The Ritschlian theology, a reaction against rationalism, was influential in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ritschl held that God could be known only through the revelation contained in the person and work of Jesus. His theology stressed ethics and the community of man and repudiated metaphysics. Ritschl's most characteristic work is presented here and has been translated as 'The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation'. In it Ritschl proposes understanding the doctrine of justification in interpersonal rather than juridical categories.

Albrecht Ritschl (1822-89) taught theology at Bonn and at Gottingen. Ritschl was the leading Protestant theologian of the 1870s and 1880s. His students included Karl Holl, Ernst Troeltsch, and Adolf von Harnack.