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Handout #221 |
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Jean-Adam Mohler (1796-1838 A.D.) |
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J. A. Mohler was not able to come to full flower in his short
career as not a theologian at Tubingen and then at Munich. In his theology
of the church, his life's work, he wanted to indicate the importance of
history and Spiritual experience.
Christianity cannot be reduced to expressions, formulae and locutions. It is spiritual life, a holy power. All the forms of teaching and all dogmas are without value unless they express this inner life which they presuppose to have been realized to some extent. One can even say that since such an expression is always limited, it does not exhaust life, which is expressible; it is always beyond reality. But life cannot be communicated (in the sense of being expressed) and cannot be fixed, since the communication, this expression, can only be achieved through words, concepts, conventions... The words are not a matter of indifference; on the contrary they are very important ...Since Christianity is considered as a new divine life given to men and not as a simple abstract, inanimate concept, it follows that like all life it is capable of development and growth ... The essential principle of the identity of the Christian conscience of the church at different periods of its history does not require a static state. J. A. Mohler, Die Einheit der Kirche(1815 A.D.). |
