In the English-speaking world, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) is renowned primarily as a theologian, the author of the Speeches on religion and The Christian faith. Yet in his lifetime he was well-regarded in many different spheres: as pastor and preacher at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Berlin; as an influential Rector of Berlin University; as a translator and scholar of Plato; and as a lecturer and writer on subjects from philosophical hermeneutics to the life of Jesus. This important work addresses a lesser known aspect of his work and teaching: church history.

Schleiermacher's most significant contribution to this field comes in the Brief outline of the study of theology (1811). Having been rather dismissive of doctrine in the first edition of the Speeches on religion (1799), the Brief outline offers a more nuanced account of the relationship between doctrine and faith. Christian theology is not the basis of that faith; rather, it expresses the faith and governance of a particular Church. Theology presses several different disciplines into service in order to further this aim, including linguistics, philosophy and ethics, but also history.

Schleiermacher is convinced that Christianity cannot be cultivated in the future without an understanding of its past and present, and recommends three areas of study. The first is ‘exegetical theology’, which focuses on the determination and exegesis of the canon. Next comes ‘church history’, understood in a narrower sense, which may be subdivided into the history of doctrine and the history of polity; this covers the period from the foundation of the Church until the recent past. Finally, there is the present, which includes both the determination of doctrine and church governance. Thus the remit of historical theology, as Schleiermacher conceives it, includes biblical studies, systematic theology and ecclesiology.

Simon Gerber draws heavily on the Brief outline in the second section of his comprehensive study, but this is to jump ahead. His careful and systematic analysis begins by setting out the extant secondary literature on this subject. The dearth of publications belies the importance of the topic, not only for church historians, but for students of Schleiermacher's other works. In Gerber's view, any exposition of his theology that neglects church history is simply incomplete.

The first main section of this study aims to set Schleiermacher's contribution to the field in context, summarising the state of Protestant church history and historical methodology by 1800. It also traces Schleiermacher's development as a church historian, from his early days at the Moravian Seminary at Barby through to his mature lectures. It is perhaps surprising that in his first theology examination at Berlin in 1790, he recorded a better result in church history than either philosophy, Greek or dogmatics: ‘sehr gut’.

Schleiermacher gave his first lectures on church history at Halle in 1806, but this early work must be seen as part of Schleiermacher's programme for the reform of theology. They should not be seen as a contribution to contemporary debates in church history, but as an outworking of Schleiermacher's theory of knowledge, and as an attempt to provide a new foundation for theological enquiry. Indeed, Schleiermacher proposed to have nothing more to do with church history itself – a resolution he kept until he delivered a set of lectures in Berlin in the Winter term of 1821/22.

He none the less continued to explore the place of church history within the theological syllabus in the Brief outline, in his works on ethics, and in his later theological works. In section ii of this study, Gerber explores these works thematically. He begins with an exploration of church history as a scientific discipline, outlining Schleiermacher's thoughts on topics including history and ethics, church and religion, the history of Christianity. He then turns to the structure of the discipline, and the practice of historical research.

It is only in section iii of this monograph that we move beyond methodology, and learn how Schleiermacher portrayed the history of Christianity in those later lectures and theological texts. Gerber notes four periods in Schleiermacher's church history, which he explores in turn. The first begins with the outpouring of the Spirit, whereby Christ's spirit became the common spirit of the whole Christian community. It includes the age of the Apostles, early confrontations with heresies and the determination of the biblical canon; it ends with the decriminalisation of Christianity under Constantine. The second period sees the growth and then decline of a common Christian faith, with the efforts of the ecumenical councils. The third period runs from the Carolingian era through to the eve of the Reformation. Finally, the fourth takes us from the Reformation up to the present, which remains defined – in Schleiermacher's worldview – by the opposition of the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

Each of these periods must be understood as an expression of that Spirit received from Christ in a particular time and place. Unless we share in this common Christian spirit, viewing church history through the eyes of a shared faith, our understanding will be diminished. Church history may be presented as a science, but it is a science at the service of the Christian Church, furthering its own self-understanding.

Schleiermacher's ideas may now appear rather crude, and have not have left a lasting mark in debates about church history. Yet this does not mean that his work on this subject should be forgotten. Through his detailed and orderly analysis, Gerber shows that Schleiermacher's thoughts about church history are a thread running through his theological oeuvre. This text is to be recommended to anyone with an interest in the development of church history as a discipline, as well as students of Schleiermacher's theology.