The Catholic Spirit in Schleiermacher's Ecclesiology
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT IN SCHLEIERMACHER'S ECCLESIOLOGY: THE 1830 AUGSBURG CONFESSION SERMONS by Robert Thomas O'Meara A Thesis submined to the Faculty of Theology of the University of SE. Michad's College and the deparunent of Theolw of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fuifiilment of the requiremencs for the degree of awarded by the University of StMichael's Coilege Toronto 1998 Q Robm T. O'Meara National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1*1 ofCanada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington OîtawaON KlAON4 OttawaON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/£ïlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels rnay be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. In his 1830 sermons commemorating the 300th anniversary of the handing over of the Augsburg Confession, Friedrich Schleiermacher advocates an ecdesiology that is Catholic in spirit wirhin die conton of rhe predominanc Protert;ant spirit that imbues his theological vision. The thesis charts a path beginning with desiological dements ffom the original Augsburg Confession document of 1530 in order to show Schleiermacher's &ity wirh one of the founding symbolic books of Reformauon history. The argument then continues to delineare the consistency with which Schleiermacher pursues an essentially Cdthoüc view of the Church, fiom the burgeoning ecdesiology of die Speechez to the mature theology of The Cbn'stran Faith. The thesis condudes with die suggestion that in his A~gsburgConfession sermons of 1830, Schleiermacher consuucts a converging "fÙgalnecclesiology - Protestant at its core but Cacholic in ics sacramental, ministerial, eschatological and ecumenical anributes. Essenudy, Sdeierrnacher's theology of the Church is an ecumenical one seeking to constantly expand 'the ckde of Christian love". "No one thercfore can bc surprised to find at this point the proposition that sdvution m blrzecdnr iiz in the Chzrrch done, and that, since blessedness cannot enter from without, but can be found wichin the Church ody by being brought into existence there, the Cburcb alone saves. Friedrich Sdeiermacher, The Chri~tr'anFdh Professors Iain Nicol and George Schner for their theologid guidance and inspiration. & Pauicia and Mona for their support of this graduate project. Inuoduaion *Ecdesiology" in the Augsburg Confession of 1530 The "Speeches" : Schleiermacher's "Burgeoning" Ecdesiology Sdileiermacher's 1830 Augsburg Confession Sermons: The "Mature"Ecdesiology 1) The Context: Theology Serves the Pulpit 21 The Hermeneutics: The Architecture of the Sermons Sdileier macher's "Fu$" Ecdesiology : An Integrauon of the Pro testant and Catholic Visions Bibliography AppmdUc 1: Summary Chan of the Ten Sermons and Related Themes AppendUc 2: Chart of Ham Frei's Typology of Christian Theology AppcndUc 3: Chan of Sdeiermacher's "Fugaln Ecdesiology Introduction OnSunday June 20,1830, a few days before the tercentenary commemorating the Augsburg Codesion, Friedrich Schleiermacher addressed his parishioners with the following cautionary sentiment: *Only if we approach this fisud in the knowledge of our total fieedom fiom the letter ... only then will we be able to reckon this celebration to our blessingn.1 A few months later, on November 7, 1830, he completed his series of ten sermons on the Augsburg Confession by achorting his undschtigen Fmnhto ddgently maintain "not a unity written in codes but die 'unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace' ".2 To fiee oneself kom the letter in order to engage in "noble servitude"3 to the Spirit of Christ - this was the rdying cry of the pastor-theologian who became, for later generations of Christians, die founder of modern liberal Protestant theology. Though a romanticist at hem for whom feeling took precedence over knowing4 Schleiermacher's theological vision sought to preserve antithetical elements in a dialogicd pair, never forsaking one at the expense of the orher. He remained faithm throughout his life to the "coincidance of...contrariesn~that appears to undergird the deep mysterious structure of a human existence ennobled and divinized by the saving grace of the Redeemer. He espoused the respectful maintenance of an "equipoisen6 between such ancitheses as freedom and dependence, sin and grace, humanity and divinity, emotion and reason, the whole and the ii.agment, unicy and divenity, the individual and the community, the visible and the invisible Church, and - the Catholic spirit and the Protestant spirit. 