'Glaube und Erfahrung in der Geschichte': The intersection of faith, experience, and history in the theology of Georg Wobbermin, 1911--1931

This dissertation is the first study in English of the theology of the German liberal theologian Georg Wobbermin, and it is intended to serve as an introduction to Wobbermin's theology and its place within the German Protestant tradition. It is argued that the key to Wobbermin's theology is the systematic interrelation between the subjective and the objective: between the subjective experience of the believer and the objective reality of God, between the subjectivity of the individual Christian standing within history and the objective reality of the historic picture of Christ that transcends mere historicity, and between the fides qua creditur and the fides quae creditur , the subjective and objective elements of faith. This theme of interrelation is expressed most clearly in Wobbermin's religio-psychological circle, which is employed at the intersection of experience, history, and faith.;A second, implicit thesis is a challenge to the common appraisal of liberal theology as a dead end in the history of Protestant thought and as a theological movement that was suffocated by dialectical theology as early as 1919. Attention to several of Wobbermin's works of the 1920s and early 1930s calls this thesis into question and uncovers a vibrant constructive liberal theology coexisting with dialectical theology and in lively conversation with it. An analysis of Wobbermin's understanding of his place within the Protestant tradition and of his debates with Karl Barth on methodological issues serves to challenge this popular thesis and reveals a fork in the theological road rather than a dead end and a new beginning.;This thesis is explored in three parts. The first part is an analysis of a programmatic essay of Wobbermin's on the distinction between Geschichte and Historie, which serves as a prolegomenon to his later work. The second part is an examination of Wobbermin's religio-psychological circle as it is employed to clarify his understanding of the doctrines of faith, revelation, and Christ. The third part is an appraisal of Wobbermin's understanding of his place within the Protestant tradition, from Luther, Kant, and Schleiermacher to Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann.