Schleiermacher's Christmas Dialogue as Platonic Dialogue

In two hundred years of interpretation of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher's The Christmas Celebration: A Dialogue, an enduring puzzle and point of contention have been about its form, including whether it is (or was intended to be) a Platonic dialogue. Most interpreters acknowledge a general inf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of religion 2012-07, Vol.92 (3), p.392-420
Main Author: Lamm, Julia A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th-20th century
Christianity
History and sciences of religions
Influence
Interpreters
Literary studies. Texts. Editions
Modern period
Narratives
Post-Reformation churches
Principles
Schleiermacher, Friedrich
Spirituality
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Summary:In two hundred years of interpretation of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher's The Christmas Celebration: A Dialogue, an enduring puzzle and point of contention have been about its form, including whether it is (or was intended to be) a Platonic dialogue. Most interpreters acknowledge a general influence of Plato--a rather obvious point, since Schleiermacher, when he wrote the Christmas Dialogue in Dec 1805, was also working on his monumental project of translating, ordering, and interpreting the entire Platonic corpus. Nevertheless, proving that his Christmas Dialogue is indeed Platonic has been a much more elusive task. Several interpreters have noted parallels in form (and to some extent, content) between Plato's Symposium and Schleiermacher's Christmas Dialogue, and some have attempted comparison with the Phaedo and Phaedrus. Here, Lamm talks about Schleiermacher's own very specific principles in interpreting Plato, as he laid those out in his groundbreaking introductions to Plato's dialogues, and to apply those principles to his Christmas Dialogue.
ISSN:0022-4189
1549-6538
DOI:10.1086/665039