SOURCE: “Romanticism and the Sensus Numinis in Schleiermacher,” in The Interpretation of Belief: Coleridge, Schleiermacher and Romanticism, Macmillan, 1986, pp. 104-25.

In the following essay, Streetman illustrates the ways in which Schleiermacher influenced religion during the nineteenth century, noting his revitalization of the sense of divinity which led to the creation of an experiential faith rooted in Romantic philosophy.

These words of Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834) will surely be subjected to new assessments during the several events commemorating the 150th anniversary of his death: ‘I, for my part, am a stranger to the life and thought of this present generation, I am a prophet-citizen of a later world, drawn thither by a vital imagination and strong faith; to it belong my every thought and deed.’¹

This essay will illustrate the many ways in which this herald of an age to come was able to breathe new life into...