Gottesfreundschaft

Markus Wriedt offers a critical rereading of the works of J. J. Spalding and other neological theologians of the eighteenth century, such as G. Leß, J. P. Miller, J. S. Semler, J. A. Nösselt, C. F. Bahrdt, J. J. Griesbach, W. A. Teller, and J. G. Töllner. The author re-examines these unjustly forgotten writings, based on critical editions that are now available. Behind the linguistic aesthetics of the late 18th century, the precision and clarity of argumentation of neological theology comes to the fore. The author traces the intensive formation process of confessional theology in modernity and links it to systematic perspectives on current debates about secularization, individualization, and fragmentation. The concept of a "friendship with God" is central: as an everyday pattern of interpretation, it replaces traditional concepts such as grace or Christlikeness and describes the relationship with God in analogy to human friendship. Bliss appears as a rationally and emotionally verifiable criterion of religious truth. The author shows that neology does not represent a radical break with tradition, but rather a cautious transformation of Lutheran and pre-confessional traditions. Through close textual analysis, idiosyncrasies, discursive positions, further research questions arise and new perspectives for a continued (interdisciplinary) theological historiography emerge.