The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined


Book Description

David Friedrich Strauss's Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet (1835) brought about a new dawn in Biblical criticism by applying the 'myth theory' to the life of Jesus. Strauss treated the Gospel narrative like any other historical work, and denied all supernatural elements in the Gospels. Das Leben Jesu created an overnight sensation and Strauss became embroiled in fierce controversy. This earliest English version of 1846 was translated by the novelist George Eliot, and was her first published book.




The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History


Book Description

Some great books have the capacity to focus on the questions of the day so that everyone must deal with them; others rise to greatness only when they are discovered years later. Strauss's The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History may belong to both groups. When it was first published, it articulated sharply the crucial issues in the then current theological debate. Theologians today are discovering, not least of all from this century-old "book review" here translated for the first time, that they are not yet finished with David Friedrich Strauss. The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History brings to a head issues which had dominated Strauss's theological work. When read in the light of the author's career, amply surveyed in the Editor's Introduction, it also illumines major issues of modern Christian theology: the character of the Gospels, the historical accuracy of what they report, the possibility of getting at "Jesus as he really was," and the relevance of such a Jesus for modern man. -Publisher




David Friedrich Strauss and His Critics


Book Description

Can the Bible be called myth? In his work Das Leben Jesu (1835) David Friedrich Strauss answered this question affirmatively. The present study reviews the work on myth by German scholars before Strauss and places his work within the context of the debate. It approaches Strauss through the criticism leveled against his work in early 19th-century German journals. It identifies and examines the presuppositions of the idealistic critics and their effect on the arguments used against Strauss. While neither Strauss nor his critics freed themselves completely from idealism, Strauss's approach offered a possibility for interpreting the Bible in its historical and religious milieu.




The Old Faith and the New


Book Description

German philosopher and radical theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) distinguished himself as one of Europe's most controversial biblical critics and as an intellectual martyr for freethought.




The Life of Jesus


Book Description




David Friedrich Strauß, Father of Unbelief


Book Description

David Friedrich Strauss is a central figure in 19th century philosophy. As the father of unbelief, he was a prominent critic of Christianity and persecuted for his views by religious and political authorities. This book studies his intellectual development and recounts his fate, which began in faith as a young man but finally ended in unbelief.







The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined


Book Description

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) first published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical methods to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements in the life of Jesus were mythical and ahistorical. In volume 2 Strauss applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the idea of Jesus as Messiah; the narratives about the disciples; the discourses in the Synoptic gospels and the Fourth Gospel; the non-miraculous events; and the miracles' narratives. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religions and religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.




David Strauss: The Confessor and the Writer


Book Description

"David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer" attacks David Strauss's "The Old and the New Faith: A Confession," which Nietzsche holds up as an example of the German thought of the time. He paints Strauss's "New Faith"— a scientifically-determined universal mechanism based on the progression of history—as a vulgar reading of history in the service of a degenerate culture. Nietzsche polemically attacks not only the book but also Strauss as a Philistine of pseudo-culture.




A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy


Book Description

Investigate the challenging and nuanced philosophy of the long nineteenth century from Kant to Bergson Philosophy in the nineteenth century was characterized by new ways of thinking, a desperate searching for new truths. As science, art, and religion were transformed by social pressures and changing worldviews, old certainties fell away, leaving many with a terrifying sense of loss and a realization that our view of things needed to be profoundly rethought. The Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy covers the developments, setbacks, upsets, and evolutions in the varied philosophy of the nineteenth century, beginning with an examination of Kant’s Transcendental Idealism, instrumental in the fundamental philosophical shifts that marked the beginning of this new and radical age in the history of philosophy. Guiding readers chronologically and thematically through the progression of nineteenth-century thinking, this guide emphasizes clear explanation and analysis of the core ideas of nineteenth-century philosophy in an historically transitional period. It covers the most important philosophers of the era, including Hegel, Fichte, Schopenhauer, Mill, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Bradley, and philosophers whose work manifests the transition from the nineteenth century into the modern era, such as Sidgwick, Peirce, Husserl, Frege and Bergson. The study of nineteenth-century philosophy offers us insight into the origin and creation of the modern era. In this volume, readers will have access to a thorough and clear understanding of philosophy that shaped our world.