1 Friedrich Scblaermachcr, R+rmeti But Ewr RcjGnnmsSmnonr in &&tron ro Che Ce&& of rbc Handng Owr of the A~~ CÔn#mbn (1830) m.Iain Nid(LwLron: Edwin Meilen Press, 1997), p.22 (Fdcr cirations hmthis work wili bc abbreviatcd CO Smnonr and the page number.) Sm~iyp.175 smns, p33 Friedrich Schleiamacher, The Chdzkn Frlith. edr. H.R Mackintosh and J.S. Sm(Edinburgh: T&T Clark), p.5 (Frurbcr citaaons WUbe abbrcviaud CO CFand the paragaph (0)andor page number (p). 5 Jama Joysc, Finnqam W& (New York: Viking Press, 1939), 49 CE p.15 I In the introduaory section to Thc Chnstàn Faith, Schleiermacher formulates his dassical distinction between the Pro testant and Cath01ic positions in .. the former makes the individual's relation to the Church dependent on his relation to Christ, while the latter contrariwise makes the individual's relation to Christ dependent on his relation to Church.7 Note that on either side of this antithesis, Schleiermacher preserves a baiance between the individual and the communal elements. He Merwarns that the "greatest care musc be taken not to carry the antithesis too fir, lest we should fd into un-Christian positionsn.8 When fàced with polar opposites, we are encouraged to carry on the dialogue in a spirit of tolerance that seeks not to "constria the &de of Christian loveng but rather to invite ail of humankind to rnernbership within the vital fdowship of Christ the kdeemer.10 Ail are ulrimately destined to be eleaed into the Kingdom of the Fathu. Und such tirne, the Moravian pastor invites us to a theological banquet that is emotive, critid and dialogid, where religious feeling seeks understanding in a tolerant spirit of conversation with "the inhabiced earth".ll For Schleiermacher, Christian faith is a search for bannony within the spirit of the whok - a phrase that might summarize his position as a Christian theologian and his prayer as a Christian pastor. Wi& this ecumenical/colloquial ethos, I will argue the following thesic In his 1830 semons cornmemorating the 300th anniversary of the handing over of the Augsburg Confession, Friedrich Schleierrnacher adv ocates an ecclesiology that is Catholic in ' as24 CF,P 24, p. 107 Sc*mom, p.136 Io ff, § 93, p. 384; § 113. p.525 11 ïhe mot mcaning of ecumcnicai, fiom the Grcek occumrni(os 'of ihe inhabiud d*. 2 spirit within the context of the pndominant Protestant spirit that imbues his theological vision. By the Protestant spirit, I refer to that trilithic core of principles that has fiamed reformation theology since Wittenberg, namdy, s~~f;kscn;bwra and the priesthood of ail believers. Schleiermacher expounds this position throughout bis sermons but parricularly in Semzon 2 of the Augsburg collection where, with reference to the New Testament, he writes: Thus, we have an important and permanent safeguard in scriphae insofar as we truly have concord in our faith in Christ, setting aside ail human authority, and acknowledge that no witness is valid for the development of doctrine and for the ordering of Me other than what is exprcssed in these writings.12 Later on he affirms "that di Christians shodd be priests" so that "the merence in OU church becween those who prodaim God's word and those who hear it has &O becorne smder and smaller." 13 As for the Catholic spirit, I dude ro Sdeiermacher's anrithetid views. On the one hand, he uses the term Catholic to denote whac is "common to the whole Church"l4, namely the universal, ecumenid, indusivist connotations implied in the spirit of catbolicity. On the other, he adoprs the traditional Catholic position of saivific exclusivity, namely, "no salvation outside the Church" or in Schleiermacherian terms, no blessedness ourside the fellowship of Christ. In the section on the doctrine of the Church from The Christian Frzith, he explicidy adopts the position of St. Cyprianl5: No one thereforr cm be surprised to find at this point the proposition that salvation or blessedness is in the Chwch alone, and that, since blessedness cannot enter from without, but can l2 S~O~LT.p.41 l3 smnonr ,p.45 l4 CF,5 2 1, p.96 hac~claxanr dm.(No sabation mroidr the ChUrch) Sr Cyprian was bishop of Cardiagc. 248-258 C.E 3 be found within the Church only by king brought into existence the=, the Chwch alone saves. l6 (Emp hasis added) This amithetical theme of an inciiuivist catholicity within a seemingly cxcfwivist ecdesiology continues in the Augsburg Confession sermons as 'the goal toward which the effort of the Evangelical Church is directedn.'7 AU are inviteci to job the Church (the indusive thune) but unless you join, you rernain outside the cirde of redeeming blessedness (the exclusive theme).