SOURCE: “Valuation and Criticism of the Addresses,” in An Introduction to Schleiermacher, The Epworth Press, 1903, pp. 55-99.

In the following excerpt, Chapman provides an interpretation of Schleiermacher's Addresses (also known as his Speeches), characterizing them as a seminal influence on nineteenth-century theological development.

The Addresses were published in 1799. Goethe was at the height of his power. His first great burst of literary activity was over, and nine years were yet to elapse before the publication of the First Part of Faust. Kant was nearing the end of his philosophical toils, The Critique of Pure Reason having been published in 1781, while Hegel was still slowly evolving his system. The French Revolution had worked off its early fevers, and Napoleon was at the beginning of his conquests. As has been said already, it was an eventful age: the ‘hum of mighty workings’ was to be heard by those who had...