The Holy Family'', and ''
The German Ideology
''The German Ideology'' (German: ''Die deutsche Ideologie'', sometimes written as ''A Critique of the German Ideology'') is a set of manuscripts originally written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels ...
''.
Bruno Bauer met with Marx again in London in the mid-1850s, while visiting his exiled brother
Edgar
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
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'.
Bauer had already turned away from the socialism and communism of Marx and Engels, so he was immune to the barbs they wrote in ''The Holy Family or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Company'' by his pupils, Marx and Engels. Nevertheless, he had fallen quite far – from a favorite son of Hegel himself down to an enemy of both the right-wing and the left-wing as well. He found very few friends in this intellectual position aside from Max Stirner.
Suppressed and condemned by both the right-wing and the left-wing, the once-influential Bruno Bauer finally settled into his family's tobacco shop to earn his living, though he continued to write. He never married, but he wrote many books, all the way to 1879. He died in 1883.
Argument against the existence of Jesus
Bauer became the first author to systematically argue that Jesus did not exist.
Robert E. Van Voorst
Robert E. Van Voorst (born June 5, 1952) is an American theologian and educator.
He retired in 2018 as a Professor of New Testament Studies at Western Theological Seminary, in Holland, Michigan, and has published scholarly works in early Christi ...
''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pages 7–11[Beilby, James K. and Eddy, Paul Rhodes]
"The Quest for the Historical Jesus"
in James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy (eds.). ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views''. Intervarsity, 2009, p. 16. See Strauss, David. "The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, Calvin Blanchard, 1860.
Early in his academic career, however, Bruno Bauer was certain that Jesus certainly did exist -- it was only that ordinary theologians continued to heap legend after legend onto the real, historical Jesus. In the 1906 book by the famous Albert Schweitzer,
The Quest of the Historical Jesus, p. 143, Bruno Bauer is quoted as writing: "We save the honor of Jesus when we restore His Person to life from the state of inanition to which the apologists have reduced it, and give it once more a living relation to history, which it certainly possessed -- that can no longer be denied."
Beginning in 1841, in his ''Criticism of the Gospel History of the Synoptics'', Bauer argued that the
Biblical Jesus
The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and Nativity of Jesus, nativity, Ministry of Jesus, public ministry, Passion of Jesus, passion, prophecy, Resurrection of ...
was primarily a literary figure. However, he left open the question of whether a historical Jesus existed at all until his 1851 work, ''Criticism of the Gospels and History of their Origin'' and then in 1879 proposed his theory for the true origin of Jesus in ''Christ and the Caesars'', namely, that the Gospel writers freely used Greco-Roman classics in their mythical reconstructions of the life of the real man, Jesus of Galilee.
We should note, however, that in this opinion, Bruno Bauer remained close to the dialectical theology of
GWF Hegel. Hegel hailed from the Rationalist School of Biblical critique, starting with
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohrun ...
and Heinrich Paulus (who had been Hegel's employer during his early days). There was in fact a large movement of Bible Rationalism in the early 1800's. Hegel and Bauer were both part of that movement. Hasty writers call that atheism. Actually, the literature of Hegel and Bauer affirm that Jesus was real -- but that typical theologians had interpreted Jesus all wrong.
Bauer's 1842 work, ''Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker und des Johannes'' (3 vol) debated whether the gospels were purely literary, with no historically authentic material. While not yet rejecting the historicity of Jesus, Bauer denied the historicity of a
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
Christ (viz. Jesus—a natural human).
Bauer wrote, "Everything that the historical Christ is, everything that is said of Him, everything that is known of Him, belongs to the world of imagination, that is, of the imagination of the Christian community, and therefore has nothing to do with any man who belongs to the real world." (see
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature h ...
(1808–1874) who pioneered the
search for the "Historical Jesus" by also rejecting the supernatural events of "The Christ", in his 1835 work, ''Life of Jesus'').
In his ''Criticism of the Pauline Epistles'' (1850–1852) and in ''A Critique of the Gospels and a History of their Origin'' (1850–1851), Bauer argued that Jesus had not existed.
[Schweitzer, Albert. ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus''. Fortress, 2001; first published 1913, pp. 124–128, 139–141.] Schweitzer notes, "At the end of his study of the Gospels, Bauer is inclined to make the decision of the question whether there ever was a historic Jesus depend on the result of a further investigation which he proposed to make into the Pauline Epistles. It was not until ten years later (1850–1851) that he accomplished this task, (. (Criticism of the Pauline Epistles.) Berlin, 1850–1852.) and applied the result in his new edition of the "Criticism of the Gospel History." ( (Criticism of the Gospels and History of their Origin.) 2 vols., Berlin, 1850–1851.) The result is negative: there never was any historical Jesus."
