Revisiting Schleiermacher

The Political-Theological Significance of the Reden

Bibliographic Data

ID23308482
AuthorsEnoch H Kuo (0000-0001-7757-5433, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-07-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfag017
OpenAlexW7169861585
LanguageEN
References cited22

Long recognized as a canonical text in the academic study of religion, F. D. E. Schleiermacher’s definition of religion’s essence as “neither thinking nor acting, but intuition and feeling” in the Reden has been seen as exemplary of an approach that promotes an individualistic and subjectivistic conception of religion inattentive to the kind of power dynamics at play in its use. When read in its original context as an intervention into early German Romantic political discourse, however, the Reden is better understood as a political-theological manifesto that highlights the ongoing significance of religious sociality—and its legal manifestations—for post-revolutionary political reforms. Far from apolitical, the Reden remains relevant for scholars of religion and political theologians interested in moving beyond liberal political framings of the relationship between religion and the political.

Context (archaeology) · German · Individualism · Intuition · Manifesto · Politics · Romance · Classical Studies and Philology · Karl Barth and Christian Theology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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