The Old Faith & the New (Westminster College-Oxford Classics in the Study of Religion) [Hardcover]

David Friedrich Strauss (Author), George Albert Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997 | ISBN-10: 1573921181 | ISBN-13: 978-1573921183

German philosopher and radical theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) distinguished himself as one of Europe's most controversial critics of the Bible and an intellectual martyr for free-thought. In "The Old Faith and the New" (1872), he uses both 19th- century science and leading philosophers to reject God as the creator of the universe and humankind, the divinity of Christ, and the reality of miracles (the Old Faith), thus consigning religion to the domains of history, myth, and ethics. With Christianity's cosmology undermined, Strauss constructs a new view of the universe and humanity's place in it grounded in science and contemporary technology, Darwinian evolution, and inductive reasoning (the New Faith), all of which offered the hope of finding solutions to human problems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

David Friedrich Strauss was a 19th Century theologian and philosopher whose criticism and eventual abandonment of Christianity was considered radical in his time. A modern reading of his final work, The Old Faith and The New, strikes a chord of familiarity in today's hypercritical, overly analytical world. Here we are confronted with one of the original philosophers who began deconstructing the Bible. Rapidly advancing scientific knowledge along with the new propensity toward rational thought brought to light the implausibility of certain Biblical accounts. Strauss begins volume one by systematically criticizing the weaknesses in the Old Testament and giving his rational analysis of why he can no longer believe in Christianity. The second volume concerns itself with his new approach to faith considering things ethical, political and cultural. This book is complemented by an introduction by Biblical scholar, G.A. Wells, who puts Strauss's work into a modern perspective and elaborates on his positions relative to contemporary philosophers, Kant, Nietzsche and others. The Old Faith and The New gives rise to important questions in modern religious thought that have lingered since Strauss's time. The devout and skeptic alike will enjoy the mental gymnastics this discourse provides while challenging the basic tenets of religious thought. -- From Independent Publisher

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. His first work, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined (1835), which exposed the inconsistencies and contradictions in the gospel accounts of Jesus' life, led to his dismissal from his teaching post at the University of Tubingen. In 1839 he was elected to a chair of theology at the University of Zurich, but the storm of clerically organized protest prevented him from taking up the appointment. In his final work, The Old Faith And The New (1872), Strauss abandons Christianity altogether and turns to a critique of theism in general: Relying on contemporary science and leading philosophers, he rejects God as the creator of the universe and humankind, the divinity of Christ, and the reality of miracles (the Old Faith), thus confining religion to the domains of history, myth, and ethics. With the Christian cosmology underminded, Strauss constructs a new view of the university and humanity's place in it which is grounded in science and technology, Darwinian evolution, and inductive reasoning (the new Faith), all of which hold out the hope of finding true solutions to human problems. Strauss made a lasting contribution to New Testament scholarship. His views on theism, the cosmos and humankind's place in it, and moral and political issues are likewise of abiding interest. Strauss was truly a pioneer in the history of freethought, often resisted because freethought requires the audience to give up much of what had long been accepted as undeniably true. For this reason Strauss knew that his work would be denigrated in his own time. The Old Faith And The New combines his two benchmark books under one cover and brings his work to the attention of a whole new generation of readers and freethinkers. -- Midwest Book Review

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 129 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573921181
• ISBN-13: 978-1573921183
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Single Book, well padded., March 25, 2000

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Bruce P. Barten - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Old Faith & the New (Westminster College-Oxford Classics in the Study of Religion) (Hardcover)

I am so sorry to be doing this, but I wouldn't want anyone who has read the review by Midwest Book Review to think, as its final sentence asserts, that this "combines his two benchmark books under one cover." I happen to have a paperback edition of THE LIFE OF JESUS CRITICALLY EXAMINED, translated into English by the famous novelist George Eliot, itself 812 pages, in which Strauss exhibited what Nietzsche called the real Straussian genius, as a scholar who was adept at compiling a variety of scholarly views on the subject with a bit of dogmatic import. As Strauss put it on page 780 of his truly great work, "as subject of the predicate which the church assigns to Christ, we place, instead of an individual, an idea." Not surprisingly, the church wanted to maintain its own selection of views on Christ, but it was still possible for Strauss to switch from theology to more popular matters of public opinion, in which pompous thinkers like Wagner and Schopenhauer were lightly skimmed over in favor of the famous old masters of German thought. Wagner and Nietzsche found Strauss particularly vulnerable to attack, and my familiarity with this book is entirely the result of Nietzsche's attempt to destroy it, which provided him a freedom of speech that he could never have savored if he had remained in Germany, a dark and dreary place thoroughly soaked in beer, if Nietzsche can be given any credibility on matters relating to the country of his birth. Strauss deserves to be recognized as the best recorder of ideas with which the most intellectual pretenders to culture intoxicated themselves with their beer, but the jump from Christianity to this, the contrast called forth by the title of this book, is hardly any indication of any great leap forward. At one time, this might have been like a little red book of Chairman Mao Quotations for those who valued their own opinions above all else, but it had been bested by 1873. After Strauss was buried, Nietzsche wrote to one of his friends that he could hope "that I did not sadden his last months, and that he died without knowing anything about me. It's rather on my mind." (11 February 1874) It might also be on the mind of anyone who reads this book today.