The Quest of the Historical Jesus / A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede

ht and his errors were alike the insight and the errors of a prophet. And he had a prophet's fate. Disappointment and suffering gave his life its consecration. I

means steadily declined. The boy took his ability from his mother, a good, self-controlled, sensible, pious woman, to whom

Friedrich Vischer, Pfizer, Zimmermann, M?rklin, and Binder. Among their teachers

osophical faculty was almost equally unsatisfactory, so that the friends would have gained little from the two years of philosophical propaedeutic which formed part of the course prescribed for theological students, if the

r to Weinsberg to see Justinus Kerner made a deep impression upon him. He had to make a deliberate effort to escape from the dre

an impression of great charm, though he was rather shy except

to his system; but Strauss already suspected the directi

ar Ludwigsburg-he did not use "representative notions" (Vorstellungen, used as a philosophical technicality) such as that of the Devil, which the people were already prepared to dispense with; but others which still appeared to be indispensable, such as those of an eschatological character, he merely endeavoured to present in such a way that the "intellectual concept" (Begriff) whi

Hegeli

ation on the ?ποκατ?στασι? π?ντων (restoration of all things, Acts iii. 21). This work is lost. From h

n personal immortality could not properly be regarded as a consequence of the Hegelian system, since according [pg 070] to Hegel, it was not the subjective spirit

efore, was carried off by cholera. Strauss heard the news in Schleiermacher's house, from Schleiermacher himself, and is said to

nt Strauss's Life of Jesus being sometimes described by opponents of Schleiermacher as a product of the latter's philosophy of religi

esus, but that of a history of the ideas of primitive Christianity, intended to serve as a standard by which to judge ecclesiastical dogma. The Life of Jesus was originally designed, it might almost be said, as a mere

g to Strauss's wishes, they would perhaps never have come to fulfilment. The "Repetents" had the right to lecture upon philosophy. Strauss felt himself called upon to come forward as an apostle of Hegel, and lectured upon Hegel's logic with tremen

phy, and this course of study I am now [pg 071] going to prosecute uninterruptedly and without concerning myself whether it leads me back to theology or not." Further on he says: "If I know myself rightly, my

. Strauss was desired to intermit his lectures until the matter should be settled. He would have liked best to end the situation by entering the philosophical faculty. The other "Repetents," however, begged him not to do so, but to c

senschaftliche Kritik, which, however, refused it. His resolve to publish first, instead of the general work on the genesis of Christian doctrine, a critical study on the life of Jes

dies upon the Gospels. This book, into which he had poured his youthful enthusiasm, rendered him famous in a moment-and utterly destroyed his prospects. Among his opponents the most prominent was Steudel, a member of the theological faculty, who, as president of t

o give it up, and he then returned to Stuttgart. There he lived for several years, busying himself in the preparat

ife of Jesus he had begun to feel some hesitation about his former doubts regarding the genuineness and credibility of the Fourth Gospel. The historic personality of Jesus again began to take on intelligible outlines for him. These inconsistencies he removed in the next edition, acknowledging that he did not know how he could so have temporarily vacillated in his point of view. The matter admits, however, of a psyc

in getting him appointed to the vacant chair of dogmatics in Zurich. But the orthodox and pietist parties protested so veheme

nd great work, his "Christian Theology" (published in 1840-41), compensated him for his disappointment at Zurich. In conception it is perhaps even greater than the Life of Jesus; and in depth of thought it is to be classed with the most important c

use his own expression, both are so finely pulverised in the process-as in the case of Schleiermacher's combination of Spinozism with Christianity-that it needs a sharp eye to rediscover the elements of the mixture; or the two are shaken together like water and oil, in which case the semblance of combination is only mai

ty, all these ideas play their part in the struggle. Personal immortality is finally rejected in every form, for the critical reasons which Strauss had already set forth in the letters of 1832. Immortality is not something which stretches out into the future, but simply and solely the present quality of the spirit, its inner universality, its power of rising above everything finite to the Idea.

ad only to deal with the Strauss of the Life of Jesus, and not with the thinker who posed this question with inexorable trenchancy. They might then face the future more calmly, relieved of the anxiety lest once mo

d himself to giving up teaching; and when, after settling his father's affairs, he had the certainty of being secure [pg 074] against penur

me added another element of discord. They removed to Sontheim near Heilbronn with the idea of learning to adapt themselves to one another far from the distractions of the town; but that did not better matters. They lived

ssibility of divorce. The wound bled inwardly. His mental powers were disabled. At this time he wrote little. Only in the apologue "Julian the Apostate

was obliged to act politically with men whose reactionary sympathies he was far from sharing. His constituents, meanwhile, were thoroughly discontented with his attitude. In the end the position became intolerable. It was also painful to him to have to reside in Stuttgart, where he could not avoid meeting the woman who had brought so much misery into his life. Further-he himself mentions this point in his memoirs-he had no practice in speaking without manuscript, and cut a poor figure as a debater. Then came the "Blum Case." Robert Blum, a revolutionary, had been shot by court martial in Vienna. The Würtemberg Chamber desired to vote a public celebration of his funeral. [pg 075] Strauss did not think there was any ground for making a hero of this agitator, merely because

of Jesus adapted for the German People" appeared in 1864. In the preface

contrary, he recognised that the way was now being prepared for the realisation of his dream of 1848-an alliance of the smaller German States under the hegemo

nts. Strauss seized the opportunity to explain to him, in a vigorous "open letter" of the 12th of August, Germany's reason and justification for going to war. Receiving an answer from Renan, he then, in a second letter, of the 29th of September, took occasion to defend Germany's right to demand

puts the question with a certain bitterness, and shows himself too much under the influence of Darwinism, by which his mind was at that time dominated. The Hegelian system of thought, which served as a firm basis for the work of 1840, has fallen in ruins. Strauss is alone w

world-view, can be called religion. But instead of developing the idea of this deep inner freedom, and presenting religion in the form in which he had experienced it, he believes himself obliged to offer some new construction based upon Darwinism, and sets himself to answer the two questions, "How a

went through, and the battle which raged over it was, like

made sure of not being ruined by a similar unimaginative honesty. Friedrich Nietzsche

months he bore his sufferings with quiet resignation and inner serenity, until on

his sufferings and his thoughts received illumina

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