Schleiermacher and Protestant Liberalism

Abstract While Schleiermacher is often labeled as the founder of liberal Protestant theology, the relationship between his own theological vision and the successive forms of modern Protestant liberalism proves more complex. This chapter examines the dimensions and limits of Schleiermacher’s influence on Protestant liberalism, a developing tradition that at once reflects distinctive features of his theology yet also extends beyond these. It first considers specific features of Schleiermacher’s approach that have endured in this liberal theological tradition. It next indicates Protestant liberalism’s primary nineteenth-century representatives, most notably Richard Rothe and Albrecht Ritschl. It then explores the reappraisal of this tradition at the beginning of the twentieth century by Adolf von Harnack and Ernst Troeltsch. Finally, it takes up contemporary perspectives and considers the resurgent interest and international growth of Protestant liberalism from the mid-twentieth century onward.