In ''Christ and the Caesars'' (1879) he suggested that Christianity was a synthesis of the
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
of
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca was born in ...
and of the Jewish theology of
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's deplo ...
as developed by pro-Roman Jews such as
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
. Bauer's work was heavily criticized at the time; in 1842 he was removed from his position at the University of Bonn. Still, Bruno Bauer's works were well-cited throughout Europe for the rest of the 19th century. In the 20th century, his work had little impact on future myth theorists.
Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...
proponents still assert the threefold argument originally asserted by Bauer -- ''allegedly'':
* that the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
has no historical value.
* that there are no non-Christian
references to Jesus Christ dating back to the first century.
* that Christianity had
syncretistic
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
or mythical roots.
This one-sided interpretation by author Van Voorst is quite common, but others, like Trejo, say that such an interpretation lacks the nuance that we find inside the pages of Bruno Bauer's actual works. They say that Bauer didn't deny the existence of Jesus of Galilee -- but merely questioned the legends and Nature miracles told about him. Like
GWF Hegel and the Rationalist School, Bruno Bauer would focus on the historical environment and the ''teachings'' of Jesus, rather than engage in sophomoric debates about the reality of Nature miracles. Objective scholarship on Bruno Bauer is overdue.
Legacy
Bauer's scholarship was buried by German academia, and he remained a pariah, until
Albert Kalthoff
Albert Kalthoff (5 March 1850, Barmen – 11 May 1906, Bremen) was a German Protestant theologian, who along with Emil Felden (1874–1959), Oscar Mauritz (1867–1959), Moritz Schwalb (1833–1916) and Friedrich Steudel (1866–1939) formed a ...
rescued his works from neglect and obscurity. Kalthoff revived Bauer's Christ Myth thesis in his ''Das Christus-Problem. Grundlinien zu einer Sozialtheologie'' (''The Problem of Christ: Principles of a Social Theology'', 1902) and ''Die Entstehung des Christentums, Neue Beiträge zum Christusproblem'' (''The Rise of Christianity'', 1904).
Arthur Drews
Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews (; November 1, 1865 – July 19, 1935) was a German writer, historian, philosopher, and important representative of German monist thought. He was born in Uetersen, Holstein, in present-day Germany.
Biography
Drew ...
noted Bauer's views in his own work ''
The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present'', "Christianity is the product of the intimidated class of Romans who needed a straw of hope and faith in their struggle against the egoism of Caesars. It's absurd to suppose it to be originating from Hierosolyma
erusalem The origin of the Gospel literature is then reexamined. Originally, it's just a demonstration of the new principle of freedom, in rebellion against the law-dominated world, represented by Judaism. The Gospels demonstrate various steps in the evolution of this esteem. The main factor of influence was of the Roman empire, whose oppression forced the community to look for hope in a kingdom of heavens and exterminating the kingdom of Rome to make it possible. ...Absolutely no such thing as a historical Jesus of Galilee is needed to explain the genesis of Mark's gospel."
Despite these attempts of revival, Bauer's positions are nowadays considered fringe. Already in 1906, Albert Schweitzer, while appreciating Bauer's earlier work, was sharply critical towards his later support for the
Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...
, writing in his book ''
The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' that Bauer "originally sought to defend the honor of Jesus by rescuing his reputation from the inane parody of a biography that the Christian apologists had forged." However, he eventually came to the belief 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 (1 September 1839 – 18 July 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology.
Biography
Pfleiderer was born at ...
).
In modern scholarship, the Christ myth theory is a
fringe theory
A fringe theory is an idea or a viewpoint which differs from the accepted scholarship of the time within its field. Fringe theories include the models and proposals of fringe science, as well as similar ideas in other areas of scholarship, such a ...
, which finds virtually no support from scholars,
to the point of being addressed in footnotes or almost completely ignored due to the obvious weaknesses they espouse. Common criticisms against the Christ myth theory include: general lack of expertise or relationship to academic institutions and current scholarship; reliance on
arguments from silence
To make an argument from silence (Latin: ''argumentum ex silentio'') is to express a conclusion that is based on the absence of statements in historical documents, rather than their presence.John Lange, ''The Argument from Silence'', History and T ...
