"The Rebirth of Revelation explores the different and important ways religious thinkers across Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism modernized the concept of revelation from 1750 to 1850.
Despite being a pillar of belief in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the idea of revelation was deeply discredited over the course of the Enlightenment. The post-Enlightenment restoration of revelation among German religious thinkers is a fascinating yet underappreciated moment in modern efforts to navigate between reason and faith.
The Rebirth of Revelation compares Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish reflections on revelation from 1750 to 1850 and asserts that a strategic transformation in the term's meaning secured its relevance for the modern age. Tuska Benes argues that ""propositional"" revelation, understood as the infallible dispensation of doctrine, gave way to revelation as a subjective process of inner transformation or the historical disclosure of divine being in the world.
By comparatively approaching the unconventional ways in which Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism have rehabilitated the concept of revelation, The Rebirth of Revelation restores theology to a central place in modern European intellectual history."
By:
Tuska Benes
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 236mm,
Width: 157mm,
Spine: 30mm
Weight: 620g
ISBN: 9781487543075
ISBN 10: 1487543077
Series: German and European Studies
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 01 May 2022
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Historical Revelation in the Protestant Enlightenment Reason and Revelation: Spinoza, Leibniz, and Wolff Reimarus and the Neologians on Pagan Salvation G.E. Lessing on the Historicity of Revelation The Kantian Critique of Revelation 2. The Comparative History of Religion, 1770–1800 David Hume and the Comparative History of Religion J.G. Herder’s Älteste Urkunde des Menschengeschlechts (1774) The Comparative Religious History of Christoph Meiners J.A. Starck and J.G. Hamann on Rational Ur-Monotheism The Göttingen School of Comparative Religious History 3. God’s Word in Comparative Mythology, 1760–1830 The Divine Origins of Language: Hamann and Herder The Ursprache and Mosaic Revelation: Friedrich Schlegel J.A. Kanne’s Elusive Ursprache The Language of Revelation Nationalized: Friedrich Rückert The Symbolism of God’s Word: Joseph Görres 4. Revelation in Nature from Physicotheology to G.H. Schubert Natural Theology and the Collapse of Intelligent Design Restoring Revelation to Naturphilosophie Nature Divested of Sacred Tradition G.H. Schubert in the Spinoza Renaissance Physica Sacra: The Urwelt, Creation, and Scripture 5. The Philosophy of Revelation: Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Schelling Schleiermacher: Revelation as Subjective Experience The Self-Revelation of God in Hegel The Dark Ground of Revelation in Schelling 6. The Epistemology of Grace: Revelation in Catholic Theology, 1770–1850 Enlightened Catholicism and the Semi-Rationalist Defense of Revelation The Moral Necessity of Revelation for Georg Hermes The Comparative History of Religion in Enlightened Catholic Theology Syncretism in Post-Kantian Catholic Histories of Religion Catholic Philosophies of Revelation: Anton Günther and J.S. Drey The Neo-Scholasticism of Joseph Kleutgen 7. Revelation in Jewish Religious Thought from Mendelssohn to Geiger Revelation and the Law: Moses Mendelssohn Kant and Pre-Mosaic Revelation: Saul Ascher Salomon Ludwig Steinheim on Primordial Revelation Revelation as Historical Experience: Samson Raphael Hirsch Jewish Philosophies of Revelation: Salomon Formstecher and Samuel Hirsch The Genius of Revelation: Abraham Geiger 8. Revelation Imperiled in Protestant Religious Thought, 1820–1850 Revelation and Neo-Confessionalism: August Tholuck The Self-Revelation of Humanity: Ludwig Feuerbach Søren Kierkegaard: Revelation in Existentialist Thought Conclusion Bibliography
Tuska Benes is an associate professor of History at The College of William and Mary.
Reviews for The Rebirth of Revelation: German Theology in an Age of Reason and History, 1750-1850
In the face of Enlightenment scepticism, defenders of revelation had to either double down on orthodoxy or reinvent revelation in accordance with the demands of the age. Benes's important new book tracks a host of German thinkers across many different disciplines and often profoundly different vantage points who chose the latter. Lucidly written, deeply researched, and synthetic in its grasp, The Rebirth of Revelation will be invaluable to anyone interested in the place of religion in the intellectual history of modern Europe. - Warren Breckman, Sheldon and Lucy Hackney Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania In this groundbreaking study, Tuska Benes gives us a brilliant analysis of what modernity did to our belief in divine revelation. Reborn and redefined by the theologians of the nineteenth century, revelation became the key to thinking in new ways about Scripture, history, society, and what it means to be a human being. Written with amazing clarity and vivacious enthusiasm for ideas, this is not only a superb work of scholarship but also fabulously fun to read! - Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College, and author of The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany Tuska Benes has written a remarkable book about one of the most momentous periods in German intellectual history. Her grasp of a wide variety of authors - some famous, others almost unknown - is stunning and has allowed her to create a narrative that is both complex and innovative. This book is highly recommended to all those interested in the history of theological and religious thought in modernity. - Johannes Zachhuber, Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, University of Oxford Tuska Benes's deeply learned and incisively argued study shows us how a host of nineteenth-century German thinkers - Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish - made elaborate, ingenious attempts to reconcile reason and revelation. That by 1905 it was widely acknowledged that this quest had failed, Benes argues, marks a sharper break in the history of ideas than did the Enlightenment. Benes's book is a must-read for anyone interested in relations between reason and faith in modern Europe. - Suzanne Marchand, Boyd Professor of History, Louisiana State University
