Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 – April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1809 ( MDCCCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it Bauer investigated the sources of the New Testament and controversially concluded that early Christianity owed more to Greek philosophy (Stoicism) than to Judaism. Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Starting in 1840, he began a series of controversial works arguing that Jesus was a myth, a second century fusion of Jewish, Greek, and Roman theology. ^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Literary controversy 3 Personality 4 Major works 5 Quotes 6 Notes 7 External links

Biography

Bauer was the son of a painter in a porcelain factory at Eisenberg in Saxe-Altenburg. Eisenberg is a town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Saale-Holzland. Saxe-Altenburg (Sachsen-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty He studied directly under G.W.F. Hegel until Hegel died in 1831. Hegel once awarded the young Bauer an academic prize for a philosophical essay criticizing Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg

Bauer studied at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, where he attached himself to the so-called Right Hegelians under Philip Marheineke. For other universities in Berlin see List of Universities in Berlin. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. The Right Hegelians, Old Hegelians, or the Hegelian Right, were the followers of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel who took his Philip Konrad Marheineke ( May 1, 1780 - May 31, 1846) was a German Protestant church leader In 1834 he began to teach in Berlin as a licentiate of theology, and in 1839 was transferred to the University of Bonn. Year 1834 ( MDCCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The University of Bonn ( German: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany In 1838 he published his Kritische Darstellung der Religion des Alten Testaments (2 vols. Year 1838 ( MDCCCXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common ), which shows that at that date he was still faithful to the Hegelian Right. Soon afterwards his opinions underwent a change, and in three works, one on the Fourth Gospel, Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte des Johannes (1840), and the other on the Synoptics, Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker (1841), as well as in his Herr Dr. The synoptic gospels are the first three Gospels of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. Hengstenberg. Kritische Briefe über den Gegensatz des Gesetzes und des Evangeliums (1839), he announced his complete rejection of his earlier orthodoxy. Bauer became associated with the radical Young Hegelians or "Left Hegelians". Young Hegelians, or Left Hegelians, were a group of Prussian intellectuals writing in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Hegel in 1833 and responding In 1842 the government revoked his license and he retired for the rest of his life to Rixdorf, near Berlin. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany.

From then on, he took a deep interest in modern history and politics, as well as in theology, and published Geschichte der Politik, Kultur und Aufklärung des 18ten Jahrhunderts (4 vols. 1843-1845), Geschichte der französischen Revolution (3 vols. 1847), and Disraelis romantischer und Bismarcks socialistischer Imperialismus (1882). Other critical works are: a criticism of the gospels and a history of their origin, Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs (1850-1852), and a criticism of the Pauline epistles, Kritik der paulinischen Briefe (1850-1852). His younger brother, Edgar, was a German journalist.

He died at Rixdorf in 1882.

Literary controversy

Bauer's criticism of the New Testament was highly deconstructive. David Strauss, in his Life of Jesus, had accounted for the Gospel narratives as half-conscious products of the mythic instinct in the early Christian communities. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer Bauer ridiculed Strauss's notion that a community could produce a connected narrative. His own contention, embodying a theory of Christian Gottlob Wilke (Der Urevangelist, 1838), was that the original narrative was the Gospel of Mark. Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin

For Bruno Bauer, the Gospel of Mark was completed in the reign of Hadrian (where its prototype, the 'Ur-Marcus,' identifiable within the Gospel of Mark by a critical analysis, was begun around the time of Josephus and the Roman-Jewish Wars). Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin Publius Aelius Hadrianus (January 24 76 &ndash July 10 138 as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin Bauer, like other advocates of this 'Marcan Hypothesis', affirmed that all the other Gospel narratives used the Gospel of Mark as their model within their writing communities. Markan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first written of the three Synoptic Gospels, and that the two other synoptic evangelists Matthew Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin

Decades later, Albert Schweitzer described these works thus: Bauer "originally sought to defend the honour of Jesus by rescuing his reputation from the inane parody of a biography that the Christian apologists had forged. Albert Schweitzer, MD, OM, (January 14 1875 &ndash September 4 1965 was an Alsatian theologian, Musician, Philosopher " However, he eventually came to the conclusion that it was a complete fiction and "regarded the Gospel of Mark not only as the first narrator, but even as the creator of the gospel history, thus making the latter a fiction and Christianity the invention of a single original evangelist" (Otto Pfleiderer). Otto Pfleiderer ( September 1, 1839 - July 28, 1908) was a German Protestant theologian.

