Abstract:
Quenching my thirst for God: On Johann Wilhelm Herrmann's
understanding of the experience of God (part II):
This article, which is divided into two parts, focusses on the concept of the
"experience of God" as understood by the German systematic theologian
Wilhelm Herrmann (1846 - 1922) of Marburg in his "Der Verkehr des
Christen mit Gott" (1886). The first part of the article which was published
in the previous edition, explained the historical and theological context of
Hernnann's "Der Verkehr ... " as well as the theological frontiers overagainst
which he responded in his understanding of the experience of God,
characterized as a "search-jind-experience". This second part elaborates
on this "search-find-experience" by humans of God as understood by
Herrmann, and indicates the influence it had on Herrmann's two greatest
pupils, namely Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. It is argued that
Herrmann's understanding of the experience of God makes up the kernel of
their theological vantage points, and in this respect, is critically evaluated.
