A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and NationsWheeler, J. M. (Joseph Mazzini)
Religion
A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations
Wheeler, J. M. (Joseph Mazzini)
Free thought -- Biography
Bauer (Bruno), one of the boldest biblical critics of Germany,
b. Eisenberg, 6 Sept. 1809. Educated at the University of Berlin,
in 1834 he received a professorship of theology. He first attained
celebrity by a review of the Life of Jesus by Strauss (1835). This
was followed by his Journal of Speculative Theology and Critical
Exposition of the Religion of the Old Testament. He then proceeded
to a Review of the Gospel History, upon the publication of which
(1840) he was deprived of his professorship at Bonn. To this followed
Christianity Unveiled (1843), which was destroyed at Zurich before
its publication. This work continued his opposition to religion,
which was carried still further in ironical style in his Proclamation
of the Day of Judgement concerning Hegel the Atheist. Bauer's heresy
deepened with age, and in his Review of the Gospels and History of
their Origin (1850), to which Apostolical History is a supplement,
he attacked the historical truth of the New Testament narratives. In
his Review of the Epistles attributed to St. Paul (1852) he tries to
show that the first four epistles, which had hardly ever before been
questioned, were not written by Paul, but are the production of the
second century. In his Christ and the Cæsars he shows the influence
of Seneca and Greco-Roman thought upon early Christianity. He died
near Berlin, 13 April, 1882.
Bauer (Edgar), b. Charlottenburg, 7 Oct. 1820, brother of the
preceding, collaborated in some of his works. His brochure entitled
Bruno Bauer and his Opponents (1842) was seized by the police. For
his next publication, The Strife of Criticism with Church and State
(1843), he was imprisoned for four years. He has also written on
English freedom, Capital, etc.
Baume-Desdossat (Jacques François, de la), b. 1705, a Canon of
Avignon who wrote La Christiade (1753), a satire on the gospels,
in which Jesus is tempted by Mary Magdalene. It was suppressed by
the French Parliament and the author fined. He died 30 April, 1756.
Baur (Ferdinand Christian von), distinguished theological critic, b. 21
June, 1792, near Stuttgart. His father was a clergyman. He was educated
at Tübingen, where in 1826 he became professor of Church history. Baur
is the author of numerous works on dogmatic and historic theology, in
which he subverts all the fundamental positions of Christianity. He was
an Hegelian Pantheist. Among his more important works are Christianity
and the Church in the First Three Centuries and Paul: His Life and
Works. These are translated into English. He acknowledges only four
of the epistles of Paul and the Revelation as genuine products of
the apostolic age, and shows how very far from simplicity were the
times and doctrines of primitive Christianity. After a life of great
literary activity he died at Tübingen, 2 Dec. 1860.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account