ON RELIGION SPEECHES TO ITS CULTURED DESPISERS

1. ON RELIGIONSPEECHES TO ITS CULTURED DESPISERS THE POWERPOINT! SPEECHES ONE AND TWO

2. INTRODUCTION • Schleiermacher often described as the father of modern Christian theology • Arguably most influential 19th C. Christian theologian • Compared in stature to Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin • Mirrored Kant’s Copernican revolution in philosophy by placing subject at center of religious experience • Religious experience has its origin in the transcendental conditions of subjectivity itself

3. INTRODUCTION • Heavily influenced by Kant & Spinoza • Kant: all objective knowledge leads back • to investigating the conditions of the knowing subject • Thus, the nature of the subject & transcendental conditions of knowledge at forefront of philosophical inquiry • Schleiermacher placed the subject at theology’s forefront • Like Kant, Schleiermacher’s God is not anthropomorphic • Unlike Kant, Schleiermacher posits an immanent God • not a transcendent God • just as Spinoza did

4. BIOGRAPHY • Born the son of a Prussian Army chaplain in 1768 • Educated by the Moravian Brethren • an unorthodox German pietest church community • Rapidly rose through school & attended seminary • At seminary, formed a secret club with other students • to study Kant, Goethe & other philosophers/radical thinkers

5. BIOGRAPHY • Heavily influenced by Moravian Brethren • Moravians were a kind of pietist sect • they advocated a heartfelt, emotional religion • But notbased on inward turn to experience, like other pietists • Moravians based their “heart” religion on looking outward to Christ’s suffering • and not simply inward to themselves • S.’s move is to merge his “heart” religion with Spinozism and phenomenological experience

6. BIOGRAPHY • Graduated with degree in theology (minoring in philosophy & philology) from University of Halle in 1790 (age 22) • 1790-93 (age 22-25) • Upon graduation, served as tutor to aristocracy • 1794-96 (age 26-28) • Pastor in Landsberg, Germany • 1796-1804 (age 28-36) • passed second round of theological exams • appointed to prestigious hospital chaplaincy in Berlin

7. BIOGRAPHY • It was during this period that S. joined Berlin’s intellectual and cultural elite • Largely in the salon of “emancipated” Jews, Markus & HenrietteHerz • Henrietteprivately teaches S. Italian • rumors of a forbidden love affair • Here, S. was introduced to many leading cultural & literary figures • including the Schlegel brothers & the poet Novalis • NOTE: Look to Novalis’ poetry to better understand S.’s emotional piety • S. helps edit Das Athenäeum, the Schlegels’ literary journal • Also translated Plato & other Greek philosophers • But the literary figures with whom he interacted had issues with S.’s Christianity • In response, he wrote On Religion anonymously in 1799 (age 30-31)

8. BIOGRAPHY • With rising cultural clout, S. helps establish the University of Berlin in 1810 (age 41) where he is appointed professor of Theology • Writes theology treatise The Christian Faith in 1821 (age 53) • spends rest of career until he dies at in 1834 (age 66) • Schopenhauer was an early student of S. (1811) • Schopenhauer mocked Schleiermacher’s assertion that philosophy was impossible without religion • Schop. thought a religious person had no need for philosophy • Schopenhauer also thought S. didn’t truly understand Kant • In addition to theology, S. also wrote on philosophical subjects • Critically, hermeneutics

9. BIOGRAPHY • S. spent his remaining years advocating for German unification, political reform, & jousting with Hegel • In 1816, S. helps appoint Hegel to University of Berlin faculty • mostly to head off appointment of an academic rival • Hegel was a rising academic star at the time • a quick rivalry developed • S. blocked Hegel from Berlin Academy of the Sciences • Both S. and Hegel wanted to retrieve religion from Kant • But they had sharp theological differences • Over role of reason (Hegel) vs. feeling (Schleiermacher) • Over role of church in society

10. BIOGRAPHY • S. more interested in theology as related to the individual • Hegel more interested in merging religion with the State to re-create something like a Greek polis • Schleiermacher’s theology rooted in feeling • reflected his early Moravian pietism • Hegel emphasized the role of reason in understanding God

11. BIOGRAPHY • Hegel on Schleiermacher’s Christianity: • “If religion grounds itself in a person only on the basis of feeling, then . . . a dog would be the best Christian, for it carries this feeling more intensely within itself and lives principally satisfied by a bone.”

