From reaction to Kant we turn to endorsement of his ideas. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is considered both the father of modern philosophy and the father of liberalism. Let's see how both births took place.

Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (1799) and The Christian Faith (editions from 1821 to 1831) made him a universal reputation among the theologians and intellectuals of his day. He was the first theologian to approach systematically the Christian faith from the standpoint of personal experience. If Kant is right, we cannot know God "in himself," but only our impressions of him. And so theology is the analysis of our "God-consciousness."

What is this consciousness? We experience God in our sinfulness, our finiteness, our dependence on him. And so religion is a "feeling of absolute dependence."

Scheiermacher brought Kant into the philosophical mainstream, thus founding "modern" philosophy. And he applied his thought to theology, with the result that there is no absolute or objective truth in Christian faith. For this he is credited with "liberalism" as well.

We're still fighting these two sons today.