a mostly german debate on conversion and salvation enemy of Steinbart was thus publications describing the executed as saved and going to heaven.663 Fundamental for the views of Steinbart was his understanding that the conversion could not be quick and late in life, anything occurring in such a situation lacks depth and it is soon forgotten for old and new sins. Christianity, for Steinbart, seems to have been not about salvation, but about following Jesus in a holy life.664 In this his neological, enlightened theology, was clearly displayed that the foundation for the Christian belief in salvation and heaven was the most problematic for the Enlightenment.665 When Jesus promises paradise to the criminal, St Dismas, crucified alongside Him at Golgotha (Lk 23:39-43), for Steinbart it was something only Jesus could do: a miracle. A priest displays his arrogance and goes beyond his mandate if he gives any assurances of forgiveness of sins or of salvation. The most he could give is a weak hope of the mercy ofGod.666 The theological focus of most of the latter debate was the understanding of conversion and thereby of salvation.667 The view of Erickson that “Steinbart’s critique is especially compelling, because it is directed not so much against the theological concept of conversion but rather at its public staging”, is therefore something I do not share. Instead, I fully agree with him in the importance of the position of Steinbart in both redefining ”the definition of conversion” and ”the necessary conditions for conversion”.668 663 Erickson 2016 p 243 sq (quotation p 244). 664 Steinbart 1769 e g p 7, 18 sq, 25. Interesting is that in the British debate in the middle of the twentieth century the proponents of arguments were somewhat reversed. Advocates of the capital punishment could put forward the idea that an impending execution often could provoke a conversion, while opponents argued that a true conversion requires longer time. McLeod 2004 p 337. 665 ”Die anstößigen Sätze des christlichen Glaubens sind für die Aufklärung die gleiche wie für die antiken Gegner des Christentums und für die theologische Diskussion der Gegenwart: die Erbsünde, die Inkarnation und die Auferstehung.” Köhler 1985 p 400. 666 Steinbart 1769 p 24 sq. ”Nur der, welcher mit augenblicklichem Erfolg sagen kann: stehe auf, Gichtbrüchiger, hebe dein Bette auf und gehe heim, kann ohne Gotteslästerung entscheiden sagen: Sohn, dir sind deine Sünden vergeben, oder, heute wirst du mit mir im Paradiese seyn.” 667 See e g Steinbart 1770 and Renthe 1771 and Malblank 1783 p 237: ”Die Verordnung vom 3. Jil. 1769, wegen abgestellter Begleitung der Missethäter durch Geistliche, hat, wie leicht zu erachten, eine grosse gelehrte Controvers veranlaßt, die doch nicht im reinen ist.” 668 Erickson 2016 p 245, 248 (quotation p 245). 191
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