1800-1918: The NT from Schleiermacher to Schweitzer
--Lecture Notes for Topic 2.2.2- Religion 492

Last revised: 4/31/04 Explanation: Contained below is a manuscript summarizing the class lecture(s) covering the above specified range of topics from the List of Topics for Religion 492.  Quite often hyperlinks (underlined) to sources of information etc. will be inserted in the text of the lecture. Test questions for all quizzes and exams will be derived in their entirety or in part from these lectures; see Exams in the course syllabus for details. To display the Greek text contained in this page download and install the free BSTGreek True Type fonts from Bible Study Tools. Created by   a division of   All rights reserved©

Go directly to topic: 2.2.2.0 Introduction 2.2.2.1 Changing World 2.2.2.2 Changing Christianity 2.2.2.3 Developing Interpretive Methods Bibliography

        Sorting out the developments in the field of hermeneutics from 1800 to 1918 is challenging. Prof. Bray does a good job in sifting through an immense amount of material and providing us with the high points.  The three mountain peaks of pivotal critical study of the NT are the works of David Frederick Strauss (das Leben Jesu, 1835), Ferdinand Christian Baur (die Tübingen Schule, 1826-1860), and Albert Schweitzer (The Quest for the Historical Jesus, 1906). What must also be recognized is the huge array of negative reaction to the writings of each of these three individuals. This reaction came from a wide range of theological perspective, not just from more conservative approaches to the study of the NT. The most scholarly reaction typically was that which originated both in Britain and on the European continent.
        But also one must give proper attention to the cultural, political and military factors that played a huge role in shaping European society during this period. The Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s, the rise of the Bismarkian empire in central Europe unifying Germany for the first time, and the industrial revolution especially from the middle 1800s -- these and other factors profoundly changed western culture, and Christianity was unavoidably caught up in all this. The flourishing of European pietism through the 1800s created an alternative experience-based approach to doing Christianity both inside and outside the state churches, but it ran out of steam in the late 1800s as it became bogged down with the excesses of medieval Catholic mysticism. The adoption of extreme elements of subjectivity began turning Europeans away from pietism. On the American side, this pietism produced the second great awakening in the early 1800s, after the first awakening in the colonial era, and later the era of revivalism beginning with Dwight L. Moody.
        Again, the vast majority of influential scholarship lay on the eastern side of the Atlantic, but toward the end of this period American technical biblical scholarship was beginning to take shape although it still mostly flowed off influences coming out of Britain and Europe rather than pioneered any new approaches. The one notable development was the rise of American Evangelicalism that constituted a very influential presence in American Protestant Christianity, especially after the American Civil War. Its huge stress on education and social concerns helped shape life in the New World in profound ways for decades to come. Its roots lay in the second great awakening mentioned above. As the impact of its educational emphasis was felt, many first class biblical scholars and theologians would emerge who would play leading roles in hermeneutical developments among biblical scholars.
 

2.2.2.1 The Changing World from 1800 to 1918.
Assigned Readings for This Topic:
"The Industrial Revolution" at http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/industrialrev.html

Gerald Bray, "The Nineteenth Century: 1800-1918," Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, pp. 270-274

Resource Materials to also be studied:

"Introduction to the 19th Century," Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century

The 19th century has most often been referred to by historians as the "age of isms", characterizing the many different isms that developed in this period. No other century could boast the massive social changes that took place in the 1800's. While the 20th century was the century of politics and science, the 19th was the century of society. For the first time, the rights of the workers and common man were being questioned. Rarely in previous times did such a massive movement across Europe, into the Americas, and even parts of Asia occur. 1848 alone felt the effects of the new ideas as European cities from Paris to Vienna were in uprise. The 19th century was a contrast from old to new, the old monarchies and feudal systems to the new capitalist world and democracy. The 19th century was the opening stage for the modern world.

Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 - May 5, 1821) functioned as effective ruler of France beginning in 1799 and as emperor of France as Napoléon I from May 18, 1804 to April 6, 1814; he also conquered and ruled over much of western and central Europe. Napoleon appointed many members of Bonaparte family as monarchs, but, generally speaking, they did not survive his downfall. Napoleon was one of the so-called "enlightened monarchs".

