An English Edition of Bruno Bauer's 1843 Christianity Exposed: A Recollection of the Eighteenth Century and a Contribution to the Crisis of the Nineteenth ... in German Thought and History, V. 23) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Paul Trejo (Author, Editor), Esther Ziegler (Translator), Jutta Hamm (Translator)

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Product Description

Bruno Bauer wrote scores of scholarly books which were widely quoted. He was a mentor to Marx and an elder mentor to Nietzsche, and his controversial theology impelled the Prussian government to ban him from lecturing. This work, first banned and then ignored, contains historical clues of the temper of the time. Bauer advanced Hegel's theological phenomenology, especially with his treatment of the moment of transition from stoicism to Christianity.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 124 pages
• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773471839
• ISBN-13: 978-0773471832
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,252,823 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally translated into English after 160 years, January 23, 2003

By	Paul Trejo "petrejo" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The day this book was published in Germany it was banned and the publisher was imprisoned. Bruno Bauer, the author, soon lost his position as a University lecturer, but he continued to write about history, theology and politics according to his conscience and his commitment to the freedom of thought.

Because Karl Lowith suggested that CHRISTIANITY EXPOSED (1843) might have been a model for Nietzsche's THE ANTICHRIST (1893), we may understand why there has been considerable hesitation to translate this book into English. I had to see this with my own eyes, and when I did, I realized that people greatly exaggerated the alleged radical nature of Bauer's writings.

This book is far milder than THE ANTICHRIST. In fact, Bruno Bauer here mainly reviews some writings from a theologian who lived in the 1700's, namely, Johann Edelmann. By modern standards this book should never have been banned, and there should have been no hestitation to translate it into English. It is well-written, thoughtful and scholarly.

The translators have done a fine job with this edition. It is easy to read, presented in contemporary English.

This is an academic book, hardcover, mainly for University libraries and scholars, yet it has inter-disciplinary interest, I think. Historians, philosophers, theologians, theorists and political scientists will all find something of interest in this, the first English edition of one of the most feared books of 1843.

Despite the fact that Bruno Bauer, the famous Young Hegelian, wrote dozens of books, this is only the third book of Bauer's translated into English. Thanks to this translating team, the English reader has a chance to see what all the fuss was about.

Best regards,
--Paul Trejo

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Antichristian book that was once banned, June 2, 2008

By	Adam Gajlewicz "Adam Gajlewicz" (WROCLAW Poland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although it may be argued that Bauer's Das Entdeckte Christenthum is far less subversive than Nietzsche's Antichrist (P. Trejo) or Stirner's The Ego and Its Own, I am of a different opinion. The Christanity Exposed or Demasked was not written by a Christianity hater, but by a Protestant analyst who had lost his faith in the course of his prior studies on the Synoptics and St. John. Written by a professional and critical theologian who had sincerely intended to confirm the existence of historical Jesus and attest to the veracity and validity of the Gospels, this book was also written by an ex-theologian completely divested of any religious illusions. The result he obtains is similar to the conclusion reached by Feuerbach in the Essence of Christianity (God is a human projection). Bauer's work was much praised by Schweitzer and may still be continued by Hans Kung. The Prussian authorities had a good reason to dismiss Bruno B. from Berlin University and were equally justified in banning the book which - much as it fails to comply with the research standards of today - sets out to pose a number of vexed questions and problems (eg Edelman's discussion of the Devil) that are likely to make ingenuous church-goers sustain a religious trauma. Incontestably B. Bauer was one of the ablest thinkers of his time and it is difficult to explain how and why his name has sunk into obscurity. (The reasons suggested by Trejo, however, seem very convincing.)