Troeltsch on Christianity and Relativism

THE tension between the relativity of Christianity as an historical phenomenon and the universality of its faith claim constitutes the fundamental theme of Ernst Troeltsch's book, Die Absolutheit des Christenturns und die Religionsgeschichte.1 The title of the book is somewhat deceptive, for the concept of Absolutheit does not suggest Troeltsch's own solution to this problem, but one which he rejected. For the nineteenth century, especially in the thought of Schleiermacher and Hegel, the concept of Absolutheit served as the means for resolving the conflict between the newly discovered historicity of the Christian religion and the universal scope of its faith claim. According to this position, Christianity could be simultaneously regarded from two different points of view: on the one hand, it was presented as one religion among many with its own historically conditioned origin and development; on the other, it was qualitatively distinguished from all others by its absolute value. Christianity alone enjoyed this quality of Absolutheit, because in it was found the fulfillment of the so-called essence of all world religions. Troeltsch was far too critical as an historian to accept this formulation as an answer. The particular, irreducible, and always novel character of historical data meant for him the necessary exclusion of the concept of Absolutheit from the realm of history. Yet, while he rejected the notion of Absolutheit as applicable to historical phenomena, he would not abandon the attempt to discern in history a pattern of development that would support the Christian faith claim of universality. As an alternative he sought to present a view of Christianity which would demonstrate, not its absolute, but its supreme or normative value. Thus Christianity would retain its historically relative identity, while still being acknowledged as representing the highest stage of man's present spiritual development, and as indicating the direction of his future growth. Troeltsch believed that such an interpretation of Christianity would be adequate to support the universality of the Christian faith confession and that it could be demonstrated within the limits of a scientific, historical methodology. His argument can be summarized in tnree steps. He first rejects any positivistic interpretation of history that I E. Troeltsch, Die Absolutheit des Christentums und die Religionsgeschichte (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1912). All page references are to this second edition. For a partial English translation, see: A. C. Bouquet, Is Christianity the Final Religion? (London: Macmillan, 1921)

Christianity · Epistemology · Relativism · Philosophical and Historical Studies · Philosophy · Philosophy and Historical Thought · Religious studies

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