Fall 2017

Christianity, Philosophy, and History in the Nineteenth Century

Listed in: Religion, as RELI-278

Formerly listed as: RELI-49

Faculty

Andrew C. Dole (Section 01)

Description

The nineteenth century saw developments within Western scholarship that profoundly challenged traditional understandings of Christianity. Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy had thrown the enterprise of theology into doubt by arguing that knowledge of anything outside space and time is impossible. During the same period, the growing awareness of Christianity’s history and the emerging historical-critical study of the Bible brought into prominence the variability and contingency of the Christian tradition. Particularly in Germany, Christian intellectuals were to wrestle intensely with the problem of knowledge of God and the authority of tradition during this period. Should Christians adapt their understandings of fundamental points of Christian doctrine to advances in historical scholarship? Did developments within philosophy require the abandonment of reliance on claims about the nature of reality, and of human existence, which had been seen as essential to Christianity? This course will be devoted to tracking these discussions. Some of the authors to be treated are Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Strauss, Kierkegaard, Newman, von Harnack, and Schweitzer.

Fall semester. Professor A. Dole.

RELI 278 - L/D

Section 01
M 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM CHAP 103
W 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM CHAP 103

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2008, Fall 2010, Fall 2013, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Fall 2023