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) (also known as the Iron Chancellor) was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia (1862 - 1890); he unified Germany with a series of wars and became the first Chancellor (1871 - 1890) of the German Empire. Initially a deeply conservative, aristocratic, and monarchist politician, Bismarck fought the growing social democracy movement in the 1880s by outlawing several organizations and pragmatically instituting mandatory old-age pensions, and health and accident insurance for workers.

        The Industrial Revolution was a period of the 18th century marked by massive social, economic, and technological change in Europe and North America when manufacturing began to rely on steam power (fueled primarily by coal) rather than on animal labor, water or wind power; and by an overall economic shift towards large scale industry rather than small scale individual operations. Individual artisans who made and sold complete products gave way to factories in which each worker completed only a single stage in the manufacturing process. As modes of production became more and more optimized for efficiency, cities, corporations, and individual citizens' wealth all became able to grow to sizes hitherto unknown in the history of human society. Many rapidly successive improvements in technology encouraged the tremendous pace of socioeconomic change.
        The causes of the Industrial Revolution remain a topic for debate, with some historians seeing it as an outgrowth from the social changes of of the Enlightenment and the colonial expansion of the 17th century.
        The Industrial Revolution began in the English Midlands. It spread throughout England and into continental Europe and the northern United States in the 19th century. Before the improvements made to the pre-existing steam engine by James Watt and others, all manufacturing had to rely for power on wind or water mills or muscle power produced by animals or humans. But with the ability to translate the potential energy of steam into mechanical force, a factory could be built away from streams and rivers, and many tasks that had been done by hand in the past could be mechanized. If, for example, a lumber mill had been limited in the number of logs it could cut in a day due to the amount of water and pressure available to turn the wheels, the steam engine eliminated that dependence. Grain mills, thread and clothing mills, and wind driven water pumps could all be converted to steam power as well.
        Shortly after the steam engine was developed, a steam locomotive called The Rocket was invented by Robert Stephenson, and the first steam-powered ship was invented by Robert Fulton. These inventions, and the fact that machines were not taxed as much as people, caused large social upheavals, as small mills and cottage industries that depended on a stream or a group of people putting energy into a product could not compete with the energy derived from steam. With locomotives and steamships, goods could now be transferred very quickly across a country or ocean, and within a reasonably predictable time, since the steam plants provided consistent power, unlike transportation relying on wind or animal power.
        One question that has been of active interest to historians is why the Industrial Revolution occurred in Europe and not in other parts of the world, particularly China. Numerous factors have been suggested including ecology, government, and culture. Benjamin Elman argues that China was in a high level equilibrium trap in which the non-industrial methods were efficient enough to prevent use of industrial methods with high capital costs. Kenneth Pommeranz, in the Great Divergence, argues that Europe and China were remarkably similar in 1700 and that the crucial differences which created the Industrial Revolution in Europe were sources of coal near manufacturing centers and raw materials such as food and wood from the New World which allowed Europe to economically expand in a way that China could not. Indeed, a combination of all of these factors is possible.
        The debate around the concept of the initial startup of the Industrial revolution also concerns the hundred year lead Great Britain had over the other European countries. While some have stressed the importance of natural or financial resources Great Britain received from its many overseas colonies, others have looked at the social aspects and theorized that the British advance was due to the presence of an entrepreneurial class which believed in progress, technology and hard work. The existence of this class is often linked to the Protestant work ethic and the particular status of dissenting protestant sects that had flourished with the English revolution.
        The dissenters found themselves barred or discouraged from some public offices when the restoration of the monarchy took place and membership in the official Anglican church became once more an important advantage. Historians sometimes consider this social factor to be extremely important along with the nature of the national economies involved. While members of these sects were excluded from certain circles of the government they were considered as fellow protestants to a limited extent by many groups of the middle class, such as traditional financiers or other businessmen. Given this relative tolerance and the supply of capital the natural outlet for the more enterprising members of these sects would be to seek new opportunities in the technologies created in the wake of the Scientific revolution of the 17th century.
        This argument has, on the whole, tended to neglect the fact that several inventors and entrepreneurs were rational free thinkers or "Philosophers" typical of a certain class of British intellectuals in the late 18th century, and were thus not considered as good Anglicans. Examples of these free thinkers were the Lunar Society of Birmingham (flourished 1765-1809). Its members were exceptional in that they were among the very few who were conscious that an industrial revolution was taking place in Great Britain. They actively worked as a group to encourage it, not least by investing in it and conducting scientific experiments which led to innovative products.
        The transition to industrialisation was not wholly smooth, for in England the Luddites - workers who saw their livelihoods threatened - protested against the process and sometimes sabotaged factories.
        Industrialisation also led to the creation of the factory, and was largely responsible for the rise of the modern city, as workers migrated into the cities in search of employment in the factories.

