An Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since KantMoore, Edward Caldwell
Philosophy
An Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant
Moore, Edward Caldwell
Church history -- 19th century; Philosophy and religion; Philosophy, Modern -- History
The sin from which man is to be delivered is described by Schleiermacher
thus: It is the dominance of the lower nature in us, of the
sense-consciousness. It is the determination of our course of life by
the senses. This preponderance of the senses over the consciousness of
God is the secret of unhappiness, of the feeling of defeat and misery in
men, of the need of salvation. One has to read Schleiermacher's phrase,
'the senses' here, as we read Paul's phrase, 'the flesh.' On the other
hand, the preponderance of the consciousness of God, the willing
obedience to it in every act of life, becomes to us the secret of
strength and of blessedness in life. This is the special experience of
the Christian. It is the effect of the impulse and influence of Christ.
We receive this impulse in a manner wholly consistent with the laws of
our psychological and moral being. We carry forward this impulse with
varying fortunes and by free will. It comes to us, however, from without
and from above, through one who was indeed true man, but who is also, in
a manner not further explicable, to be identified with the moral ideal
of humanity. This identification of Jesus with the moral ideal is
complete and unquestioning with Schleiermacher. It is visible in the
interchangeable use of the titles Jesus and Christ. Our saving
consciousness of God could proceed from the person of Jesus only if that
consciousness were actually present in Jesus in an absolute measure.
Ideal and person in him perfectly coincide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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