Ryan Scheerlinck: Gedanken über die Religion

Strangely enough, the discussion between Schelling and Schleiermacher till now has received hardly any attention. Through a detailled reading of all relevant texts, this study seeks to show how the dialogue contributed decisively for both thinkers to a more precise self-understanding and a clarification of their own Task. Both thinkers urge each other to express themselves more clearly on the relationship between nature and politics, between philosophers and people, between mythological and revelatory religion and the faith in Christ than might otherwise have happened, and, in doing so, this »silent war« also sets the course for Schelling’s late philosophy as well as for Schleiermacher’s ›Doctrine of Faith‹. The investigation culminates in the first comprehensive interpretation of Schelling’s dialogue Clara, which makes it appear as a document of Natural Religion.