Staunen ohne Gott

Abstract

The article differentiates between two meanings and functions of wonder in the horizon of faith in progress around 1900. The topos of (modern) wonders of technology proves to be more than just a rhetorical and didactic device to generate astonishment and admiration; rather, it illustrates technical works as a crucial part in a modernized concept of the history of salvation in the sense of revealing a higher truth.