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Troeltsch, Ernst
Contents
Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923) (Julian Gotobed, 2004)
Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923)
Julian Gotobed, 2004
Introduction
Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), a German Protestant theologian and philosopher of religion, published The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches in 1912. The Social Teaching is an account and analysis of Western Christianity from the first century to the eighteenth century. The book made its debut amidst the optimism that characterized culture and Christianity in Western Europe in the opening years of the twentieth century. Troeltsch did not share the optimism of many of his contemporaries. In his opinion a cultural confusion and crisis threatened the fabric of Western civilization. The intellectual foundations upon which Western Christianity was built were in the process of crumbling. Troeltsch was also preoccupied with an intellectual and personal struggle over the nature of history. Historical study, he concluded, can no longer be used to ‘prove’ the truth of the Christian faith. Historians can speak of probabilities but not absolute proof in matters of faith.
Rationale for The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches
Troeltsch believed the Church in his generation was confronted with a profound “social problem” (28). He defined the “social problem” as a tension between the State (political power) and Society (social entities and networks distinct from the State but influenced by it). The Church was an example of such “sociological phenomena” (28). Troeltsch set out to answer one central question, “How can the Church harmonize with these main forces in such a way that together they will form a unity of civilization?” (32).
Methodology
The Social Teaching was a groundbreaking study, because it was a major advance in the application of sociological modes of thought to the history of the Church and the development of the Christian social ethics. Troeltsch’s view of Society determines his methodological approach. Society is vast and complex. He concedes that nobody can survey every element in Society. No comprehensive description is possible. The historian must be selective and focus on a sector within Society. Troeltsch concentrates his interest on the Western Church and its relationship to the State and Social Order. He adopts an historical methodology to answer his central question. Troeltsch seeks to understand the basis of the social teachings of the Churches in a succession of time periods: the Early Church, the Middle Ages, the Reformation, and the Post-Reformation era. He examines the inherited tradition of the Church to find a solution for the Church in his generation. Troeltsch sketches out a method in four movements. First, Troeltsch describes the contemporary problem that the Church must engage with. Second, he explores the tradition of the Church for clues to interpreting the present situation. Third, he aims at a theological synthesis. Fourth, he wants to propose strategies to guide the Church in the present moment and into the future. Troeltsch partially realized his proposed method in the Social Teachings. The Social Teaching examines the contemporary situation in cursory terms. Most space is devoted to the history of the Church. Troeltsch struggles to produce the synthesis he aspires to and fails to make any concrete strategic recommendations.
The Social Context of the Church
Troeltsch pays attention to the social context of the Church. The Social Teaching reflects the web of social forces that influence and interact with Christian communities. Troeltsch identifies two key factors that shape Society and impact the Church. First, the advent of the “modern constitutional state” (28) accentuates the division and fragmentation between social groups in society; social groups have become increasingly alienated from the State. Second, the nature of modern society is defined in economic terms; social relationships are the product of economic activity (30). Christian and Secular “sociological phenomena” (groups or movements) are distinct and originate from different starting points, but nevertheless interact with one another. Secular forces did not create the Church, but they do influence it.
The Principles that Guide the Survey
Troeltsch sets out to identify the essential character, structure, and organization of the Church. He also assumes that his study will identify “a universal fundamental theory of human relationships in general” (34). The problem is then to determine how far such a theory can penetrate and influence the State and Society. Troeltsch wants to construct an integrated relationship between Church and Social Order. The model of the Church in harmony with the Social Order functions as the normative criterion by which Troeltsch evaluates the Church’s social ethics in specific historical and cultural contexts. Consequently, this premise predisposes Troeltsch to favor those chapters in Church history, such as the Middle-Ages and Calvin’s Geneva, that exemplify close integration between the Church and the Social Order. Troeltsch is interested in explicating the relationship between the Church, the State, the Economic Order, and the Family. How has the Church influenced such groups in the Social Order and how far have they influenced the Church? To what extent do Church and Social Order share the same worldview? Troeltsch’s perceives that close harmony is rare. His generation experiences friction between Church and Social Order.
The Early Church
Troeltsch begins his survey of Western Christianity by examining the origins and nature of the Early Church. A constant refrain in the Social Teaching, especially in the opening sections of the work, is that religious movements are not the product of social forces, but are influenced by them. Religious thought is autonomous and possesses its own capacity for development:
It is, therefore, clear that the rise of Christianity is a religious and not a social phenomenon. For although religion is interwoven with life as a whole, in development and dialectic it has an independent existence. (43)
Religion has a self-generative dimension that cannot be attributed to the cause and effect of social forces. The influence of social forces upon religion is indirect. For example, social upheaval in the ancient world prepared the way for a religious crisis that caused people to reflect upon ”religious redemption” (46). Greek philosophical thought moved in the direction of monotheism and undermined the inherited worldview of many within the Roman Empire and primed the ancient world for a moral and spiritual renewal. The convergence of social forces in the ancient world created the conditions necessary for Christianity to emerge. The seed of Christianity was planted in a soil ready to receive and cultivate it. Troeltsch does not directly consider, given the self-generative quality of religion, whether a social context must always be an amenable environment for a new factor to survive and flourish.
