Friedrich Schleiermacher’s importance and influence as the "father of modern theology” has long been recognized. As the first person to hold public academic lectures on the subject of the life of Jesus, Schleiermacher set the pattern for many of the major trends of the past century and a half in this area of New Testament interpretation.
This book contains Schleiermacher’s lecture manuscripts from the year 1832 together with a reconstruction of the lectures on the basis of notes taken by his students. It is significant both as a contribution to the ongoing discussion of the life of Jesus and as a source of illumination about Schleiermacher's christological thought within the framework of his com¬prehensive interpretation of Christianity.
Along with the lectures themselves, this book contains a critical introduction and valuable annotations in which the editor relates Schleiermacher’s thought to his nineteenth century context and to the present theological discussion.
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), author of On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers and The Christian Faith, is the subject of secondary studies by H. Richard Niebuhr and many other scholars. Fortress Press recently published Martin Redeker's major work, Schleiermacher: Life and Thought. Jack C. Verheyden is Associate Professor of Theology at the School of Theology at Claremont.