The Utopian Forms of Religious Life. Ernst Troeltsch's The Social Teachings of the Christian Church / Formes Utopiques de la vie religieuse. Les « Soziallehren » d'Ernst Troeltsch. - article ; n°1 ; vol.65, pg 121-143

Harry Liebersohn

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1988 - Volume 65 - Numéro 1 - Pages 121-143
23 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

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• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1988
• Nombre de lectures: 27
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Harry Liebersohn
The Utopian Forms of Religious Life. Ernst Troeltsch's "The
Social Teachings of the Christian Church" / Formes Utopiques
de la vie religieuse. Les « Soziallehren » d'Ernst Troeltsch.
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 65/1, 1988. pp. 121-143.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Liebersohn Harry. The Utopian Forms of Religious Life. Ernst Troeltsch's "The Social Teachings of the Christian Church" /
Formes Utopiques de la vie religieuse. Les « Soziallehren » d'Ernst Troeltsch. In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions.
N. 65/1, 1988. pp. 121-143.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1988.2462
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1988_num_65_1_2462Sc soc des Rel. 1988 65/1 janvier-mars) 121-144 Arch
Harry LIEBERSOHN
THE UTOPIAN FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE
Ernst
The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches
Ernst Troeltsch 1865-1923 redécouvre le motif utopique qui sous-
entend le christianisme et en fait un thème de son chef oeuvre
sociologique Thé Social Teachings of the Christian Churches
Ses catégories bien connues glise et de Secte ne sont point
de type statique contrairement ce qu on pourrait croire lorsqu elles
sont isolées de leur contexte mais elles contiennent une tension entre
le statu quo et utopie religieuse le Royaume de Dieu
Le statut social de Troeltsch en tant qu intellectuel membre de la
Bildungsbürgertum allemande la classe moyenne fait il est
pas lui-même attiré par utopisme Dans une certaine mesure il
obscurcit utopisme du christianisme primitif afin éviter que son
interprétation ressemble trop la critique marxiste du christianisme
faite par Kautsky Toutefois par rapport la théologie libérale de
Ritschi ou celle de orthodoxie luthérienne de son époque il aura
implicite ses travaux une reconnaissance hérétique un élément
réprimé de histoire religieuse occidentale Le fait avoir traité
glise et Secte comme phénomènes sociaux refoulant ainsi
intention utopique originale du christianisme revient faire des
Social Teachings un précurseur qui anticipe le discours utopiste
hommes de réflexion tels que Bloch Benjamin et Mannheim
Ernst The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches does it have
anything left to teach us The two chief social types that it introduced church
and sect have long been assimilated into the vocabulary of religious studies And
the work is so massive covering the ethics of Western Christianity from its
beginnings that it hardly invites casual reading Whatever it was that Troeltsch
had to say one is tempted to go to Max Weber on the assumption that
famous friend and colleague said it better Certainly half-forgotten old classics do
not deserve to be read nor do articles about them merely out of ritual piety
toward the past If we are to return to it at all then work of this kind must speak to
us in its own right
121 ARCHIVES DE SCIENCES SOCIALES DES RELIGIONS
Social Teachings does just that single thesis sustains it that the
history of Christian ethics and institutions was shaped by disappointed eschato-
logical expectations Trained as theologian Troeltsch married mastery of his
native discipline to the perspective of the sociologist and made his thesis fruitful
though of course not as he himself knew conclusive for epoch after epoch of
Christianity His book reveals history of utopianism within the history of
doctrines and institutions close reading of the book establishes its indepen
dence from Max Weber whereas Weber in The Protestant Ethic focused on
individual anxiety as the motive for social behavior The Social Teachings focuses
on social groups and the logic of their collective impulse toward new heaven and
earth alternative merits closer look
Difficulties stand in the way of renewed appreciation of the book however
Troeltsch does not have an engaging style His polemical attacks on religious
dogmatists and socialists have lost their poignancy He too often lets cliches and
mechanically produced judgments carry his narrative there something
profoundly suspicious about book whose theme is hope for an end to
secular time but which rambles on as if author and audience had all the time in
