GROWTH AND DIFFUSION OF CRITICAL SPIRIT. 175 



consumed ; it is more like the mind of a poet or an 

 artist which manifests itself to the world in its creations, 

 but does not exhaust itself in them. The latter, as the 

 more likely view, was adopted by those who considered 

 themselves the true disciples and followers of Hegel, and 

 it was also the formula which proved to be so fruitful 

 and inspiring in the hands of many of the greatest 

 representatives of historical research. This view has 

 been elaborated in many forms in German philosophical 

 and theological literature up to the present day, though, 

 it must be admitted, with decreasing vitality. 1 At the 



1 The literature of this school of 

 thought is very large, but not 

 having apparently exercised any 

 influence outside of Germany it 

 does not really belong to a History 

 of European Thought. Several 

 works have been written in which 

 these speculations are fully dis- 

 cussed. To them I must refer 

 readers who are desirous of learning 

 more about the now almost for- 

 gotten school of ' ' speculative the- 

 ology." Foremost stands the very 

 spirited book of Carl Schwarz al- 

 ready referred to. It is extremely 

 well written, but it comes from a 

 period when the real, though small, 

 value of speculative theology was 

 not quite clearly recognised. The 

 author still stands with one foot in 

 speculative philosophy and expects 

 from it a regeneration of theological 

 science : see notably his account of 

 the philosophies of the younger 

 Fichte and of Weisse, who are about 

 the only contemporary religious 

 philosophers who escape his trench- 

 ant and well - directed criticisms. 

 Still more immersed in the specula- 

 tive aspect is J. A. Dorner in his 

 ' History of Protestant Theology/ 

 the only book, I believe, belonging 

 to this class which has been trans- 

 lated into English. For an English 



reader it will probably suffice to 

 read such passages as that intro- 

 ductory to the chapter on Schelling, 

 Hegel, and Schleiermacher (vol. ii. 

 p. 357 sqq.), to feel convinced how 

 little religious interest, in any other 

 than the German mind, could feel 

 itself attracted by such a line of 

 thought. Dorner is himself like- 

 wise still immersed in speculative 

 theology. From quite a different 

 point of view is written the post- 

 humous publication by H. R. von 

 Frank ('Geschichte und Kritik der 

 Neueren Theologie,' 1st ed. by 

 Schaarschmidt, 1894, 4th ed. revised 

 and continued by Griitzmacher, 

 1908). The author belongs to the 

 positive or orthodox school of 

 theology, and has accordingly less 

 sympathy with the avowed, or 

 implied, tendency of the opposite 

 school to base theology on or 

 support it by philosophy. His 

 criticisms are, however, in general 

 much more cautious than those of 

 Schwarz. The book has the further 

 advantage of being written at a 

 time when the belief in constructive 

 systems of philosophy had almost 

 entirely disappeared, and when the 

 opposite school, under the influence 

 of A. Ritschl, had likewise broken 

 away from philosophical traditions. 



