Christophe Chalamet

Ernst Troeltsch’s Break from Ritschl and his School

Abstract What is it that led Ernst Troeltsch, who for a time belonged to Albrecht Ritschl’s school, to break from the professor he so admired? On the one hand, Troeltsch found fault with Ritschl’s historiography of early Lutheran theology. Where Ritschl saw Melanchthon as someone who had distorted Luther’s original reformatory insights, Troeltsch praised Melanchton for having clarified and systematized Luther’s thought. Troeltsch’s critique of Ritschl’s historiography is as closely connected to Troeltsch’s own theological program as was Ritschl’s interpretation of the development of early Lutheran theology to his (Ritschl’s) own theological intention. The second half of the article examines Troeltsch’s program by looking at the debate between Troeltsch and Julius Kaftan, a prominent Ritschlian in those years, on the supernatural basis of Christianity, the place and scope of metaphysics in theology, and the “absoluteness” of Christianity.

Wilhelm Herrmann and the Birth of the Ritschlian School

Abstract The emergence of a school around the theology of Albrecht Ritschl remains an important aspect of modern Protestant theology. On the basis of previously unpublished correspondence between Ritschl and some of his most celebrated students, we are able to investigate anew the circumstances under which the Ritschlian school was formed, and to ask why Ritschls theology attracted a new generation of theologians and historians of theology. By focusing on Wilhelm Herrmann, one of the most significant systematic theologians of the Ritschlian school, this article shows how Ritschls attempt to overcome apologetics and classical metaphysics as well as his way of correlating religion and morality opened a distinctive and appealing alternative to the various theological schools of his time.

'Conversations with Karl Barth (1886–1968) - A review of recent studies'

Books reviewed: John W. Hart. Karl Barth vs. Emil Brunner. The Formation and Dissolution of a Theological Alliance, 1916–1936. Terry L. Cross. Dialectic in Karl Barths Doctrine of God. Richard E. Burnett. Karl Barths Theological Exegesis. The Hermeneutical Principals of the Romerbrief Period. Joseph L. Mangina. Karl Barth on the Christian Life: The Practical Knowledge of God.