<\/p>
Gadamer notes that the concept of Bildung <\/em> (culture) has its origins in medieval and baroque mysticism, and continues to carry a mystical connotation when it begins to be used of the cultivated humanness. Von Humboldt, for instance, says \u201cwhen in our language we say Bildung, we mean something both higher and more inward\u201d than Kultur, \u201cnamely the disposition of mind which, from the knowledge and the feeling of the total intellectual and moral endeavor, flows harmoniously into sensibility and character.\u201d <\/p>\n Given the origins of the idea, and the continuing mystical connotations of the term, it\u2019s not surprising that from the 18th century Bildung <\/em> refers not to the cultivation of a natural talent that might be employed for various ends but to the product of a process of cultivation. Bildung <\/em> is an end in itself, a substitute for the \u201cChrist in you\u201d or \u201cGod in you\u201d of mystical cultivation. <\/p>\n The word\u2019s history provides a particular example of MH Abrams\u2019s claim that romanticism transplanted Christian concepts by grounding them in the human subject. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gadamer notes that the concept of Bildung (culture) has its origins in medieval and baroque mysticism, and continues to carry a mystical connotation when it begins to be used of the cultivated humanness. Von Humboldt, for instance, says \u201cwhen in our language we say Bildung, we mean something both higher and more inward\u201d than Kultur, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n
Gadamer notes that the word here \u201cevokes the ancient mystical tradition according to which man carries in his soul the image of God, after whom he is fashioned, and which man must cultivate in himself.\u201d <\/p>\n