Albrecht Ritschl
Albrecht Ritschl | |
---|---|
Born | Berlin, Prussia | 25 March 1822
Died | 20 March 1889 | (aged 66)
Nationality | German |
Spouse |
Ida Rehbeck
(m. 1859; died 1869) |
Academic background | |
University of Halle | |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Tübingen school |
Institutions | |
Influenced |
Albrecht Benjamin Ritschl (25 March 1822 – 20 March 1889) was a German
Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on systematic theology. According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond the scope of reason. Faith, he said, came not from facts but from value judgments. Jesus' divinity, he argued, was best understood as expressing "revelational-value" of Christ for the community that trusts him as God. He held the Christ's message to be committed to a community.[1]
Biography
Ritschl was born in
Ritschl was professor of theology at Bonn (extraordinarius 1852; ordinarius 1859) and
Theology
Ritschl claimed to carry on the work of
From this vantage-ground Ritschl criticizes the use of
His limitation of theological knowledge to the bounds of human need might, if logically pressed, run perilously near phenomenalism; and his epistemology ("we only know things in their activities") does not cover this weakness. In seeking ultimate reality in the circle of "active conscious sensation", he rules out all "metaphysic". Indeed, much that is part of normal Christian faith – e.g. the Eternity of the Son – is passed over as beyond the range of his method. Ritschl's theory of "value-judgments" (Werthurtheile) illustrates this form of agnosticism. Religious judgments of value determine objects according to their bearing on our moral and spiritual welfare. They imply a lively sense of radical human need. This sort of knowledge stands quite apart from that produced by "theoretic" and "disinterested" judgments. The former moves in a world of "values", and judges things as they are related to our "fundamental self-feeling." The latter moves in a world of cause and effect. (N.B. Ritschl appears to confine Metaphysic to the category of Causality.)[6]
The theory as formulated has such grave ambiguities, that his theology, which, as we have seen, is wholly based on uncompromising religious
Illustrative examples
A few instances will illustrate Ritschl's positive systematic theology. The conception of God as Father is given to the community in Revelation. He must be regarded in His active relationship to the "kingdom", as spiritual personality revealed in spiritual purposiveness. His "Love" is His will as directed towards the realization of His purpose in the kingdom. His "Righteousness" is His fidelity to this purpose. With God as
Once more, in the doctrine of sin and redemption, the governing idea is God's fatherly purpose for His family. Sin is the contradiction of that purpose, and guilt is alienation from the family. Redemption, justification, regeneration, adoption, forgiveness, reconciliation all mean the same thing-the restoration of the broken family relationship. All depends on the Mediation of Christ, who maintained the filial relationship even to His death, and communicates it to the brotherhood of believers. Everything is defined by the idea of the family. The whole apparatus of "forensic" ideas (law, punishment, satisfaction, etc.) is summarily rejected as foreign to God's purpose of love, Ritschl is so faithful to the standpoint of the religious community, that he has nothing definite to say on many important questions, such as the relation of God to non-Christians. His school, in which
Bibliography
- The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1900.
- Die christliche Lehre von der Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung. Bonn: Marcus, 1882.
- Geschichte des Pietismus in der reformierten Kirche. Vol. 1 of the Geschichte des Pietismus. Bonn: Marcus, 1880.
- Geschichte des Pietismus in der lutherischen Kirche des 17. u. 18. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 of the Geschichte des Pietismus. Bonn: Marcus, 1884 /1886.
- Die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche: eine kirchen- und dogmengeschichtliche Monographie. 2nd ed. Bonn: Marcus, 1857.
- Gesammelte Aufsätze. Freiburg: Mohr, 1896.
Notes
- ^ "Ritschl, Albrecht." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ Herbermann 1913.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 367.
- ^ Stephen Palmquist (1989) Immanuel Kant: A Christian Philosopher?, page 71
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 367–368.
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 368.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ritschl, Albrecht". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 367–368. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ritschlianism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- Barth, Karl. "Ritschl," in Protestant Theology from Rousseau to Ritschl. New York: Harper, 1959. Ch. XI, pp. 390–398.
- Garvie, Alfred E. The Ritschlian Theology Critical and Constructive: An Exposition and an Estimate. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1902.
- Jodock, Darrell, ed. Ritschl in Retrospect: History, Community, and Science (Augsburg Fortress Publishing, 1995)
- Mueller, David Livingstone. An introduction to the theology of Albrecht Ritschl (Westminster Press, 1969)
- Richmond, James. Ritschl, a reappraisal: a study in systematic theology (Collins, 1978)
- Ritschl, Otto. "Ritschl, Albrecht Benjamin," in New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. X. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1911. pp. 43–46.
- Swing, Albert T. The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1901.
- Zachhuber, Johannes. Theology As Science in Nineteenth Century Germany: From FC Baur to Ernst Troeltsch (Oxford University Press, 2013)