“If it ever really comes to pass that our students read the New Testament just like they read Homer, and our exegetes explain it like they do Homer with determined elimination of every God-directed idea, then the theological faculties have reached the end of the line.” -Adolf Schlatter
“Now if we determine to explain religion based on solely this-worldly factors, then from the outset our observation consistently stands in radical contradiction to our object, which emphatically does not lend itself to such explanation, but loudly and steadfastly insists upon the concept of God.” - Adolf Schlatter
“The question whether the coming decades will bring defeat or progress for theology in
Germany depends to a considerable degree on the skill with which we master the methods of scientific labor.” - Adolf Schlatter
"When one considers that the purpose of dogmatic work is to gain knowledge, whereas the purpose of the New Testament word is beyond this to call men through God to God, and when one recognizes that dogmatic work has been and must be influenced by later situations and knowledge, it becomes advisable not to take the questions that guide the investigation from the dogmatic tradition, but to get them from the New Testament material itself." - Adolf Schlatter
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Adolf Schlatter (1852 - 1938)
Swiss NT scholar. Born in St. Gall, he studied theology at Basle and Tübingen. His later essay on J.T. Beck* suggests a primary influence on his thought. After a pastorate in Switzerland he taught at Bern (1880- 88) before becoming NT professor successively at Griefswald (1888), Berlin (1893), and Tübingen (1898) where he remained until retirement in 1922. He was allied with no school, ecumenical in outlook, and concerned to mediate between liberals and Pietists.With A.H. Cremer* he edited from 1897 the Beiträge zur Förderung Christlicher Theologie, to which he frequently contributed and on whose origins and importance for his own theological work he bore witness. His theological writing from Der Glaube im Neuen Testament (1885) to his mature Theology of the NT in two volumes-Die Geschichte des Christus (1921) and Die Theologie der Apostel (1922)-puts the emphasis on the importance of Jesus, finding anchorage in the facts of faith rather than in speculative thought. Schlatter stressed that both theology and history must not forget God, and he wrote histories both of Israel from Alexander to Hadrian (1901) and of the early church (1926; ET 1955). His specific studies on NT books displayed similar independence; he was one of the few to break with the trend of his times to continue support for the priority of Matthew.