Although Bauer did investigate the 'Ur-Marcus,' it was his remarks on the current version of the Gospel of Mark that captured popular attention. Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin In particular, some key themes in the Gospel of Mark appeared to be purely literary. Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin The well-known, Messianic Secret theme, in which Jesus continually performed wonders and then continually told the viewers not to tell anybody that he did this, seemed to Bauer to be an example of fiction. The Messianic Secret refers to Jesus having commanded his followers not to reveal to others that he is the Messiah, in certain passages of the New Testament If that is the case, Bauer wrote, then the redactor who added that theme was probably the final redactor of our current version of the Gospel of Mark. Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin Nor was Bauer a lone theologian in that speculation.

For example, for some influential theologians in the Tubingen School, several Pauline epistles were regarded as forgeries of the 2nd century. Ferdinand Christian Baur ( June 21, 1792 - December 2, 1860) was a German theologian and leader of the Tübingen school The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul (Παῦλος as the first The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Bauer agreed with some of their conclusions and added his own, penetrating theological analyses. For example, he suggested, the Pauline epistles were written in the West in antagonism to the Paul of The Acts. Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and Bauer argued further for the preponderance of the Graeco-Roman element, over and above the Jewish element, in the Christian writings, and he added a wealth of historical background to support his theory; though modern scholars such as E. P. Sanders and John P. Meier have disputed this theory and attempted to demonstrate a mainly Jewish historical background. Ed Parish Sanders (born 18 April 1937) is a New Testament Scholar, and is one of the principal proponents of the New Perspective on Paul John Paul Meier is a Biblical scholar and Catholic priest. He attended St

According to Bruno Bauer, the writer of Mark's gospel was "an Italian, at home both in Rome and Alexandria"; that of Matthew's gospel "a Roman, nourished by the spirit of Seneca"; Christianity is essentially "Stoicism triumphant in a Jewish garb. "Saint Mark" redirects here For other uses see Saint Mark (disambiguation. Matthew the Evangelist (מתי/מתתיהו "Gift of Yahweh " Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew: Mattay or Mattithyahu Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC "

It is obvious that Mark is a Roman name, not a Jewish name. What Bruno Bauer added was a deep review of European literature in the first century. In his estimation, many key themes of the New Testament, especially those that are opposed to themes in the Old Testament, can be found with relative ease in Greco-Roman literature that flourished during the first century. (We should note here that such a position was also maintained by some Jewish scholars. )

Bauer's final book, Christ and the Caesars (1877) offers a penetrating analysis that shows common key-words in the words of first century writers like Seneca the Stoic and New Testament texts. While this had been perceived even in ancient times, the ancient explanation was that Seneca 'must have been' a secret Christian. Bruno Bauer was perhaps the first to attempt to carefully demonstrate that some New Testament writers freely borrowed from Seneca the Stoic. (One modern explanation drawn from socio-rhetorical criticism is that common cultures share common thought-forms and common patterns of speech; that similarities do not necessarily indicate borrowing. Nevertheless, the keywords Bauer cited are at the core of New Testament theology, and their similarities emphasize Greco-Roman sources in Stoic and Cynic writings, rather than in Jewish Scripture. )

In Christ and the Caesars, Bauer argued that Judaism entered Rome during the era of the Maccabees, and increased in population and influence in Rome since that time. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 The Maccabees ( Hebrew: מכבים or מקבים, Makabim or Maqabim; Greek Μακκαβαῖοι, /makav'εï/ were Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 He cited literature from the first century to strengthen his case that Jewish influence in Rome was far greater than historians had yet reported. The Imperial throne was influenced by the Jewish religious genius, he said, citing Herod's relation with the Caesar family, as well as the famous relationship between Josephus and the Flavians, Vespasian and Titus, and also one of the poems of Horace. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian ( November 17 9 &ndash June 23 79) was a Roman Emperor who Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus ( December 30 39 &ndash September 13 81) was a Roman Emperor who Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace

