An examination of the Christology of Friedrich SchleiermacherFriedrich Schleiermacher is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the field of Christology. He is generally considered the father of modern liberal Christology and even Karl Barth, one of his harshest critics, admits that "The first place in the history of theology of modern times belongs and will always belong to Schleiermacher, and he has no rival." another admirer of Schleiermacher, Father Gass, once wrote to him: "there is no one who can make me waver in the conviction that your dogmatics heralds a new era... in the whole study of theology in general" after reading the his Doctrine of Faith. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned" Get an Original Essay His Christology has been described as "humanistic Christology" as he rejected the rationalist Christology of Kant and he sought to incorporate more elements of experience and feeling (gefuhl) into his ideas about human thought, particularly in the field of religion. He had read Kant from an early age and had come to believe that Kant's Christology did not do justice to human beings. He believed that we are more than just "rational" beings. In many respects Schleiermacher's Christology is satisfactory. His idea of ​​the perfect humanity of Christ is coherent, logical and credible. However, his attempt to better explain the "doctrine of the two natures" in my opinion is slightly far from satisfactory due to his inability to adequately explain the sinlessness of Jesus. I will examine several aspects of his Christology, particularly the reason why he believed that Christ's "God consciousness" was the fulfillment of human nature and not a contradiction to it. I will then examine his interpretation of the doctrine of two natures and show why his idea is not entirely satisfactory. One of the reasons why Schleiermacher's Christology has been described as humanistic is because his argument is based on the belief that Jesus Christ was "totally" human! If Jesus Christ were not human, but a supernatural being, then the entire meaning of his life, as well as his death and resurrection, would be lost. If only a supernatural being is capable of living the sinless life that Jesus did, then we can all give up hope of achieving what he did. Schleiermacher's argument, however, is intended to encourage us. Jesus Christ, he argues, was the perfect embodiment of a human being and something we can all aspire to be like. This is where his interpretation of the doctrine of two natures becomes essential. Schleiermacher believed that Christ was not the contradiction of human nature, but its perfection. Therefore, becoming like Jesus means becoming like God. Jesus Christ himself in fact embodied, according to Schleiermacher, this perfection of human nature and therefore was actually both God and man as Christianity wants us to believe. from all of them through the abiding power of His God-consciousness, which was a very existence of God in Him." This brings us to the idea of ​​God-consciousness. This is how Schleiermacher describes to us how he understands God-consciousness by an individual. This can be described in the same way as an individual's other talents. Just as Leonardo Da Vinci or Albert Einstein had talents far superior to those of most human beings, they were nevertheless as human as anyone else. “So in every separate corporate life there are those who are more or less gifted.” Jesus' talent lay in his God-consciousness, which was perfect. “His preponderantly powerful God-consciousness connects to corporate life.” it's therefundamental difference between us and Christ that makes him divine? To explain this adequately I must turn my attention to the way Schleiermacher imagined God. "In the picture" is undoubtedly the wrong word to use here as Schleiermacher's perception of God was of a being of "pure activity." To make sense of this idea we need to think about what constitutes a being of “pure activity.” God, to be purely active, must always act on things and never be acted on himself. It is universal and infinite and constantly acts on us. Our awareness of this force or spirit acting upon us is what Schleiermacher called God-consciousness. Therefore, since Jesus possessed perfect God-consciousness, he was like a perfect receptacle for God's activity and acts totally according to his consciousness of God or to the activity that is God. This means that, although Jesus was fully human, he was also fully God, thus satisfying the requirements of the doctrine of two natures. For me Schleiermacher's theory of the dual nature of Christ is so far acceptable. In my opinion Schleiermacher explains more than adequately how Jesus could be both man and God. That is of course if you accept that Jesus was God as he is described in the New Testament and if you believe in God in the first place. As a non-believer I have always wondered about the following question. If Jesus was actually totally human just like you or me and yet at the same time was the Son of God. Then surely we are all Son of God in exactly the same respect. If in fact God created us all, then we are, by definition, all his children, just as Jesus was. So what was so special about Jesus Christ that truly made him God? I have wondered about this for many hours and have never found a satisfactory explanation. Schleiermacher doesn't offer an explanation that will convert me, but he offers one that seems perfectly plausible. After all, it set out to explain the nature of Jesus Christ, not to demonstrate his existence or divinity. Perhaps Schleiermacher's biggest problem arises from the doctrine of the virgin birth, which he didn't care much about. How did Jesus arrive at this perfect awareness of God? According to Schleiermacher, there are two Christological heresies, both of which would make Jesus Christ and therefore Christianity irrelevant. The first, the Docetic heresy, concerns Jesus as redeemer. If Jesus was sent to Earth with this perfect consciousness of God, then he is purely a supernatural figure who has no comparison with mankind, except in physical appearance. The second, the Nazarene heresy, states that Jesus was simply a man and he too needed to be redeemed. This is where the virgin birth comes into play as some argued that since Jesus was born of a virgin, he was born without the sin that corrupts the divine consciousness of other human beings. This, however, is simply not a good enough explanation, and Schleiermacher understood this. This idea clearly shows a huge contradiction since a virgin surely could not give birth without some supernatural interference, which would take us straight back to the Docetic heresy. Schleiermacher attempts to get around this problem with the idea of ​​a new "implantation" of god-consciousness in Jesus, which had not been corrupted like the original God-consciousness (that of Adam) that had existed throughout history. Unfortunately, this is where his argument fails. He himself once said: "Jesus needs to have all human growth in common with us." However, if Jesus was sinless because he had his perfect consciousness of God specifically implanted in him, then he was not the same as us. He has been granted a clear and supernatural advantage over us which, according to Schleiermacher's own description, would bring us back.