Bruno Bauer - Conflict With David Strauss

Conflict With David Strauss

Shortly after the death of Hegel, another writer, David Strauss, who had been a reader of Hegel's writings, arrived in Berlin (1831). As a student of Friedrich Schleiermacher he wrote a controversial book which is now famous, entitled, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, usually referred to as The Life of Jesus (1835). In this book David Strauss announced his own landmark theory of 'demythologization' as an approach to the Gospels, but he also attempted to use Hegel's name and fame in his book as a marketing ploy.

In the year of its publication, Strauss' book raised a storm of controversy. The Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV tightened control of the Prussian University system, favoring his ultra-conservative approach to the Bible. He objected to the writing of David Strauss, and he also mistakenly believed that the Hegelian school in general was its source.

Bruno Bauer, at 26 years of age, was chosen by the Hegelians to refute David Strauss in the Hegelian "Journal für wissenschaftliche Kritik" (Journal of Philosophical Criticism). Bauer ably showed that Strauss misrepresented Hegel, and that Strauss' position differed significantly from Hegel's. Bauer also demonstrated that David Strauss' so-called dialectic was taken from Schleiermacher (who had been antagonistic toward Hegel).

Although Strauss' book had sold well throughout Europe, in 1838 Strauss published a rebuttal to Bruno Bauer in a booklet entitled, In Defense of my Life of Jesus against the Hegelians. In that book Strauss admitted publiclly that his position had not been inspired by Hegel's philosophy after all, nor by Hegel's theological position (which advocated a dialectical Trinity). Strauss divorced himself from the Hegelians with this booklet, and never joined their ranks again.

However, in this final exchange with the Hegelians, he criticised the Hegelian school in a way that has become unforgettable. In that booklet David Strauss invented terms still in use today: a Right Hegelian would uncritically defend all positions of orthodox Christian theology, he said, while a Left Hegelian takes a liberal and progressive approach to Scripture. A "Centrist Hegelian" would take the middle road and try to honor both: whatever was rational in theological thinking as well as free scientific thought.

The Prussian monarch, objecting to these debates, banned many Hegelians from teaching in Universities, including Bruno Bauer. For the rest of his life, Bauer continued to be bitter towards David Strauss.

For example, when Bauer was middle-aged, a youthful Friedrich Nietzsche came to visit him, seeking advice from a well-known author (because Bruno Bauer did remain well known during his lifetime). Bauer encouraged Nietzsche to criticize David Strauss, and in that early period, that is exactly what young Nietzsche did. Nietzsche in turn mentions later that Bruno Bauer was "my entire reading public".