According to Bruno Bauer, Julius Caesar sought to interpret his own life as an Oriental miracle story, and Augustus Caesar completed that job by commissioning Virgil to write his Aeneid, making Caesar into the Son of Venus and a relative of the Trojans, thereby justifying the Roman conquest of Greece and insinuating Rome into a much older history. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or

By contrast, said Bauer, Vespasian was far more fortunate, since he had Josephus himself to link his reign with an Oriental miracle. Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian ( November 17 9 &ndash June 23 79) was a Roman Emperor who Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Josephus had prophesied that Vespasian would become Emperor of Rome and thus ruler of the world. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian ( November 17 9 &ndash June 23 79) was a Roman Emperor who This actually happened, and in this way the Roman conquest of Judea was justified and insinuated Rome into an even older history.

According to Albert Schweitzer, who was a devout Christian, Bruno Bauer's criticisms of the New Testament provided the most interesting questions about the historical Jesus that he had seen. Albert Schweitzer, MD, OM, (January 14 1875 &ndash September 4 1965 was an Alsatian theologian, Musician, Philosopher Schweitzer's own theology was partly based on Bauer's writings.

This line of criticism has value in emphasizing the importance of studying the influence of environment in the formation of the Christian Scriptures. Bauer was a man of restless creativity, interdisciplinary activity and independent judgment. Many lesser-informed reviewers have charged that Bauer's judgment was ill-balanced, but history has barely begun to review his life. It is not surprising, given the institutional response to his ideas. Due to the controversial nature of his work as a social theorist, theologian and historian, Bauer was banned from public teaching by a Prussian monarch. After many years of similar censorship, Bauer came to resign himself to his place as a free-lance critic, rather than as an official teacher.

Douglas Moggach published The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer in 2003. This is the most comprehensive overview of Bauer's life and works, in English to date. Bauer's biography has obtained more kindly reviews these days, even by opponents. In his own day, his opponents often respected him, since he was not afraid of taking a line on principle. One point that is often raised in this regard is his line that was displeasing to his liberal friends on the Jewish question (Die Judenfrage, 1843).

In this controversial book about the question of Civil Rights for Jews, Bauer asked, how can Jews obtain Civil Rights until Germans themselves obtain Civil Rights?

The topic of atheism is a continuing debate in contemporary scholarship about Bruno Bauer. A number of 20th century references to Bauer presume that he was an atheist. One modern writer, Paul Trejo (2002), makes a case that Bauer remained a radical theologian who criticized specific types of Christianity, and that Bauer maintained a Hegelian interpretation of Christianity throughout his life. Bauer's infamous, banned book, Christianity Exposed (1843), was after all a mild affair, exposing only one sect of Christian against another.

In 1836, during his early days as a tutor, Bruno Bauer taught a teenage Karl Marx. Marx later was to turn against Bauer with criticisms in two books, The Holy Family, and, The German Ideology. Because Marx abandoned him, and because the Prussian monarch, Friedrich Wilhelm IV banned him from holding a professorial post, Bruno Bauer's intellect was buried under the cross-currents of left-wing and right-wing battles at the turn of the 20th century. Life Frederick William was educated by private tutors many of whom were experienced civil servants such as Friedrich Ancillon.

This may explain why the great bulk of Bauer's writings have still not been translated into English. Only two books by Bauer have been formally translated; a comedic parody, The Trumpet of the Last Judgment Against Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist (with Karl Marx, 1841, trans. Lawrence Stepelevich, 1989),^[2] and Christianity Exposed: A Recollection of the 18th Century and a Contribution to the Crisis of the 19th (1843, ed. Paul Trejo, 2002).

The Trumpet, written by Bauer and published anonymously, was of inspiration to Gianfranco Sanguinetti, for his 1975 pamphlet Veritable Report on the Last Chances to Save Capitalism in Italy, a situationist prank which caused him to leave Italy under the force of political pressure. Gianfranco Sanguinetti was a writer and member of the Situationist International (SI a political art movement ^[3]

Personality

On the issue of the Jews, one may still consider the question open. For example, Bauer's attitude toward the Jewish writers of the first century, Philo and Josephus, was one of open admiration. In general terms Bauer's attitude toward Civil Rights for German Jews may be summarized in his question, 'how can Jews obtain Civil Rights until Germans themselves obtain Civil Rights?' That question should be answered in detail before judgment is passed on Bruno Bauer.