2.2.2.2 The Changing Landscape of Christianity from 1800 to 1918
Assigned Readings for This Topic:

Resource Materials to also be studied:

        The massive social and cultural changes described above (topic 2.2.2.1) had a huge impact on Christianity, some for the good and some for the bad. The role of the state supported church -- the Church of England in Britain; the Lutheran and Reformed Churches along with the Roman Catholic Church in Europe -- was significant in creating much of the reactionary developments that took place. Typically, the state church leaders were very supportive of and loyal to both the political leaders and the aristocratic segment of society that these leaders were tied to. Most of the church leaders had aristocratic backgrounds as well. This created an orientation of maintaining the status quo that would be loyal to government leaders virtually no matter what they did. When the impact of the industrial revolution reached its height in the middle 1800s on both sides of the Atlantic, the medieval surf now became the virtually helpless factory worker who had to work in horrible work places for very little pay. As discontentment exploded and workers began demanding rights and better working conditions, state church leaders tended to become a vehicle of the wealthy and of government to suppress these workers. This created enormous resentment of the working class against Christianity. Atheism and agnosticism began to spread substantially, fueled on by leaders of the working class such as Karl Marx.
        In the religious studies side of many universities, concern began to grow that Christianity was loosing it influence on the people in general. The establishment church leadership was perceived as corrupt and a major part of the problem. Jesus and the apostles, as an expression of 'pure Christianity', had to be distanced from institutional Christianity in these state churches in the minds of many university professors. Also, the biblical text put great emphasis on social justice, which the institutional church was ignoring. If Jesus could be presented as a champion of the masses in his earthly ministry, then a gospel message could be presented to these disenfranchised workers that would appeal to them. Many of the so-called 'critical' methodologies that either flourished or else trace their beginnings to the nineteenth century were driven in large part by this concern. Most central to this was the quest for the historical Jesus and the interpretive methodologies connected to this study. Additional influences coming from the culture was the development of the modern biography, and the social upheavals demanding individual rights. The picture of Jesus as an advocate of the first century Jewish peasant trying to change society in order to achieve justice emerged as a powerful reinterpretation of the founder of Christianity.
        Often the negative reaction to many of these approaches came from institutional church leaders who felt severely threatened by the growing influence and popularity of these new understandings of both the Bible and of Christianity itself. When sorting through the 'conservative' reaction to many of these newer methodologies, the careful student must distinguish between a criticism of the new methods driven by a craving for a 'traditionalist' status quo, and an honest difference of viewpoint based on careful examination of scripture. Clear distinction of these two streams of reaction isn't always easy. Most secondary depiction of this era tends to lump the two together under the 'traditionalist' motivation.
 

2.2.2.3 The Developments in Interpretive Methodologies from 1800 to 1918
Assigned Readings for This Topic:

Resource Materials to also be studied:

