Dichtung als verborgene Theologie im 18. Jahrhundert - Lavaters religioses Drama 'Abraham und Isaak' und Schillers Operette 'Semele'

The second half of the 18th century brought new currency to Martin Opitz's dictum that poetry is 'concealed theology' at its root. Johann Caspar Lavater's drama 'Abraham and Isaac' (1776) turns the biblical narrative into an exemplary illustration of his unshakeable conviction that man can affect God's decisions through faith and prayer. In Friedrich Schiller's 'Semele' (1779) the question of God's credible self-disclosure to humans proves to be a kind of concealed theology.


Karl Pestalozzi, Emeritus Universität Basel, Schweiz.