the world Perhaps ambivalence toward his story made him muddle it
he viewed eschatology as great historical illusion and reserved his admiration
for the system and institution-builders who integrated eschatological expecta
tions into the existing social order The unprepared reader may find it hard to
keep sight of the underlying eschatological dynamic as Troeltsch recounts the
ideological and repressive roles performed by organized religion
It takes some historical imagination to recapture the hidden drama of The
Social Teachings Troeltsch was acutely aware of the utopian dimension of the
social and theological debates of his own time and his comments on them
especially during his formative and little-known years before 1900 will alert us to
utopian themes in his mature sociological work Far from just being study of
past experience or formal abstractions The Social Teachings assessed the fate of
utopianism in the age of Capital
early years are evidence for the strong survival of local traditions
in many parts of XIXth century Germany The Troeltsch family had belonged
since the late XVIIth to the middle-class elite of Augsburg This old
Imperial city was one of centers of commerce during the XVIth
century rising with the fortunes of the Fugger banking house It was also one of
the intellectual centers of the Reformation here Luther met with the Roman
emissary Cardinal Cajetan in 1518 and here the Augsburg Confession the
central credo of the Lutheran church came into being in 1530 Although Augsburg
belonged to the network of Central European cities that declined after the Thirty
Years War and the shift of trade from inland to the Atlantic its middle class
maintained its self-assurance and its control over local institutions The
Troeltsch family at the end of the XIXth century had lost much of its wealth but
still had benefit society Ernst father was physician who had
married daughter from Nürnberg Troeltsch later recalled the
scientific atmosphere of the paternal household with ironic affection It was full
he wrote of skeletons anatomical charts electric machines botanical books
122 ERNST UTOPIANISM
handbooks of crystals etc So it was that from the start learned to see all
historical-cultural problems in the context of scientific outlook and felt that the
relationship of both worlds was burning theoretical and practical problem.
At the time however this incipient conflict of values may have mattered less than
the fact that the father had flourishing practice was well-known and well-liked
in the town could afford to move to large house in 1867 and seems to have been
devoted family head toward Ernst and his three younger siblings There was
little reason to wander far from the example of family which harmoniously
blended tradition and openness to the modern world
Troeltsch praised his secondary school for its thorough training in the
classics and recent research has underlined how true he later remained to the
special traditions The Studienanstalt bei St Anna traced its heritage
back to the pedagogy of Hieronymus Wolf librarian and private secretary to
Hans Jakob Fugger from 1551 to 1557 had been student ofMelanchthon
great ally and assistant who had systematized the thought by
synthesizing it with the resources of classical humanism and who fixed the idea of
the German university until the late XVIIIth century Troeltsch proclaimed the
special tradition of Christian humanism at his graduation ceremony on
August 61883 when he was eighteen The study of antiquity becomes more than
just idle amusement with beautiful works of poetry or history through the study of
religion not just curiosity and entertainment but the search for truth for moral
truth. This was dig at the militant idealization of Greece and Rome that
went on at other schools Education at the Studienanstalt bei St Anna stood some
what apart from the German norm and closer to the Victorian British and
American ideal of the Christian gentleman
At home Troeltsch grew up in mildly religious atmosphere defined more by
standards of behavior than by dogma or demands for show of personal piety
The minister of the local parish Julius Hans who confirmed Troeltsch on April
1879 was highly educated theologian in the liberal tradition Friedrich Boeckh
religion teacher for five years at the Gymnasium and friend of the
family was religious rationalist This sweet-tempered religiosity was remar
kable in region soured by confessional conflict In the early XIXth century the
Bavarian monarchy had been so repressive toward its Lutheran subjects that it
had denied their internal independence or even their right to designate themselves
as Protestants in response Lutherans had developed fierce neo-orthodoxy
emphasizing personal piety and strict adherence to dogma This intolerant
religiosity only made negative impression on him to judge by the lofty disdain
with which he l