twentieth century, typically (though not without challenge) seen to be spearheaded by Karl Barth, was in many ways an attempt to challenge his influence.
David Friedrich Strauss The Life of Jesus Critically Examined
vid Friedrich Strauss (German: Strauß [ʃtʀaʊs]; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal protestant theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the “historical Jesus”, whose divine nature he denied. His work was connected to the Tübingen School, which revolutionized study of the New Testament, early Christianity, and ancient religions. Strauss was a pioneer in the historical investigation of Jesus.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/strauss/
Ludwig Feuerbach Lectures on the Essence of Religion
Meanwhile, the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–72) propounded, in his Lectures on the Essence of Religion, a view of religion as a projection of the aspirations of humans. His understanding of religion as a form of projection—an explanation that goes back to the ancient Greek thinker Xenophanes—was taken up in various ways by, among others,…
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Lectures-on-the-Essence-of-Religion
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/works/lectures/
http://apatheticagnostic.com/articles/meds3/med52/med1088.html
Søren Kierkegaard Attack Upon Christendom
Søren Kierkegaard’s theology has been a major influence in the development of 20th century theology. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) was a 19th-century Danish philosopher who has been generally considered the “Father of Existentialism”. During his later years (1848–1855), most of his writings shifted from being philosophical in nature to being religious. Kierkegaard’s theology focuses on the single individual in relation to an unprovable, yet known God. Many of his writings were a directed assault against all of Christendom, Christianity as a political and social entity. His target was the Danish State Church, which represented Christendom in Denmark. Christendom, in Kierkegaard’s view, made individuals lazy in their religion. Many of the citizens were officially “Christians”, without having any idea of what it meant to be a Christian. Kierkegaard attempted to awaken Christians to the need for unconditional religious commitment. However he was also against party spirit in religion as well as other areas of study and system building.
with re. Episcopal Church http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.anglicantheologicalreview.org/static/pdf/articles/thomas.pdf&sa=U&ved=0CCYQFjADahUKEwjiuNHT3ojHAhUSiQ0KHRRLCck&usg=AFQjCNEx1BMItXgQpunw0srw2UPcscgM-Q
https://archive.org/details/kierkegaardsatta00kier
First Vatican Council First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ
The First Vatican Council (Latin: Concilium Vaticanum Primum) was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned on 20 October 1870. Unlike the five earlier General Councils held in Rome, which met in the Lateran Basilica and are known as Lateran Councils, it met in the Vatican Basilica, hence its name. Its best-known decision is its definition of papal infallibility, strongly promoted by the Archibishop Luigi Natoli.
The Council was convoked to deal with the contemporary problems of the rising influence of rationalism, liberalism, and materialism. Its purpose was, besides this, to define the Catholic doctrine concerning the Church of Christ. There was discussion and approval of only two constitutions: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith and the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, the latter dealing with the primacy and infallibility of the Bishop of Rome. The first matter brought up for debate was the dogmatic draft of Catholic doctrine against the manifold errors due to Rationalism.
https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V1.HTM
http://www.catholicplanet.org/councils/20-Pastor-Aeternus.htm
John Henry Newman Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Latin: A defense of his life) is the classic defense by John Henry Newman of his religious opinions, published in 1864 in response to what he saw as an unwarranted attack on him, the Catholic priesthood, and Roman Catholic doctrine by Charles Kingsley. The work quickly became a bestseller and has remained in print to this day. The work was tremendously influential in turning public opinion for Newman, and in establishing him as one of the foremost exponents of Catholicism in England.
http://newmanreader.org/works/apologia/index.html
Adolf Harnack What Is Christianity?
Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a German Lutheran theologian and prominent church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912.
Harnack traced the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on early Christian writing and called on Christians to question the authenticity of doctrines that arose in the early Christian church. He rejected the historicity of the gospel of John in favor of the synoptic gospels, criticized the Apostles’ Creed, and promoted the Social Gospel.
In the 19th century, higher criticism flourished in Germany, establishing the historical-critical method as an academic standard for interpreting the Bible and understanding the historical Jesus (see Tübingen school). Harnack’s work is part of a reaction to Tübingen, and represents a reappraisal of tradition.
https://archive.org/details/whatischristian01saungoog
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack
Albert Schweitzer The Quest of the Historical Jesus
The Quest of the Historical Jesus (German: Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung, literally “History of Life-of-Jesus Research”) is a 1906 work of Biblical historical criticism written by Albert Schweitzer during the previous year, before he began to study for a medical degree.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45422
Ernst Troeltsch. The Place of Christianity Among the World Religions
Ernst Troeltsch is not an easy figure to categorize owing to the breadth of his intellectual interests. He was a German Protestant theologian who made major scholarly contributions to theology, social ethics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of history, and sociology of religion. Troeltsch was preoccupied for much of his academic career with the advent of modern civilization and its implications for Christianity. His scholarly research was driven by a passionate concern for the wellbeing of the church and its relationship to society. Troeltsch perceived that the church in Europe at the dawn of the twentieth century was encountering an entirely new set of social realities in the wake of the Enlightenment: industrialization, urbanization, the emergence of the nation state, and revolutionary intellectual developments in scientific and historical studies. As Troeltsch surveyed the landscape of Europe in the early years of the twentieth century he worried about the present condition and future prospects of western civilization; he did not share the optimism that many of his contemporaries in church and society exhibited. Troeltsch lived to see his worst fears confirmed in the carnage of trench warfare and Germany’s halting attempts to establish a new political settlement in the form of the Weimar Republic following World War One (1914-1918).
http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/troeltsch.htm
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