The first English-language rendering of Bruno Bauer's career was published in March, 2003 by Douglas Moggach, a professor at the University of Ottawa. His book is entitled, The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer. Professor Moggach develops a republican interpretation of Bruno Bauer, in which Bauer is portrayed as reaching atheist conclusions because of his political commitments to free self-consciousness and autonomy, and his criticisms of the Restoration union of church and state. Other scholars continue to dispute that portrait.

Bauer's personality was complex. During his career and even after he died he was difficult to classify. The left-wing tried to define him as one of their own. The right-wing tried to define him as one of their own. He was praised by the right-Hegelians, and he was praised by the left-Hegelians.

After the publication of his 'The Trumpet' he was considered as the most important representative of the movement.

Bauer had studied directly under the great innovator in philosophy, Hegel. Hegel had awarded an academic prize to Bauer when Bauer was about 20 years old. Hegel died when Bruno Bauer was 22 years old. Perhaps this affected Bauer's personality strongly; he may have seen himself as sitting very close to the highest academic post in Prussia and possibly he imagined that he would one day have that post.

When Hegel unexpectedly died, possibly of cholera, Bruno Bauer's official connections were drastically reduced. Bauer had very few powerful friends during the academic fallout after Hegel's death.

In 1840 a chance came for Bauer to prove himself. The theologian, David Strauss, had made a scandal for the Fundamentalist Christian monarch, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, by publishing his book, The Life of Christ (1835). David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer This famous book argued that much of Jesus' biography was legend, and that de-mythologization was the correct approach of Bible interpretation. In a surprise move, Strauss claimed that he obtained these ideas from the philosophy of Hegel. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer The monarch demanded that the Hegelians respond.

The Old Hegelians selected Bruno Bauer (now 26 years old) to respond. Bauer didn't care to defend Fundamentalism -- he took care to show that David Strauss used Hegel's name in vain. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer His ideas were not the same as Hegel's. Hegel died the year that Strauss entered Berlin University, so Strauss got his ideas from other sources. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer

In his book, In Defense of my LIFE OF JESUS Against the Hegelians (1838), David Strauss refused to debate with Bauer, insulted Bauer, and invented the rubric of left-right Hegelians to portray Bauer on the right-wing and himself on the left-wing. Strauss said Bauer's arguments were 'a foolish bit of pen-pushing' and did his best to portray Bauer as a right-wing radical. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer Actually, Strauss had no effective arguments against Bauer. David Friedrich Strauss (or Strauß; January 27 1808 &ndash February 8 1874 was a German theologian and writer

For a long time the title stuck; Bruno Bauer was called a right-Hegelian by many, but Bauer didn't accept it. When the monarch decided that the Hegelian response was not good enough, that is, it did not stop the soaring sales of Strauss' book, the monarch chose to ban almost all Hegelians from teaching. Bruno Bauer was among the first to go.

This also affected Bauer's personality.

Bauer went underground and began to write Hegelian newspapers here and there. In this journey he met some socialists, including Karl Marx, his former student, and Marx' new friends, Fredrick Engels and Arnold Ruge. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who Arnold Ruge (13 September 1802 - 31 December 1880 was a German Philosopher and political writer They were all left-wing radicals. Bauer was not a left-wing radical, but he was happy to be their leader if it could lead them back to a Hegelian understanding of the dialectic. Another member of those Young Hegelians, Max Stirner, became Bauer's life long friend. Johann Kaspar Schmidt ( October 25, 1806 – June 26, 1856) better known as Max Stirner (the Nom de plume Stirner was no socialist, on the contrary, he was a radical egoist. Although Bauer was not a radical egoist, he preferred the writings of Stirner to the writings of Marx, Engels and Ruge. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who Arnold Ruge (13 September 1802 - 31 December 1880 was a German Philosopher and political writer

Shortly after, Marx and Engels broke sharply with Bruno Bauer and attacked him specifically in a critique of one of his works, "On the Jewish Question" and in other books that were critical of various Young Hegelians including Bauer, The Holy Family, and The Germany Ideology. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who

Bruno Bauer met with Marx again in London in the mid-1850's, while visiting his exiled brother Edgar there. According to Marx's correspondence with Engels, Bauer presented him with a copy of Hegel's Science of Logic. Marx referred to this volume while completing his drafts of 'Capital'.

