before Schleiermacher, although different mutualities and, obviously,
the view of a God who justifies people and adopts them as children
are current in the long tradition.
In the articles on sanctification and good works, Schleiermacher
defines the boundaries of autonomy and heteronomy.^169 The justified
Christians live like foreign people within a nation; their habits deviate
from the worldly people because their conduct is determined through
their relationship to Christ.^170 The participation in the renewal in
Christ is a permanent element with regard to which an equality
(Gleichheit) prevails for all Christians. At the same time, different
Christians behave differently and also have different goals in the
present life.^171 While salvation occurs without human works, the
renewed Christians become God’s co-workers in the sense that their
renewed wills contribute to their works.^172
In these passages, Schleiermacher teaches a fairly strong heteron-
omy that deviates from the Enlightenment ideas of Locke and
Spalding. He nevertheless also leaves some room for individual
differences and even autonomy: while all are equal with respect to
their being children of God, the individual callings of Christians vary.
This dialectics resembles to some extent the Hegelian views of equal
respect that does not rule out individual differences. The basic idea of
equality that results from being adopted is a significant modern
dimension in Schleiermacher’s theology of adoption.
Another dogmatic angle which highlights the idea of heteronomy
concerns Schleiermacher’s explanation of the Holy Spirit as a‘com-
mon spirit’(Gemeingeist). In their new life, Christians receive the
Spirit that gives them a collective consciousness.^173 In order that the
adoptive children can also live together when their lord is absent, a
collective spirit is necessary. The collective life of Christians is ani-
mated through this common spirit.^174 In part, the individual is
regarded in purely collective terms; in part, he is regarded as an
individual person who is always‘more’than the collective.^175
One could perhaps interpret these passages as saying that Schleier-
macher pays attention to both the‘respect’and the‘esteem’that an
(^169) Der christliche Glaube, §110, §112, 202–28.
(^170) Der christliche Glaube, §110, 205–6.
(^171) Der christliche Glaube, §110, 209. (^172) Der christliche Glaube, §112, 223.
(^173) Der christliche Glaube, §121, 278, 283.
(^174) Der christliche Glaube, §122–3, 285–8.
(^175) Der christliche Glaube, §124, 292–3.
148 Recognition and Religion