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Period: 1287 to 1347
William of Ockham
Nominalism! Further disconnecting us from realism, from our ability to know things as they are. -
Period: 1483 to 1546
Luther
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Period: 1564 to
Galileo
Confirmed Copernicus' controversial helio-centric theory. His persecution widely discredited the Church. -
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Descartes
Introduced systematic doubt as a methodology for acquiring certainty. Contributed to the individualization of modern society and the anxiety around uncertainty. -
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Kant
Denial of our access to things in and of themselves, phenomenal vs. noumenal divide, critiqued reason as a way to acquire certainty about the way things are in and of themselves. Doubted reason's ability to decide on metaphysical things. We are separated from the world—we know things as they appear to us and are then sorted by a priori categories in our minds. Thus world-senses-categories-our perception. -
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Schleiermacher
Attempted to protect the value and ascertainability of religion in light of Kantian philosophy and modern science. Religion is the experience of a God-feeling, or absolute dependence. Pluralist, though he believed Christianity was the best religion so far. Scriptures and preaching are testimonies to acute God-feelings, and dogmas are just ways that various communities communicate and categorize their experiences of the God-feeling. Roots religion in human experience and not metaphysics. -
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Georg Hegel
Attmpted a comprehensive philosophy of history. Viewed history as part of God's becoming—God is the World-Spirit who directs history towards a rational end. History is a series of conflicts between theses and antitheses, which, when reconciled, become a higher synthesis, then the cycle continues. A somewhat panentheistic view of God, as creation is drawn into Him. Secularized in Marxism. His view of history as rational and a series of conflicts would prove highly influential. -
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The French Revolution
Simpson describes this as the maximization of rationalist Enlightenment thought; rationalism becomes a religion. He believes Romanticism starts here as a reaction to the French Revolution. The French Revolution deeply disturbs Europe and America and makes Westerners think more deeply about the state, reason, and religion. For example, it comes up a lot in Sandeen and other evangelical historians, as evangelicals were disturbed. -
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Romanticism
Dates from Britannica. A reaction to the cold Stoicism and materialistic rationalism of the Enlightenment. Emphasized human desire for the Infinite and the beautiful, the beautiful in nature, individualistic quests for transcendence, etc. Seems to have influenced and been influenced by Schleiermacher. -
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Kierkegaard
Father of Christian existentialism. Cynical about nominal Christianity and Christendom. Christianity is characterized by faith in God—casting our Selfs into God and finding in Him reconciliation from our despair (which is caused by a disordered Self, a Self either too focused on the infinite or the finite, on what we are not, etc.). -
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Albert Ritschl
Liberal theologian. Followed Schleiermacher in insulating religion from science—science = the way things are, religion = the way things should be (Olson). Religion = value judgments. Christianity is people who have made the value judgment that the Kingdom of God = humanity's highest good. The kernel of Christian teaching was the Kingdom of God, human community administered by love. Associated with the social gospel. We can know our experiences of God in the world but not God in-and-of Himself. -
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Adolf von Harnack
Famous patristics scholar and liberal theologian. The kernel of Christianity is the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Jesus came teaching a good, ethical message, which was corrupted by His earliest followers under the influence of Hellenism. His idea of the Hellenization of the Jewish movement Christianity was highly influential and one of his enduring legacies. -
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Johann Weiss
Jesus' message was inherently eschatological! The kerygma is eschatological! Son-in-law of Ritschl. Changed the course of scholarship and theology, as liberal theology largely discarded eschatology. -
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Albert Schweitzer
German polymath who critiqued the previous Quest for the Historical Jesus as inventing their own Jesus/seeing Jesus as a reflection of themselves. Augmented and popularized Weiss' theory—viewed Jesus as a misguided apocalyptic teacher, believed that understanding Jesus' Jewish apocalyptic eschatology explains His words and actions. Like Weiss, Jesus believed that God's Kingdom would be brought about solely by God. Jesus came to believe that His death was necessary to bring the Kingdom of God. -
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Rudolf Bultmann
Sort of neo-orthodox theologian. Critiqued liberal theology for throwing out the mythology of the NT in their search for a kerygma, which they largely inserted into the Bible. Instead believes we should reinterpret the mythology, which is part of the kerygma, existentially. Big fan of existentialism: existentialism connects humanity and we can interpret the myths of the NT (cause myths are humanity's ways of talking about metaphysical realities or experiences) in experiential terms. -
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Karl Barth
One of the 20th centuries biggest theologians, father of neo-orthodoxy and a whole Barthian school. Relentlessly attacked liberal theology, asserted the dialectical relationship between God and humanity: God is transcendent, humanity is not. God is holy, humanity is not. Yet humanity is God's creature and God is humanity's God. The relationship must be initiated from God's side. God reveals Himself to humanity primarily in Jesus Christ. Influenced by Schleiermacher and Kierkegaard. -
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Jurgen Moltmann
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Wolfhart Pannenberg