Johannes Zachhuber's exceptional book addresses a topic that has received little scholarly attention in the English-speaking world: nineteenth-century German academic theology in the context of new scientific directions in modern universities. Zachhuber discusses how German protestant scholars from the Tübingen and Ritschlian Schools treated theology as a science in light of the novel notion of Wissenschaft.
This noteworthy monograph excels in several aspects, the most important being understudied figures and sources. Zachhuber skillfully uses primary sources to investigate in a penetrating way the scientific theology of several misunderstood nineteenth-century figures, and offers fresh readings of their views. By exploring the contexts of their intellectual and philosophical disputes, Zachhuber clearly depicts developments, influences, and tensions among scholars of that period, providing evidence that underscores the significance and complexity of the nineteenth century as one of the most creative and productive for theology. While he does not engage in great detail with the scientific endeavors of nineteenth-century mediating theologians, he does give considerable attention to other German theologians and their scientific theological work from 1820 to 1880, including Eduard Zeller and Adolf Hilgenfeld.
The book has ten chapters in two parts, the first part dealing with Ferdinand Baur and other members of the Tübingen School, especially the development and decline of the school and Baur's version of “historicist theology.” Zachhuber asserts that the Tübingen School was characterized by a revolutionary “historical and exegetical scholarship” supported by theology and philosophy. The second part of the book looks at Albrecht Ritschl and the manner in which the Ritschlian School both extended and detracted from Baur's agenda of scientific theology. Building on Jörn Rüsen's work involving the formative years of historicism and idealist history of philosophy, a central theme in Zachhuber's book is the relationship between historicism and idealism and their positions within the triad of history, philosophy, and theology. The book depicts how theologians blended historical and systematic theology contained by the twofold enterprise of historicism and German Idealism.
The first chapter discusses the emergence and significance of historicization that became dominant in Germany. The chapter includes a general overview of the influence of Gotthold Lessing and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, especially Schelling's acknowledged influence on Friedrich Schleiermacher's ideas regarding religion and history. The second and third chapters focus on Baur's scientific theology and the influences that shaped his ideas. Baur's Die christliche Gnosis established an agenda for scientific theology that was both philosophical and historical. An example of his idealist agenda is his attempt to conquer “the dualistic dichotomy of history and reason” by way of “rational self-reflection” (49). Zachhuber explains how Baur created two scientific theological schemes: one “idealist” and the other “neo-rationalist.” Zachhuber uses his interpretation to clarify the influence of the neo-rationalist program on Baur's students in terms of its historical method.
David Strauss, Baur's most controversial student, takes center stage in chapter 4. Zachhuber reveals how Strauss appropriated his teacher's neo-rationalist agenda and pushed the Tübingen program well beyond its founder's original agenda. Strauss argued for a clear distinction between history and the philosophy of history, and several members of the Tübingen School accepted his argument for a scientific theology without presuppositions. The fifth chapter focuses on the debate concerning the essence of religion, and discusses the ideas of a lesser-known member of the Tübingen School, Eduard Zeller. Zachhuber finds in Zeller's work the climax of the “neo-rationalist” agenda, which was welcomed later by other members of the Tübingen School. The sixth chapter is devoted to the Tübingen theologian Adolf Hilgenfeld, whose scientific theology was characterized by “historical and critical theology” and thus stood in continuity with “the philosophical Rationalism of the Leibniz-Wolffian School” (127).
In the final four chapters, Zachhuber deals with Albrecht Ritschl and his school of scientific theology. These chapters provide insights in terms of theological and philosophical influences, as well as the connections and discontinuities between the scientific theological agendas of Ritschl and the nineteenth-century theologians discussed in the book. Unlike other recent scholars, Zachhuber juxtaposes Ritschl's dogmatic work with his historical theological scholarship. Zachhuber demonstrates that in spite of Ritschl's synthesis, he was an original thinker, and he rejected a presuppositionless theological science. Zachhuber also shows how Ritschl's use of philosophical principles, especially those of Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus, can help to explain distinctions between Ritschl's and Baur's approaches. Finally, Zachhuber draws attention to Ritschl's theology of the “kingdom of God,” noting the various influences that shaped it, including that of Philip Jakob Spener. By advocating a “biblical theology,” Ritschl emphasized the historical nature of “Christianity among his contemporaries” (226). Zachhuber also argues that Ritschl's scientific theological ideas are best understood as a harmonious combination of history, philosophy, and theology. The book concludes that though neither Schleiermacher nor Hegel was the primary influence on the theological schools dealt with in this book, yet Schelling's philosophy did provide intellectual support for their idealist programs.
The book offers some welcomed revisions and new and nuanced interpretations of the work of German protestant theologians. For example, Zachhuber offers some helpful corrections to a strict Hegelian interpretation of Baur's theological agenda, shedding new light on other influences and concluding that Baur's most vital views require consideration of the significance of Schleiermacher and Schelling. Alongside other recent scholars, Zachhuber views Schelling as a central influence in nineteenth-century German intellectual thought.
The book's primary contribution is the way that the author traces the origins of ideas, as well as developments in continuity and discontinuity among scientific theologians in the context of modernity. Recently Gary Dorrien has written on the vital significance of German Idealism in modern theology. Zachhuber's book adds to this topic with an insightful analysis of modern theology's idealist framework. He also offers important insights into new research on academic theology during that period in Germany. Scholars and students interested in the development of modern theology will find a wealth of information in this important volume.
