Finding the Infinite

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) wrote On Religion while teaching and preaching in Berlin. Originally published in 1799, Schleiermacher defends religion against the skepticism of his day. On Religion is his attempt to distill what the church ought to be. Schleiermacher notes that what the “pious” have attempted to control stands “in awful opposition to him as the Infinite.” In other words, the church has attempted to measure the unmeasurable. The pious have lifted up their own “personal incapacity,” rather than understood with reverence the humbling feeling of being in relation to God. Schleiermacher sees piety as the attempt to recreate the customs, laws, and reality of communion with Divine. In his opening paragraph he writes, “Now especially the life of cultivated people is far from anything that might have even a resemblance to religion.” He describes “Suavity and socialibility, art and science” as having “taken possession of your minds, that no room remains for the eternal and holy Being that lies beyond the world.” Poignant for us, he notes that his contemporaries had so well succeeded in making their earthly life so rich and varied, that they “no longer stand in need of an eternity.” His next words are as convicting as they are moving, “Having made a universe for yourselves, you are above the need of thinking of the Universe that made you.” Religion is not rote memorization of theological and moral principles on their own; it is not perfection of thought; it is not perfection of belief. For religion of this kind is little more than mythology. It is this manner of religion that brings about quarrels, division, and wars. We argue about definitions. Theoretical and practical. We argue about the way we believe things should be. We place the rightness of our thoughts, beliefs, and our own way above that of even God. But, beloved of God, it does not have to be this way.

Instead, Schleiermacher writes that the sum total of religion “is to feel that, in highest unity, all that moves us in feeling is one.” While religion is usually thought to be a way of thinking or of acting, Schleiermacher notes that it is not essentially either. Instead, he writes that religion is itself an affection, “A revelation of the Infinite in the infinite.” It is the invitation to enter into the vast web of possibilities and impossibilities that find their unity in God. Our oneness is not found in our belief. Our unity is not forged by the breadth of our similarity. Instead, our oneness and unity is found in the fact that we are beloved children of God. Schleiermacher proposes that religion, if there is any at all, must be social. To find the Divine, we must find our own humanity and be moved by the essence of God’s greatness. The conversation must be expanded to include friendship, love, and an observation of the world around us. We must put aside religious fear and replace it with an aim “to love the World-Spirit and joyfully regard his working…” Positive religion on the other hand has a holy zeal with which it is contemplated, communicated and enjoyed, a child-like longing with which new revelations of heavenly power are expected. It asks you to search, seek, and, with awe-struck wonder, behold the Lord our God. It asks us to be the church. To be those who use our talents, treasures, time, witness, and prayer to love extravagantly. To be those whose awe and wonder of God lead us to imagine a world where the impossible is possible. To be those who find our joy, hope, and our peace in the One who knit and holds the world together. We are encouraged to surrender and return to the One who is the source of abundant life. We are encouraged to surrender and return to our calling as Christ’s followers.