, dismissal of what sources actually state, and superficial comparisons with mythologies.
Major works
*''De pulchri principiis'', Prussian royal prize manuscript, first published as ''Prinzipien des Schönen. De pulchri principiis. Eine Preisschrift'' (1829), new ed. Douglas Moggach und Winfried Schultze (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1996).
*"Rezension (review): ''Das Leben Jesu'', David Friedrich Strauss," ''Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik'', Dec. 1835; May 1836.
*''Kritik der Geschichte der Offenbarung. Die Religion des alten Testaments in der geschichtlichen Entwicklung ihrer Prinzipien dargestellt'' 2 vol. (Berlin, 1838).
*''Herr Dr. Hengstenberg'' (Berlin, 1839).
*''Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte des Johannes'' (Bremen, 1840)
*"Der christliche Staat und unsere Zeit," ''Hallische Jahrbücher für deutsche Wissenschaft und Kunst'', June 1841.
*''Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker'', 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1841)
*''Die Posaune des jüngsten Gerichts über Hegel, den Atheisten und Antichristen'' (Leipzig, 1841); trans. L. Stepelevich, ''The Trumpet of the Last Judgement against Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist. An Ultimatum'' (Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 1989)
* (anon.) ''Hegels Lehre von der Religion und Kunst von dem Standpuncte des Glaubens aus beurteilt'' (Leipzig, 1842); new ed. Aalen (Scientia Verlag, 1967)
*''Die gute Sache der Freiheit und meine eigene Angelegenheit'' (1842)
*''
Die Judenfrage'' (1843) ("The Jewish Question")
*''Das Entdeckte Christentum'' (Zürich, 1843, banned and destroyed, into oblivion until 1927: ed. Barnikol); transl. Esther Ziegler, ''Christianity Exposed'' (MellenPress, 2002)
*"Die Fähigkeit der heutigen Juden und Christen, frei zu werden," in Georg Herwegh (ed.), ''Einundzwanzig Bogen aus der Schweiz'' (Zürich und Winterthur, 1843)
*''Geschichte der Politik, Kultur und Aufklärung des 18. Jahrhunderts'', 4 vol. (1843–45)
*"Die Gattung und die Masse", ''Allg. Lit.-Ztg''. X, September 1844
*''Geschichte Deutschlands und der französischen Revolution unter der Herrschaft Napoleons'', 2 vols. (1846)
*''Der Ursprung des Galaterbriefs'' (Hempel, 1850)
*''Kritik der paulinischen Briefe'' ("Critique of Paul's epistles") (Berlin, 1850–1851)
*''Der Ursprung des ersten Korintherbriefes'' (Hempel, 1851)
*''Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs'', 3 vols. (1850–51); 4th vol. ''Die theologische Erklärung der Evangelien'' (Berlin, 1852).
*''Russland und das Germanentum'' 2 vol. (1853)
* ''Das Judenthum in der Fremde''. (Berlin, 1863).
*''Philo, Renan und das Urchristentum'' (Berlin, 1874)
*''Einfluss des englischen Quäkerthums auf die deutsche Cultur und auf das englisch-russische Project einer Weltkirche'' (Berlin, 1878)
*''Christus und die Cäsaren''...Transl. German to English by Helmut Brunar and Byron Marchant, ''Christ and the Caesars...'' available (Bloomington IN: Xlibris Publishing, 2015).
*''Disraelis romantischer und Bismarcks sozialistischer Imperialismus'' (1882)
Translations
The great bulk of Bauer's writings have still not been translated into English. Only three books by Bauer have been formally translated:
(1) A comedic parody, ''The Trumpet of the Last Judgment Against Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist'' (1841, trans. Lawrence Stepelevich, 1989).
(2) ''Christianity Exposed: A Recollection of the 18th Century and a Contribution to the Crisis of the 19th Century'' (tr. Esther Ziegler and Jutta Hamm, ed. Paul Trejo, 2002).
(3) Bruno Bauer's, ''Christ and the Caesars: The Origin of Christianity from the Mythology of Rome and Greece'' (1879) was ably translated into English by scholars Helmut Brunar and Byron Marchant (2015, Xlibris Publishing).
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Barnikol, Ernst, 1972, ''Bruno Bauer, Studien und Materialien''
* Brazill, W.J., 1970, ''The Young Hegelians'' (New Haven: Yale University Press).
* Eberlein, Hermann-Peter, ''Bruno Bauer. Vom Marx-Freund zum Antisemiten'' (Berlin: Karl Dietz-Verlag, 2009).
