Abstract

Friedrich Schleiermacher is commonly regarded as the father of modern liberal theology and the dominant Protestant theologian between the time of John Calvin and that of Karl Barth. Yet until now his comprehensive views on Christian ethics have never been published. Introduction to Christian Ethics makes available for the first time Schleiermacher's most definitive and fully realized views on this topic. Although he was a singularly prolific writer (he left behind him a collection of books, lectures, sermons, and letters that fill thirty volumes), Schleiermacher never himself prepared a manuscript on Christian Ethics for publication. Two previously published editions were based on lecture notes and student transcriptions. Introduction to Christian Ethics is taken from the edition that utilizes the lectures of 1826 and 1827, the lectures that Schleiermacher himself felt most adequately reflected his views on the subject.