        Numerous trends in interpretative methodology surface during this era. But one must remember that virtually all of them are offshoots of the earlier developing historical critical methodology, which itself continued to evolve into new forms during this period as well. Prof. Bray traces these developments geographically with the German, British, and French influences. In reality most of what developed was the expansion of historical methodology leading up to the work of F.C. Baur and the so-called Tübingen School in the second half of the 1800s. This splintered off into the History of Religions School (die Regionsgeschichtliche Schule) at Göttingen in the late 1800s. The field of textual criticism exploded beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century as well. All across Europe, Britain, and North America interaction with these trends surfaced either in sharp condemnation or enthusiastic support.
        What came to be called Classical German Liberalism began with the work of Friederich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834), who scorchingly denounced the earlier rigid historical methodology that denied supernaturalism. Impacted by Romanticism and Pietism, he contended that religion was essentially experiential and that reason supplemented experience rather than replaced it. His major works, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (1799) and The Christian Faith (1821), profoundly impacted Christian thinking, although he did not contribute directly to any exegetical methodology. He would have substantial impact on the emerging neo-orthodox theology and Karl Barth in the early twentieth century, as Mark Schumacher's article, "Friederich Schleiermacher and Karl Barth," demonstrates. He continued to work off the older late Enlightenment comparative religions assumption of the evolutionary development of religion as expressed in the various religions around the world. Christianity was the highest form of religion and its truest expression. But for Schleiermacher the key to Christianity was its experiential connecting up to God through faith and spiritual experience. The text of the Bible will be interpreted off these presuppositions about the nature of Christianity. Thus the biblical text needs to be examined historically and critically, but these studies must lead to religious experience before they become valuable.
        Another trajectory of the historical critical method is represented by the work of Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860), and the so-called Tübingen School. Early on highly influenced by Schleiermacher Baur later fell under the influence of the philosopher Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), whose dialectical philosophy worked off the assumption of forward advancement in life through the interaction of thesis encountering antithesis and thus producing synthesis (an advancement). In applying this assumption to the historical study of the New Testament, Baur developed the model around Jewish Christianity (thesis) encountering Gentile Christianity (antithesis) leading to primitive Catholicism. Here the Paul verses James discussion is born in NT studies that continues to today. Here the science of New Testament Introduction is born, which in Baur's perspective leads to only four of the Pauline epistles being authentically from Paul -- Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, and Galatians -- with the others coming from either later paulinist writers or as pseudonymous forgeries (mostly the pastoral epistles) in the late first century through the second century. This basic perspective is still the dominating assumption of NT scholars. The Hegelian Dialectic formed the backbone of the historical conclusions about the external history issues of all the documents of the New Testament, as well as regarding the historical development of what he labeled Urchristentum (primitive Christianity). Historical studies of the NT even today must still come to grips with Baur's position, if they are to have credibility in the scholarly community.
        One should note that the center of this activity in the second half of the nineteenth century of the university of Tübingen located in the Schwabish Alps just southwest of Stuttgart Germany. The university from the late 1700s onward has been a major center of German Pietism, along with the university at Halle. The Baur era represents somewhat of an interlude to this period along pietistic orientation continued to be very strong at the university. With the emergence of Adolf von Schlatter and others in the 1920s as influential NT scholars, Tübingen has regained its status as a major center of scholarly pietism with professors such as Martin Hengel and Peter Stuhlmacher in the NT field along with many others.
        A third trajectory of the historical critical method was established at the university of Göttingen north of Frankfurt and south of Hamburg. It is known as die Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (History of Religions School). Numerous scholars have contributed to the influence of this perspective. Among the early pioneers were William Wrede (1859-1906), Wilhelm Bousset (1865-1920), Albert Eichhorn (1856-1926), Wilhelm Heitmüller (1869-1926), et al. In doing comparative religions studies, the NT side of this concentrated early on in the developmental side of early Christianity, especially regarding the issue of the influence of Gnosticism both in the apostolic and post-apostolic eras. What is going to emerge largely from the influence of this viewpoint is the historical study of Christianity from its beginnings through the church fathers as a separate, independent discipline unconnected to theological and ecclesiastical interests. The presupposition of Hegelian development will most be assumed with the Christian movement beginning inside Judaism then moving to Gentile orientation (through Paul) and emerging into primitive Catholicism in the second century. This will be driven in part by the older Lutheran presupposition of a dramatic break between apostolic Christianity and post-apostolic Christianity with Lutheranism recapturing the more authentic apostolic viewpoint while Roman Catholicism is trapped by the corrupt post-apostolic perspective. The collapsing of that break would pose serious threat to traditional Lutheran assumptions of its legitimacy.
 
 

Check Bray's bibliography in appropriate chapter of the textbook.

Check the appropriate Bibliography section in Cranfordville.com

Noll, Mark. A. Between Faith and Criticism: Evangelicals, Scholarship, and the Bible in America. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986.
       A very helpful source tracking conservative Protestant reaction to and interaction with emerging critical methods of NT interpretation. BS500 .N64 1986.

"Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe" at http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/

"European History Gateway - Directory of Resources on the History of Europe" at http://www.academicinfo.net/histeuro.html

"The Industrial Revolution," at http://www.multcolib.org/homework/eurohist.html#indust

"The Virtual Battle of Borodino," at http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/Russian/warandpeace/vb/

"19th Century Britain," Internet Modern History Sourcebook at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook20.html

"19th Century France," Internet Modern History Sourcebook at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook21.html

"19th Century Austria and Germany," Internet Modern History Sourcebook at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook22.html