Human Nature and Divine Essence: Ehrenberg and Rosenstock-Huessy on Dogma and Society in Russia and Western Europe

In this contribution, the spiritual, theological, and social background of the changing meaning of the concept of nature is researched. It has developed within scholastic theology as part of the so-called Papal Revolution. A different understanding of the dogma leads to a different spirituality, a different societal order, and a different human self. Such is the understanding of Hans Ehrenberg and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy. They also worked in close contact with Russian thinkers who developed a philosophy of language and society along similar lines. They were all convinced of living on the brink of a new era, an era beyond traditional church and theology, the age of the Spirit, as they stated. The great society, with its manyfold actors, is the unique event of that time, the emergence of which was brought about violently by the world wars: the world cannot be organized merely from one center. The only means of making any progress now is to open up to each other by speech! From this point of view, especially Ehrenberg and Rosenstock-Huessy have traced back the developments of church and society. An important issue in these social and historical developments is the Great Schism of 1054. Especially Ehrenberg made an attempt to understand and bring together the heritage of Russia and the heritage of Western Europe. In his vision the time has arrived that the divergence of different traditions is over. New communities of responsibility need to be created, and this requires a new understanding of grammar to counter the instrumentalization of human beings in the social machinery of production and consumption.