Gottesfreundschaft

Markus Wriedt

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-170553-3

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Markus Wriedt

Gottesfreundschaft

Studien zu Johann Joachim Spalding und der Neologie

[Friendship with God. Studies on Johann Joachim Spalding and Neology.]

2026. 320 pages.

forthcoming in September 2026

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-170553-3

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978-3-16-170553-3

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Markus Wriedt analyzes texts from the theological Enlightenment of the 18th century (neology) and reconstructs their systematic transformation of the confessional teaching tradition. This leads to a revision of the concept of religion and the connection between emotional affect and rational knowledge.

Markus Wriedt offers a critical rereading of the works of J. J. Spalding and other neological theologians of the eighteenth century, such as G. Leß, J. P. Miller, J. S. Semler, J. A. Nösselt, C. F. Bahrdt, J. J. Griesbach, W. A. Teller, and J. G. Töllner. The author re-examines these unjustly forgotten writings, based on critical editions that are now available. Behind the linguistic aesthetics of the late 18th century, the precision and clarity of argumentation of neological theology comes to the fore. The author traces the intensive formation process of confessional theology in modernity and links it to systematic perspectives on current debates about secularization, individualization, and fragmentation. The concept of a »friendship with God« is central: as an everyday pattern of interpretation, it replaces traditional concepts such as grace or Christlikeness and describes the relationship with God in analogy to human friendship. Bliss appears as a rationally and emotionally verifiable criterion of religious truth. The author shows that neology does not represent a radical break with tradition, but rather a cautious transformation of Lutheran and pre-confessional traditions. Through close textual analysis, idiosyncrasies, discursive positions, further research questions arise and new perspectives for a continued (interdisciplinary) theological historiography emerge.

Table of contents:

Vorwort
Einleitung
Das Fortwirken der theologischen Tradition in der Neologie
Vernünftige Mystik? Zum Erbe der mystischen Theologie in Deutschland im Zeitalter der Aufklärung
„Es muß zu den Herzen geredet werden" - Die Verbindung von Affekt und Erkenntnis bei Johann Joachim Spalding
Konsens - Toleranz - Dissens. Zur Hermeneutik der interkonfessionellen Ökumene im Zeitalter der Aufklärung
Behutsame Umformung der evangelischen Tradition. Spaldings neologische Fassung des reformatorischen Bildungsbegriffs zwischen frommer Aufklärung und säkularer Modernisierung
Ordnung muss sein. Zur Bedeutung des ordo-Gedankens in der aufgeklärten Theologie des 18. Jahrhunderts
Feinbilder - differenzbetonende Beschreibungen von Gegnern und Andersdenkenden. Zur literarischen Diskurspraxis in neologischen Werken
Ein vorläufiges Schlusswort