extensively. For Ritschl, Schleiermacher approximates Catholicism
when he interprets salvation in terms of effective renewal. Ritschl
further considers that Schleiermacher tends to make justification
dependent on human conversion in a problematic way.^190 On the
other hand, Ritschl wants to establish a continuity with the tradition
represented by Schleiermacher. So-called cultural Protestantism, a
leading German theological current of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century, adopts the post-Kantian manner of studying reli-
gion in terms of human consciousness and moral capabilities. We will
take a brief look at the two leading representatives of this current,
Ritschl and Wilhelm Herrmann.
Ritschl’s distinction between‘synthetic’and‘analytic’judgement is
crucial for his theological understanding of justification. An analytic
judgement manifests something that has already taken place, whereas
a synthetic judgement adds new realities and can be understood
as a performative pronouncement. For Ritschl, Pietism and Roman
Catholicism tend to understand God’s judgement in justification
as analytic, that is, a statement that reports of the inherent value
of human faith or the effective renewal that has taken place.^191 The
correct Protestant understanding, however, proceeds from regarding
this judgement as synthetic, that is, a statement that adds new reality
and is understood in performative terms. The pronouncement of a
judge in court, for instance, is synthetic in this sense, as it contains
a judgement that adds new status to the issue at hand.^192
Like Schleiermacher, Ritschl considers that the divine acts of jus-
tification and adoption are very closely related to each other. In
adoption, God starts to appear as father and no longer merely as
judge.^193 However, neither justification nor adoption are analytical
considerations of already existing issues. Adoption needs to be under-
stood, in keeping with forensic justification, as a synthetic judgement
in which God’s will alters the status of the person concerned.^194
In ordinary human families, the status of childhood is not merely
a natural fact but a pronouncement that emerges through the
judgement of the married couple and the intention of the father.
(^190) Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung, 1, 531–8.
(^191) Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung, 1, 104.
(^192) Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung,3,77–8.
(^193) Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung,3,92–3.
(^194) Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung, 3, 93.
The Modern Era 153