Friedrich Schleiermacher. Yes,
I know. You never heard of him. He died in 1834. He is sometimes called the
father of modern liberal theology.
The German theologian was on my mind a couple of weeks ago because I was teaching a class on the origins and content of liberal theology; not something I do that often. When I googled him to see if
his name was showing up in any recent articles, oddly, there it was in a June
27 Washington Post article about Donald Trump.
But in preparing to teach, I
was reminded of something I learned about Schleiermacher more than 40 years
ago: He emphasized the idea of “absolute dependence on God.” There is considerable debate about what he
really meant by that and even if it faithfully translates what he wrote in
German.
However, after preparing to do
my “academic thing,” I took away, on a personal level, the basic idea that real
life is found in absolute dependence on God. Even from liberal theology, that
we may disagree with, we can find some nuggets.
A day or two later, while in prayer I
confronted the usual amount of things we have no control over, and I found, again,
that this thought served me well. It
gave rest for my soul. “Whatever the circumstances,” we can rest in our “absolute
dependence” on God (Philippians 4:11-13).
Of course, that is not really
the whole story. I don’t think Schleiermacher talked much, if at all, about
absolute surrender, but the life of wellness is found when you put the two together.
This is making me really think about some things, especially as I'm studying Mathew 5. Thanks again Tom.
ReplyDeleteVery timely Tom. My heart had to wrestle with some very challenging issues today.
ReplyDeleteI think that's why we are told to be joyful in affliction because trials and pain cause us to cry out to God in total dependence, and it is in His bosom that we find peace,safety, contentment, assurance, rest for our souls and yes, Joy!
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ReplyDeleteDear Tom,
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