Abstract
Discusses the "universal history" tradition as taught in German Protestant universities beginning under the stimulus of Melanchthon in the sixteenth century. Previous commentators (Werner Kaegi, Karl Löwith) locate the secularization of this tradition in the period 1680‑1750. Klempt shows that its secularization began a century earlier; he covers the period from Melanchthon to Leibniz. Only later did the secularization of universal history take on an anti‑Christian cast. Relevant to the notion of metanarrative. See #Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, and #Berkhofer, " ?? " ?? (1988): ??. (Abstract via Allan Megill)