12. SUMMARIZING ON RELIGION • Doctrinal Christianity & Kantian religion are both flawed for similar reasons • Both treat religion as a concept to be understood • Systematic thinking about religion will always fail • Religion unnecessary to gain morality • Religion is in fact a separate sphere of existence • accessed through a feeling of merger with the infinite

13. SUMMARIZING ON RELIGION • With On Religion’s First Speech (better translates as Over Religion), Schleiermacher is addressing the educated elite of Berlin • The “cultured despisers” of religion rejected the dogmatics of traditional Christianity in one of two ways • They have moved to a different kind of particular positivism • by despising religion and rejecting all forms of positive religious belief • This really becomes its own kind of belief system • Alternatively, they fall for natural religion • the way of Kant, or Locke, Voltaire & the other Deists • But doing so, they give up any sense of immediacy or religious satisfaction.

14. SUMMARIZING ON RELIGION • On Religion is an appeal to atheists of the day that there is a false choice between positive religion and natural religion. • First Speech: All people struggle to harmonize two opposing forces: universality and particularity (the one): • Particularity is represented by positive religions • E.g., traditional doctrine and dogmatics • Universality is represented by natural religions • E.g., Locke, Voltaire, or Kant

15. SUMMARIZING ON RELIGION • In the Second Speech, Schleiermacher describes religion as 1 of 3 necessary spheres of human activity: • Knowing – scientific knowledge • Acting – morality • Religion – feeling of connection to the infinite • But • no personal God & • no immortality as traditionally conceived • Neither scriptural nor church authority should dictate religion • All individuals & cultures should have their own religious sense

16. RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF THE TWO SPEECHES* *Adapted & modifed from Richard Crouter in Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism (2005)

17. HEIDEGGER ON SCHLEIERMACHER • One needs a phenomenological attitude toward religious experience • You can understand religion only if you observe it within yourself • S. made religion both: • a new way of observing the world but also a new way of acting • a special way of comporting oneself, of reflecting inwardly • in other words, a practical phenomenon • Phenomenological reduction isolates your individual teleology  • Religion’s purpose to determine each person’s place within the whole • Don’t place God in the sphere of knowledge • as the ground of knowing & known • that is not the same as the pious way to have God & to know about him

18. HEIDEGGER ON SCHLEIERMACHER • Observation[Betrachtung] is essential to religion • “not closed-off stupidity” (i.e., doctrine or dogmatics) • Sense & taste for the infinite • Infinite being—with that it is impossible notto imply God • Foreign teleology is eliminated • & particularly any dangerously confusing theoretical teleology • Instead, let your consciousness “eavesdrop” on this state of the living moment for yourself • You should notice the becoming of your consciousness • rather than reflecting on a consciousness that has already become

19. HEIDEGGER ON SCHLEIERMACHER • You must uncover an original performance of a feeling • in which religion alone realizes itself as a certain form of experience • The Universe enters you as an uninterrupted flow • In which you see yourself as a part of the whole • Religion is the specifically intentional & emotional reference • to each content of experience; to an infinite whole • Devotion is getting excited at the “streaming in” of this fullness without restraint • Religious life is the constant renewal of this act • integrating experience into the inner unity of life

20. HEIDEGGER ON SCHLEIERMACHER • Religion is a mysterious moment of unstructured unity of intuition & feeling • Any positive claim about being is gone • nothing is decided about anything • the fullness of experience stands in a certain neutrality • no object takes precedence over any other • a specific infinity of religious experience is thus given • Live your life with religion not from religion • Religion should accompany all doings of life, like a holy music

21. FIRST SPEECH: APOLOGY

22. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Why would anyone from the educated classes pay attention to someone talking about religion? • Poetry & philosophy are more popular • Manners, art, & science are of more interest • There is no room left for faith today

23. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • You particularly distrust Priests nowadays • In any other field, you would trust the advice of experts who have devoted their lives to the subject • Why not trust experts in religion? • But since you asked, I’m happy to advise • for [being anonymous] I don’t worry about how my fellow priests will respond

24. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • God made his work divisible into 2 opposing forces • physical world vs. the spirit • The physical world itself consists of opposing forces • But so does the spirit: particularity & universality • Your spirit wants to assert itself as an individual • it wants to accomplish goals & acquire things • But it also wants to absorb itself into all of Creation • These are humanity’s two ontological pressures

25. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • 1st aspect of spirit: all you feel & do—Particularity • 2nd aspect of sprit: focusing on other people outside of you • Universality: Your comportment to law, order & morality • Appeasing the 1st aspect leads to endless pleasure-seeking • Such people can never know Being or the nature of humanity • But appeasing the 2nd aspect means you dissipate yourself into a futile game with empty notions • Everything simply becomes a means • Nothing becomes an end

26. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • People who never seek either spiritual aspect (neither self-regard nor common morality) are worse: • They become dull mediocrities • They lead neither to human achievement nor morality • But the younger generation is mistakenly encouraged to do just this

27. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • God always blesses some individuals • they become interpreters of Him & his works: • either through natural inclination • or after severe & complete self-training • They are ambassadors of God, simply by existing • They show ordinary people how to change anxious restless self-love into a love of the highest & eternal

28. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • This true priest brings divinity to those of us who are used to the finite & the trivial • Doing so, he awakens a slumbering germ of a better humanity • This higher priesthood announces the inner meaning of all spiritual secrets& is the source of all • visions & prophecies • sacred art & speeches

29. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Someday, hopefully, we’ll be taught this piety directly by God • Until then, only a few individuals have this insight & piety • I [“Anonymous”] am one of these individuals • My piety helped me as I outgrew childish [anthropomorphic] notions of God & immortality

30. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • My piety guided my active life without any planning • Through it alone I understood friendship & love • This true religion is rare • only those who have felt it themselves will discuss it • Such religion is not to be found in the Bible • To those who haven’t experienced this religion • it would seem mere annoyance & foolishness

31. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Only Germans can be taught this religion • Only Germans can get this religion within today’s coarse barbarism • But even then, only upper-class, educated Germans • [Note the flattery toward audience, & the Romantic-era Germanic nationalism]

32. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • The German lower classes cannot understand this more refined religion • Do you really think people constantly stressed about day-to-day problems can focus on the big picture? • I will show you — and only you — from what human tendency religion proceeds • The English & the French have too many cultural hang-ups to truly understand religion

33. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • It was once considered a virtue to reject old Christian dogma • But those days [of Martin Luther?] are long gone • Piety itself is now no more to be talked about • But if you’re going to be contemptuous of religion, • at least be well-informed & consistent about your contempt

34. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • You reject all notions miracles & immortality • You may consider this the crux of all religions • But what if you base religion upon an innerfeeling • & notupon miracles & immortality? • If you only judge religion by its dogmas • you’ll never understand its inner core

35. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • You’re already familiar with Christianity’s history • ranging from silly old myths of human sacrifice • to today’s refined Deism, which is just Kantian ethics • You find no rhyme or reason to either one • & I don’t blame you! • There’s a problem with both: • mythological, doctrinal Christianity • refined Deism • they both strive for a calculating understanding

36. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • All of these theologies endlessly argue about the beginning & the end of the World • Doing so, they miss the point of realreligion • Look to your own feelings • & you’ll understand this is not the character of religion • If you’ve only paid attention to dogmas & doctrines • then what you despise is not really religion • but the corruptionof religion

37. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Why won’t you despisers question more deeply? • Why do you remain voluntarily ignorant? • Why do you simply blow off religion as nonsense? • just because there are stupid Christians in the world? • Why not consider the religious life itself? • A religion divorced from dogma or doctrine • where people try to capture unreflective moments • their soul thus dissolves into the Infinite & the Eternal

38. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Only in such unreflective moments will religion reveal itself in its primordial & visible form • You would no longer despise that kind of religion • Only those who have considered this emotional response toward religion can understand it • But if you don’t unbind these emotions • you’ll merely analyze religion as a cold, dead thing • & you will always fail to understand its true nature

39. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Philosophers should not be surprised that I recommend study of the unreflective [emotional] elements of religion • Philosophy bases itself on completeness & verification • Religion can’t work that way • There are very few philosophers who both • understand the harmony of nature & spirit, and • communicate a system of that knowledge

40. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • In fact, all systems & schools of philosophy are just houses & nurseries of the dead letter • The spirit of true religious contemplation is too fluid to be captured in systematic philosophies • Religion is as far removed from systematic thinking as philosophy is disposed toward systems • so don’t try to learn about religion from philosophers!

41. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Think of any of the old religious heroes, who ever brought forth any new revelation • From the person who first devised a Kingdom of God • To the current crop of “new mystics” • who may still hold some original beam of inner light • [a hint as to where his sympathies lie!] • Have any of them tried to present their religion systematically?

42. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • I have no use for theologians of the Bible • The try to come up with new clothes for old formulas, • Or new arrangements of ingenious proofs for God • Ideas & words are useful only as necessary & inseparable outpourings of emotion • They can only be understood in context with that emotion • Doctrines are useful only to help clarify misunderstandings about those emotions

43. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • So turn away from everything usually called religion • Instead focus only on inward emotions & dispositions • Only if you do this & continue to ridicule religion will I give up • & assume that your contempt for religion is just part of your nature • Until then, I have hope for you!

44. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Don’t worry, I’m not going to say religion is necessary for justice or moral order • Nor will I talk about • “all-seeing eyes,” or • humanity’s flawed nature, or • how religion enables weak-willed people to morally improve themselves • It’s hard to say which is degraded more by saying this: morality or religion

45. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • These speeches are not to tell you what you should do for the sake of the people • It’s true that civil institutions are flawed, • & injustice still abounds in society • But religion can’t be used simply as a rhetorical device, to cajole the elite into improving civil society • Religion has to be followed for its intrinsic value • Otherwise, the oppressed would see through its hypocrisy • & abandon religion as soon as their social status improved

46. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Could you even base a government on religion? • Wouldn’t the best part of religion vanish if you did? • If there are problems with a just society, • then fix those problems directly! • Don’t rely on religion to fix them • Don’t disgrace mankind by saying its loftiest creation (civil society) requires religion to work

47. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Laws don’t require internal morality to work • but only universal consistency • But if combining religion with the law [theocracy] • allows only people skilled enough to infuse religion with the law to become statesmen • And given how rare such people are • we would soon land in evil times

48. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • By the same token, morality doesn’t need religion • Only weak-willed people require a religious promise of the future to act morally now • Religious people already understand there is no difference between this world & the next one • Morality should base itself in the happiness it brings now, • not on some religious promise of future happiness

49. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • But you already know why the moral law can & must work independently of religion • Religion & moral law occupy different spheres • But aside from those arguments, there is one more • That religion should have to make itself useful to be worthwhile degrades religion

50. ON RELIGION: DEFENSE • Morality & justice are essentially means to ends: social happiness • Utilitarians do a bad job of defending religion on the grounds of supporting morality & justice • Their arguments won’t persuade people who are seeking their own individual happiness • In any event, it’s not clear religion will either • prevent evil deeds, or • produce moral action