The Vices of Modernity: A Reply to ‘A Barthian Critique of Schleiermacher's Doctrine of God’

Abstract

There is a longstanding critique of Schleiermacher's theology which claims that, due to his account of the divine attributes, we cannot truly speak about God, but only about ourselves. This essay aims to refute this charge – often couched in charges of ‘subjectivism’ or ‘nominalism’ – by direct engagement with a recent and clear articulation of this line of criticism in the spirit of Karl Barth. This essay specifically addresses three main sub-charges: one, that Schleiermacher denies knowledge of God; two, that he is a causal skeptic in the line of Hume or Kant; and three, that his doctrine of the divine attributes only aims to speak of our consciousness, and not of God. This essay demonstrates that all three sub-charges are false. This essay then shows how all three of Schleiermacher's views on these matters can be found in a signal Reformed Scholastic thinker, demonstrating that Schleiermacher's views on the doctrine of God are distinctly modern only by selectively, not wholly, parting from his ancient, medieval and early modern forebears.