This book offers the first English translation of Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On the Doctrine of Election" (1819), a historic and influential essay published just before the first edition of Schleiermacher's magisterial systematic theology: The Christian Faith. In this essay, Schleiermacher develops a view of election as consisting of a single divine decree of both election and rejection that embraces all humanity--a theological development that became basic later for Karl Barth's treatment of election (Church Dogmatics II/2). Schleiermacher also seeks to support the church union movement between Lutherans and the Reformed by examining the doctrine of election in light of the New Testament and historic confessional traditions. This edition is enhanced by the translators' incisive introduction and a foreword by noted Schleiermacher scholar Terrence N. Tice.

When wealthy Jewish industrialist David Friedlander proposed in 1799 that Berlin's Jews undergo a sham conversion to Christianity in return for full German citizenship, he touched off a political and theological debate that would continue to define the relation between Jewish and German identity for more than a century. In the series of provocative letters collected here, Friedlander, Protestant leader Wilhelm Abraham Teller, and young Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher debate Friedlander's radical proposal. In so doing, they grapple with many of the thorny problems -- such as citizenship, religious tolerance, and assimilation -- that continue to vex world political leaders today. Richard Crouter's Introduction provides the cultural, religious, and historical context for this compelling exchange; a postscript by Julie Klassen reveals the ways in which Germany's minorities continue to be marginalised more than two hundred years after Friedlander made his passionate appeal for political liberty and human rights.