In "Theorizing Religion" today we dove into Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On the Essence of Religion." I had students pair up to go through two pages line by line and they discovered that they didn't really understand what he was talking about, or even what he meant by things like "metaphysics," "morals" or even "religion" - things they hadn't noticed in skimming the text for class. An hour and a bit later they did - and had also learned the value of understanding a text in its historical context.
And while they still hemmed and hawed at pronouncing his name - we decided to just mumble "Schlrrrrrr" - they liked what he was saying. Seeing how his invention (he calls it a discovery) of an "essence" of religion distinct from but the necessary complement to thinking and acting solved an intellectual puzzle made it all make sense. Next week we'll ask if that's the right puzzle to be solving!
