Abstract

The article conveys fresh details about activities of the well-known German philosopher F.W. J. Schelling as preseding chair of the local Bible society in Erlangen in 1824-27 and reprints the public address “On value and significance of Bible societies” that was given by him in that position. Newly discovered archival material makes it possible not only to identify the exact date and circumstances of the address but also to demonstrate its wider biographical, philosophical, theological and political significance, especially in relation to Schelling's attitude regarding the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism in Germany in the first part of the nineteenth century, as well as how Schelling's philosophy of revelation relates to the confessional debates of his day.