Kevin Vander Schel investigates Schleiermacher's distinctive approach to Christian theology. He rightly suggests that Schleiermacher's theology is best understood as the attempt to overcome the impasse between the rationalism and supernaturalism of his time. He shows this by analyzing two central concepts and their interconnection in Schleiermacher's mature theological writings—namely, the supernatural and the historical. Vander Schel is aware that this task is daunting because these two categories are not open to a simple definition within Schleiermacher's work, where reflections on the supernatural are not treated speculatively in themselves, but primarily in relation to other categories. Schleiermacher's understanding of the Christian faith is Christocentric, and his theological system affirms the centrality of the redemption brought about through Jesus. It is the impact of the redemption through Jesus that inaugurates God's reign in history. For Schleiermacher, therefore, it is this redemption that in some measure displays the “supernatural” rightly understood.
Likewise, Schleiermacher's understanding of history also cannot be easily classified. It should not be identified with the speculative conception of universal history in Hegel's work. Nor can it be identified with the historicism of the later German historical school, especially Leopold van Ranke's. Nor can it be identified with the historicism of Ernst Troeltsch that the neoorthodoxy of Karl Barth and his followers roundly rejected. Therefore, Vander Schel approaches this task by analyzing Schleiermacher's work in its totality. He first explains Schleiermacher's conception of theology (chapter 3), then his distinctive understanding of what it means to be a Christian (chapter 4), the contingency of grace as seen in Christ as redeemer, the role of the Spirit, the divine decree, and the reign of God (chapter 5), and finally the distinctive shape of Christian ethics that flows from Christian redemption (chapter 6), and its implications for historical Christian action (chapter 7). He underscores the importance of the family over missionary work in this Christian action. The book concludes with a summary of the results of his interpretation.
Vander Schel's overall tendency is to give a sympathetic reading of Schleiermacher that underscores how Schleiermacher endeavors to mediate contemporary challenges and traditional Christian thought. In this respect his book is superior to Andrew Doles’ recent work on Schleiermacher's understanding of religion and nature because it avoids Doles’ sharp contrast between the natural and the supernatural. Instead, Vander Schel underscores how Schleiermacher bridges that contrast. This is the advantage of Vander Schel's book. The disadvantage is that the degree to which Schleiermacher's theology is indebted to a Newtonian conception of nature does not receive adequate discussion. The divine activity takes place in the realm of spirit, but in such a way that grace becomes embedded in history and in practice. In that sense grace transcends the realm of nature and yet is embedded in redemptive activity.
The use of the term “dogmatics” in the title as well as throughout stands somewhat in contrast to the conception of Schleiermacher's theology that Vander Schel has worked out. As is well known, Augustine refers to “Christian doctrine,” Aquinas to “sacred doctrine,” and Calvin to “Christian religion.” In twentieth-century Protestant theology, “dogmatics” is the term that Karl Barth deliberately and polemically adopts in writing a “Church Dogmatics.” Schleiermacher's major work is entitled Glaubenslehre (literally “teaching of faith”; the official English title is The Christian Faith). To use the word “dogmatics” refers much more to Protestant scholastic and neoorthodox theology than to an understanding of God's redemptive activity and the teaching understood as embedded in history. It belies an interpretation that seeks to nuance the relation between natural and supernatural.
In short, Vander Schel's book is an invaluable introduction to Schleiermacher's theology, presenting a broad and nuanced treatment of its diverse elements. Vander Schel is less concerned with Schleiermacher's philosophical approach to religion (which has been the preoccupation of much scholarship), but seeks to show the embedded character of divine grace in the impact of Christ's redemptive activity on Christian life and practice. It is a special merit of this book that it details how Christian ethics flows from Christian faith. Moreover, the book is extremely well written—and clearly so; therefore it can easily be recommended as a required book in any course on the history of modern Christian theology. As such it is a commendable achievement.