* Engels, Friedrich, 1882, "Bruno Bauer und das Urchristentum," ''Sozialdemokrat'', May 4 and 11.
* Eßbach, Wolfgang, 1988, ''Die Junghegelianer. Soziologie einer Intellektuellengruppe'' (München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag).
* Kautsky, Karl, 1908, ''Der Ursprung des Christentums'' (Stuttgart: Dietz).
* Kautsky, Karl, 1915, ''Nationalstaat, imperialistischer Staat und Staatenbund'' (Nürnberg)
* Kegel, Martin, 1908, ''Bruno Bauer Und Seine Theorien Über Die Entstehung Des Christentums''
* Leopold, David, 1999, "The Hegelian Antisemitism of Bruno Bauer," ''History of European Ideas'' 25 (1999)
* Leopold, David, 2007, ''The Young Karl Marx: German Philosophy, Modern Politics, and Human Flourishing'' (Cambridge Un. Press)
* Löwith, Karl, 1967, ''From Hegel to Nietzsche'' (Garden City: Doubleday).
* Mah, Harold, 1987, ''The End of Philosophy and the Origin of Ideology. Karl Marx and the Crisis of the Young Hegelians'' (Berkeley: Un. of California Press).
* Marx, Karl, 1975, ''On the Jewish Question,'' Collected Works, vol. 3 (New York: Int'l Publishers)
* Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, 1975, ''The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism,'' Collected Works, vol. 4 (New York: Int'l Publishers); ''The German Ideology,'' Collected Works, vol. 5 (New York: Int'l Publishers, 1976)
* McLellan, David, 1969, ''The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx'' (Toronto: Macmillan).
* Mehlhausen, Joachim, ''Dialektik, Selbstbewusstsein und Offenbarung. Die Grundlagen der spekulativen Orthodoxie Bruno Bauers in ihrem Zusammenhang mit der Geschichte der theologischen Hegelschule dargestellt'' (Bonn 1965)
* Moggach, Douglas, ed., 2006, ''The New Hegelians: Politics and Philosophy in the Hegelian School'' (Cambridge Un. Press).
* Rosen, Zvi, 1978, ''Bruno Bauer and Karl Marx'' (the Hague: Nijhoff).
* Sass, Hans-Martin, 1967, "Bruno Bauers Idee der Rheinischen Zeitung", Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 19, 221–276.
* Schweitzer, Albert, 1906/1913, ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus. A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede'' (Johns Hopkins Un. Press, 1998)
* Stepelevich, L.S., ed., 1983, ''The Young Hegelians, An Anthology'' (Cambridge Un. Press).
* Toews, J.E., 1980, ''Hegelianism. The Path toward Dialectical Humanism'' (Cambridge Un. Press).
* Tomba, Massimiliano, 2002, ''Crisi e critica in Bruno Bauer. Il principio di esclusione come fondamento del politico'' (Naples: Bibliopolis); transl. ''Krise und Kritik bei Bruno Bauer. Kategorien des Politischen im nachhegelschen Denken'' (Frankfurt, 2005)
* van den Bergh van Eysinga, G.A., 1963, "Aus einer unveröffentlichten Biographie von Bruno Bauer. Bruno Bauer in Bonn 1839–1842," ''Annali Feltrinelli''
* Waser, Ruedi, 1994, ''Autonomie des Selbstbewußtseins. Eine Untersuchung zum Verhältnis von Bruno Bauer und Karl Marx'' (1835–1843) (Tübingen: Francke Verlag).
External links
Works by or about Bruno Bauerat Internet Archive
*
* Stan M. Landry,
From Orthodoxy to Atheism: The Apostasy of Bruno Bauer, 1835–1843, ''Journal of Religion & Society'' 13 (Un. of Arizona, 2011)
The Hegel Society of America* Albert Schweitzer,
', ch. XI, Bruno Bauer (1906)
* David McLocklan
"Bauer, Marx and religion" in ''libcom.org''
* David McLocklan
"Stirner, Feurbach, Marx and the Young Hegelians" ''libcom.org''
* Frederick Engel
(1882)
* Robert M. Price, review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Bruno
1809 births
1882 deaths
Christ myth theory
19th-century German theologians
19th-century philosophers
19th-century German philosophers
People from Saxe-Altenburg
University of Bonn faculty
German male non-fiction writers
19th-century German historians
Christ myth theory proponents
19th-century atheists
Atheist philosophers