Schleiermacher's Narrative of Bildung: Polarity and Family in Christmas Eve Public

Abstract

Abstract
Schleiermacher's Narrative of Bildung : Polarity and Family in Christmas Eve
By Liberty A. Hall
The following study interprets Schleiermacher's Christmas Eve: A Dialogue as a
narrative of Bildung (formation, or education). Christmas Eve reflects both literary and
ethical dimensions of Schleiermacher's thinking on Bildung. The literary backdrop for
Christmas Eve forms during Schleiermacher's participation in the Jena-Romantic circle
in Berlin (particularly between 1798 and 1800). In the Jena-Romantic milieu, Bildung
evolves in connection with the reception of Goethe's novel, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre
( Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship) as well as Friedrich Schlegel's elaboration of a theory
of poesy. At the core of Schleiermacher's work on Bildung lies the notion of "polarity,"
which he defines broadly as the dyadic activity that propels life, from the basic physical
functioning of the universe to humans' means of relating to one another. The
conceptions of Bildung espoused by Goethe and Schlegel also draw upon the notion of
polarity, and although the three men understand polarity differently, their common
reference to polarity provides the point of comparison that illumines the link between
Schleiermacher's theory of Bildung and his narrative, Christmas Eve. Schleiermacher
expands his polar conception of Bildung in his lectures on ethics (1805/1806), where he
focuses on the role of social institutions in Bildung and situates the family as the arena for
the intersection of the social "goods" that promote Bildung, the highest good.

Schleiermacher's polar theory of Bildung clarifies the major themes of Christmas
Eve, showing their underlying connection to one another. Moving beyond
Schleiermacher scholarship, Christmas Eve also offers a critical vantage from which to
assess the historical development of Bildung later in the nineteenth century. In the socio-
political realm, Christmas Eve's narrative of familial Bildung implicitly critiques the
isolation and redefinition of Bildung within the academy and the state. In the literary
realm, Christmas Eve's introduction of multiple protagonists poses a challenge to the
definition of Bildung narratives as works that follow the formation of a single person.

Table of Contents

I. Schleiermacher's Christmas Eve in the Context of Eighteenth-Century
Bildung Theories 1
Statement of Thesis 1
A. What is Bildung?: The Concept of Bildung in the Late-Eighteenth Century 1
1. Bildung and Erziehung 3
2. Moses Mendelssohn's Definition of Bildung: Recognition of
Variation 5
B. Placing the study: Scholarship on Schleiermacher's Christmas Eve and his Understanding of Bildung and Polarity 8
1. Scholarly Reception of Christmas Eve 9
2. Literature on Schleiermacher and Bildung 17
3. Schleiermacher's Polar Approach to Bildung 28
Chapter Summary and Outline of Chapters 36
II. Bildung in the Jena-Romantic Milieu: Goethe, Schlegel, and Schleiermacher on the Connection of Polarity and Bildung 39
Introduction 39
A. A Literary Blueprint for Polar Bildung: Goethe's Wilhelm Meister and Its
Reception in the Jena Circle 40
1. Goethe's Polar Approach to Bildung in Meister 42
a. Bildung and Polarity in Goethe's Thinking 43
b. Discussions of Bildung in Meister: the Abbé as Guide 46
c. Nature and Culture: Polarity and the Bildung of (a) Genius
in Meister 48
2. Schleiermacher, Schlegel and Meister 58
a. Schleiermacher and Schlegel: the Period of Sym/philosophy 59
b. The Jena-Romantic Reception of Meister 63
3. The Weimar Context and the Jena Circle's Approach to Bildung 69
a. Bildung and the Social Goals of Literature 70
b. Emerging Differences: Weimar ‘Classicism' and Jena
‘Romanticism' 77
Section Summary and Conclusions 83
B. Poesy and Polarity: Schleiermacher and the Jena-Romantic Approach to
Bildung. 84
1. Bildung: The Shared Goal of the Athenaeum 84
2. Poesy: The Means to the Goal of Bildung 87
a. What is Poesie? 88
b. Beyond Goethe: ‘Transcendental Poesy' 92
c. Poesy as a Literary Form 98
d. Poesy as an Activity: Polarity and the Poetic Life 104
3. Polarity in Schleiermacher's Athenaeum-Era Discussions of Bildung 110
a. Schleiermacher, Poesy, and Polarity in the Athenaeum 110
b. Polarity and Bildung in the Speeches 114
c. Polarity and Bildung in the Soliloquies 122
Chapter Summary and Conclusions 126
III. An Ethical Narrative of Bildung: Schleiermacher's Lectures on Ethics as Context for Christmas Eve 129
Introduction 129
1. Historical context: A Fiancée, a Flautist, and the French 130
2. The Brouillon and Christmas Eve 135
a. Bildung and the Brouillon 136
b. An Ethical Definition of Poesy 141
c. Polarity and Family in the Brouillon 145
d. Lectures One to Twenty-Eight: Those Given Prior to 151
Christmas Eve
e. Lectures Twenty-Nine to Forty-Two: Those Given while
Writing Christmas Eve 157
Chapter Summary and Conclusions 162
IV. Schleiermacher's Polar Approach to Bildung in Christmas Eve 165
Introduction 165
A. The Vocabulary of Bildung in Christmas Eve: Religion, Art, and the
Church 166
1. Narrative Versus Scientific Approaches to Bildung in Christmas Eve 167
2. Sofie's Bildung 169
3. Bildung and the Relationship of Art (Reason) and Religion (Feeling) 172
4. Bildung and Church 176
Section Summary and Conclusions 179
B. Polarity in Christmas Eve 180
1. The Familial Model: Mary and Jesus 183
2. Particularity and Universality: The Earthly and Divine Polarity 188
3. Feeling and Reason: The Polarity of Childlikeness and Adulthood 197
a. The Discussion of Sofie's Piety 200
b. Discussion of Childlikeness in Adults 204
c. Childlikeness and Gender 206
4. Joy and Sorrow: Emotional Polarity and Its Relationship to Feeling 208
a. Emotions and Feeling (Gefühl) 208
b. Contextual Basis for Joy and Sorrow 209
c. Love as the Guiding Principle of Joy and Sorrow 210
d. Discussion of Joy and Sorrow in Christmas Eve 212
e. Joy and Sorrow and the Romantic Emphasis on Sexualized
Love 220
5. Gender Polarity and Complementary Knowledge: ‘Each Becomes
a Teacher for the Other' 222
a. Schleiermacher on Gender before Christmas Eve 226
b. Discussions of Gender in Christmas Eve 229
c. Gender Complementary Demonstrated: Women's Narratives
and Men's Speeches 232
d. The Model of Mary and Jesus in Feminist Interpretations of
Christmas Eve 239
e. Schleiermacher and Gender Essentialism 242
Chapter Summary and Conclusions 245
V. Christmas Eve: A Perspective for Understanding Nineteenth-Century Bildung 247
Introduction 247
A. Elaborating the Brouillon: Bildung after Christmas Eve 247
B. Socio-Political Implications: Nineteenth-Century Bildung and Christmas Eve 251
1. Bildung in the Nineteenth Century: Bildung and Wissenschaft 251
2. The Academy and Christmas Eve 254
3. The State and Christmas Eve 258
C. Literary Implications: Christmas Eve and Bildung Narratives 264
Conclusion 266
Appendix A: Christmas Eve Synopsis 268
Selected Bibliography 274

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Religion
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, History of Literature, Modern
Mot-clé	Schleiermacher Bildung
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Strom, Jonathan, Emory University
Committee Members	Reynolds, Philip L, Emory University

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