Theology and Economics. Reflections on F.W.J. Schelling’s Construction of Religious History in his Berlin Lecture on the Philosophy of Revelation from 1841/42

The article discusses Schelling’s distinction between theology and economy in his Berlin lectures on the philosophy of revelation. This distinction, which has received little attention in previous research, serves as the basis for his construction of the history of religion, as the article will demonstrate. Taking as its starting point the juxtaposition of negative and positive philosophy introduced in Schelling’s first Berlin lecture of 1841/42, the third section reconstructs his conception of the idea of God. Building on this analysis, the concluding section discusses Schelling’s interpretation of the history of religion through the key concepts of mystery and economy. Divine economy is the history of the manifestation of the mystery that underlies the universe itself, but can appear only through a historical process from which it nevertheless remains distinct.