The Advantages and Disadvantages of Troeltsch Today

Ernst Troeltsch’s influential typology of church, sect, and mystical remains a useful way of classifying forms of Christian social ethics today. However, his assumptions about what it means for Christian social ethics to influence society make it difficult for his typology to recognize or explain many of the achievements of Christian social ethics since his death, including those of William Temple, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Howard Thurman. Nevertheless, Sarah Coakley demonstrates the profitability of the typology for tracking the relationships between Christology, ethics, and social contexts. I close by considering how Temple, Bonhoeffer, and Thurman fare in holding these three aspects together

Epistemology · Karl Barth and Christian Theology · Philosophy · Reformed Theology and Governance · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics