At the same time Schleiermacher emphasizes that every dogmatic
treatment should proceed from the individual consciousness.^161 This
means that people experience a new relationship to God; the concrete
dimension of this experience is the consciousness of being a child of
God.^162 Schleiermacher states that the declaratory aspect in this event
is surpassed by the creative aspect.^163 The individual in this relation-
ship becomes a person because of the creative act of Christ; before
that act, he was only a‘part of the mass’.^164 In this manner, the act of
divine recognition is a performative statement that changes and
transforms the relationship between God and human beings, making
them persons. This view entails the mutuality taking place in human
consciousness; at the same time, Schleiermacher stresses that faith
cannot be understood as human work.^165
Remarkably, Schleiermacher only uses the word‘recognition’in
the overall statement on justification, the term not being repeated in
the explanation. While the word is not used, the performative nature
of the adoptive declaration shows clearly what kind of recognition is
at stake here: God adopts people, transforming their consciousness
into the new mode of being. While this event is similar to the old
views ofagnitio veritatis, Schleiermacher may be thefirst thinker
to interpret recognition as a divine salvific event that is expressed
by the language of rights, combining several old and new aspects of
recognition.
Historically, the doctrine of adoption appears in Calvin’sInstitutio
in the context of justification;^166 however, Calvin does not make the
connection with legal recognition. König mentionsiusfilialein pass-
ing as one expression of mystical communication between God and
Christians.^167 While adoption and effective justification are predom-
inantly Catholic doctrines, Bernard and Aquinas do not connect these
with their basic discussions regarding recognition. Aquinas, for
instance, describes adoption in legal and hereditary terms that have
a certain similarity to Schleiermacher’s discussion, but Aquinas does
not describe adoption as recognition.^168 In sum, the explicit idea of
God‘recognizing’individuals in the salvific event is not clearly stated
(^161) Der christliche Glaube, §109, 197. (^162) Der christliche Glaube, §109, 198.
(^163) Der christliche Glaube, §109, 199.
(^164) Der christliche Glaube, §109, 200–1.
(^165) Der christliche Glaube, §109, 199, 202.
(^166) Calvin,Inst.3, 14, 18–19. (^167) König,Theologia, §585.
(^168) Aquinas,SThIII q23.
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