Three Types: Church, Sect, and Mysticism
Troeltsch proposes three types or categories of Christian community in the history of Christianity. Each type exemplifies a stream of thought within the Christian Faith. The Church-Type is an institution endowed with grace and salvation as a consequence of the work of redemption. The Church-Type is able to incorporate the masses into its corporate life and can adapt itself to the world. The Church-Type ignores the need for a subjective standard of holiness for the sake of objective qualities of grace and redemption. The Sect-Type is a voluntary society made up of intentional believers committed to strict holiness and united by a common experience of grace. Believers live apart from the world. The Sect-Type is limited to small groups and emphasizes Law rather than Grace. The Sect-Type exists as a society based on love within a society. They live their lives and act in anticipation of the Kingdom of God. The Mystical-Type transposes doctrinal formulations and formal liturgy into a purely personal and inward experience.
Troeltsch’s approach to the classification of Christian communities was polemical. He suggested that the Church-Type was the only valid type. The Sect-Type and the Mystical-Type are, in effect, foils to his preferred Church-Type (Wright, 20). Troeltsch favored the Church-Type as the most appropriate, because he believed that Christian ethics by necessity always entails compromise with the Social Order to be effective among the greatest number of people:
One of the most serious and important truths which emerge as a result of this inquiry is this: every idea is still faced by brutal facts, and all upward movement is checked and hindered by interior and exterior difficulties. Nowhere does there exist an absolute Christian ethic, which only awaits discovery; all that we can do is to learn to control the world-situation in its successive phases just as the earlier Christian ethic did in its own way. There is also no absolute transformation of material human nature; all that does exist is a constant wrestling with the problems which they raise. Thus the Christian ethic will also only be an adjustment to the world-situation, and it will only desire to achieve that which is practically possible. (Troeltsch, 1013)
The value of the Church-Type was inflated and the word ‘church’ assumed “normative significance” (Wright, 20) even though he acknowledged that the Sect-Type was the initial sociological type of Christianity.
The Nature of Jesus’ Message and the Core of Early Christianity
The Gospel Ethic is primarily about personal relationship with God and secondarily concerned with the Social Order. Jesus did not lead a social movement in the modern sense. Christianity is marked by absolute individualism. Human beings are called into fellowship with God. Individuals in relationship with God are united by a common set of values that cause natural differences to disappear. Christianity was in its earliest form a relationship with God from which a set of values flowed. Troeltsch views every period of Church history through a particular lens. The Social Teaching as a project is shaped by Troeltsch’s search for a social theory that transcends historical contingencies. Consequently, the accent throughout the Social Teachings is upon Christianity as an ethic or ideal. Troeltsch’s understanding of the history of Christianity is marked by a philosophical idealism that exists in an unresolved tension with the particular expressions of the Church in the time and space.
Sociological Analysis and the Complex Development of the Church as a Human Community
The social profile of the Early Church shifted form lower classes to higher classes. Troeltsch detects a two-stage development in religious movements including Christianity on the basis of a sociological comparison of religions. In the first stage adherents of a new religious movement are usually drawn from the lower classes. They are poorly educated and less cultured, but provide the raw material for the spread of a religious movement and creating communities and structures. The first Christians were drawn largely from the lower classes in Society and were too far down the social ladder to influence the political classes or instigate major social or political change. In the second stage, a religious movement like Christianity engages with the intellectual currents of cultures and more sophisticated adherents begin to think through the nature of the Faith and articulate it in a credible way. The social profile of the Church influences its character and agenda. Troeltsch points to the remarkable social inclusivity of the Early Church that cut across social (Free and Slave), ethnic (Jew and Gentile), and gender (male and female) lines. The first Christian missionaries engaged with sophisticated Gentile idolatry and philosophy. The Early Church was compelled to begin to work out the implications of affirming Jesus as Savior and Lord.
The Early Church moved from an absolute to an accommodating ethic. The message of Jesus was purely religious. Jesus summoned his followers to an absolute ethic of love to prepare them for the coming Kingdom of God. There is a world denying quality to the teaching of Jesus. The call to surrender self and love others by the sharing of possessions was not a campaign for social equality. The common life of the Early Church was a by-product of the absolute ethic of love. The Early Church continued with Jesus’ absolute ethic and required moral conduct that contrasted with the prevailing norms in secular society. Troeltsch traces the switch from an absolute ethic to an accommodating ethic to the Early Church’s appropriation of Stoic Natural Law. The path was cleared for the Church to value existing social institutions and reconcile itself to the social life of the ancient world.
