Abstract

For this focused discussion I intend to explore the status of the image in the respective theological writings of Novalis and Lessing. Whereas Lessing’s theory of religious education tends to prioritize the “inside” of religious experience (spirit, concepts, beliefs,) by developing an evolutionary scheme of “Bildung” that dispenses with the need for sensible forms of mediation like images, Novalis, I argue, attempts to recuperate the significance of material mediation in his theory of (religious) education. To make this argument I compare several works that Lessing’s composed during the fragment controversy and bring them into relation with Novalis’ Heinrich von Ofterdingen as well as his Christenheit oder Europa.

Presenters

Matthew Stoltz
Assistant Professor, Program in Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Details

Presentation Type

Focused Discussion

Theme

2021 Special Focus—Modeling Traditions from the Margins: Non-Canonical Writings in Religious Systems

KEYWORDS

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, IMAGE, FORM, MATERIALISM, SPRIT, LETTER, ENLIGHTENMENT, ROMANTICISM

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