Schleiermacher and Religion as Absolute Dependence

Few figures have exercised as profound and enduring an influence on modern theology as Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher. Revered by some as the father of modern Protestant theology and criticized by others as the thinker who inaugurated a problematic turn toward religious subjectivity, Schleiermacher remains a central point of reference for any serious inquiry into the nature of religion in the modern world. His writings emerged during a period of immense intellectual and cultural transformation, when traditional religious authorities were increasingly challenged by the forces of Enlightenment rationalism, scientific inquiry, political revolution, and philosophical criticism. In this context, the question of religion’s legitimacy became urgent. Could religion continue to speak meaningfully to modern humanity? Was it merely a remnant of a pre-critical age, destined to disappear before the advances of reason and science? Or did it possess an irreducible essence that neither philosophy nor morality could replace?