Troeltsch depicts the Early Church changing from a dynamic community to a stable institution. The emergence of a priesthood set apart to exercise leadership and administer sacraments was an attempt to embody and visibly demonstrate the salvific power at work within the Church. An increasingly institutional form of the Church diminished the place of a universal priesthood of all believers and the idea of religious equality. Patriarchal attitudes and hierarchy defined the structures of the Church. An institutional dimension is necessary for the Church to relate to other social institutions within the Social Order. If the Church is to forge a harmony, an integrated partnership with other social bodies, then an institutional aspect is vital.
The Middle-Ages was one of the few approximations in Western Christianity to the harmony between Church and Social Order that was so desirable in Troeltsch’s opinion. He contrasts the Early Church with the Medieval Church:
To the Early Church, social reform was too difficult, to the Mediaeval Church it seemed superfluous. The Mediaeval Church idealized the actual situation and declared herself in favour of the true ideal, which was required both by reason and revelation. (303-04)
The social position of the Church affects its attitude towards social reform. The Early Church was separated by a vast social gulf from the political classes in the ancient world. Hence, the Early Church could not conceive that it bore any responsibility for the Social Order. The Mediaeval Church occupied a different status. Troeltsch admired the Mediaeval Church and the achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Troeltsch was attracted to the integration that he perceived existed in the Mediaeval period between Church and Social Order. Troeltsch admired the stability within the Mediaeval Synthesis, even though, in practice, it was short-lived. He did not provide a rationale for why a unity between Church and Social Order is the best possible solution for the social fragmentation in his own generation. Troeltsch appreciated the all-embracing theory of social relationships in the Mediaeval Synthesis albeit a hierarchical and feudal definition of the relationships within society. This era coincided with the pinnacle of Papal power in Western Europe and a widespread desire among Church and Secular leaders for an underlying unity between Church and Secular leaders. Troeltsch does not establish independent criteria by which to evaluate the value of a unity of Church and Social Order.
Social Conservatism and Natural Law
The Mediaeval Church saw no need to reshape the Social Order in the light of radical Christian beliefs. A stable Society was the primary goal. The relative values of Mediaeval Society were elevated to an absolute status as supernatural values endorsed by the Church. Toeltsch considered the role of Natural Law in Catholic theology. In Catholic social thought Natural Law exists before the State. Therefore, Natural Law assumes priority over Human Law formulated and enacted by the State. The Catholic approach recognizes the existence of varying contexts and takes them into account when applying Natural Law. All that is necessary for ordering human life already exists. The State must organize its life according to these existent principles. Human Laws enacted by the State acquire binding force only from this perspective. The Mediaeval Concept of Natural Law is conservative, organic, and patriarchal in nature and produces a form of social conservatism that reinforced Mediaeval Society.
The Scope of Troeltsch’s Inquiry
The Social Teaching aimed to comprehend the history of Western Christianity with a practical theological objective. Troeltsch’s grand project was unprecedented. He was the first Christina scholar to apply sociological methods to evaluate the church. Troeltsch took the concrete shape of the church in particular contexts seriously in a way not attempted before. The Social Teaching does not begin with the church as a theological ideal. Troeltsch started with the church as he found it embodied particular times and places.
Troeltsch’s bold project also had its limitations. First, the Social Teaching stops in the eighteenth century. Many important social developments in which Christians were involved such as the movement to abolish slavery, the organization of Trade Unions, and protection of children, are effectively ignored. By stopping at the end of the eighteenth century the impression is given that Methodism was a socially conservative movement. Yet, in the nineteenth century Methodism was closely associated with the emergence of Trade Unionism in England. Second, Troeltsch focuses on Western Christianity as he finds it on the Continent of Europe. He examines some aspects of Christian development in England, but neglects Christianity in North America. Third, Troeltsch ignores the emergence of the modern missionary movement at the end of the eighteenth century. The modern missionary movement raises issues in connection with the self-understanding of the church, its relationship to the expansion of trade and colonialism, and the problems posed for inherited Western social ethics by encountering different cultures.
Conclusion
Troeltsch did not find an underlying social theory to integrate Church and Society in a cooperative harmony in his own generation. He concluded that the Church is constantly being influenced by social context and approximating itself to what will work. There is no absolute Christian ethic or idea that transcends historical contingencies.
Bibliography
Ernst Troeltsch. The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2 Volumes (Louisivlle, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992 –original 1912/First English Translation in 1931).
Nigel Goring Wright. Disavowing Constantine: Mission, Church and Social Order in the Theologies of John Howard Yoder and Jurgen Moltmann (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2000).
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