Suppressed by the right-wing, and now suppressed by the left-wing, the influential Bruno Bauer settled into his family's tobacco shop to work, writing books at night. He never married, and he wrote books for the rest of his life.

Major works

• Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte des Johannes (1840)
• Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker, 2 vols. (1841)
• Die Posaune des jüngsten Gerichts über Hegel, den Atheisten und Antichristen (1841)
• Die gute Sache der Freiheit und meine eigene Angelegenheit (1842)
• Hegels Lehre von der Religion und Kunst von dem Standpunkte des Glaubens aus beurteilt (1842)
• Das Entdeckte Christentum (1843, banned and destroyed, into oblivion until 1927: ed. Barnikol)
• Die Judenfrage (1843)
• Geschichte der Politik, Kultur und Aufklärung des 18. Jahrhunderts (1843-45)
• Geschichte Deutschlands und der französischen Revolution unter der Herrschaft Napoleons, 2 vols. (1846)
• Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs, 4 vols. , 4 suppl. (1850-52)
• Russland und das Germanentum (1853)
• Philo, Renan und das Urchristentum (1864)
• Christus und die Cäsaren (1877)
• Zur Orientierung über die Bismarck'sche Ära (1880)
• Disraelis romantischer und Bismarcks sozialistischer Imperialismus (1882)

Quotes

"We save the honor of Jesus when we restore His Person to life from the state of inanity to which the apologists have reduced it, and give it once more a living relation to history, which it certainly possessed. " — Bruno Bauer, SYNOPTIKER, 1840

"Therefore, criticism has to direct itself against itself, and against the mysterious Substance in which it has up to now hid itself. In this way criticism must resolve things such that the development of this Substance drives itself forward to the Universality and Certainty of the Idea of its actual existence, the Eternal Self-consciousness. " — Bruno Bauer, SYNOPTIKER, 1840

"The pure Christian State is a State in which theological law prevails. This law attains to real power or, to be more exact, absolute power, when through its results which are identical with those of opium, it puts all parts of humanity to sleep. If some occasionally awake they carry out crimes that horrify humanity which has not yet become Christian in the full sense of the word or has already abandoned the Christian framework. " — Bruno Bauer, 1841, THE CHRISTIAN STATE AND OUR TIMES

"After fulfilling its destructive urge towards everything that is noble and good on earth, it [naive Religion] sketches, in its opium intoxication, a picture of the future situation, which differs drastically from the order of this world, since everything changes and is renewed. " — Bruno Bauer, 1842, THE GOOD CAUSE OF FREEDOM AND MY OWN CASE

"Reason is the true creative power, for it produces itself as Infinite Self-consciousness, and its ongoing creation is. . . world history. As the only power that exists, Spirit can therefore be determined by nothing other than itself, that is, its essence is Freedom. . . Freedom is the infinite power of Spirit. . . Freedom, the only End of Spirit, is also the only End of History, and history is nothing other than Spirit's becoming *conscious* of its Freedom, or the becoming of Real, Free, Infinite Self-consciousness. " — Bruno Bauer, 1842, HEGEL'S LEHRE VON DER RELIGION UND KUNST VON DEM STANDPUNKTE DES GLAUBENS AUS BEURTEILT, trans. Moggach, 2001

"It is not as uncommon . . . [for some to] accept the reality of phenomena that are not yet understood, as it is very common for physicists to disbelieve the reality of phenomena that seem to contradict contemporary beliefs of physics" — Bruno Bauer

Notes

External links

• Bruno Bauer entry at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Douglas Moggach
• Freedom from Religion Foundation entry
• The Quest of the Historical Jesus: Chapter 11 Bruno Bauer

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP is a freely-accessible Online encyclopedia of Philosophy maintained by Stanford University. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

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