Editing Bruno Bauer (section)

== Biography ==
Bauer was born on 6 September 1809 at [[Eisenberg, Thuringia|Eisenberg]] in [[Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]. In 1815, Bauer's father got a job as a painter in a porcelain factory in Charlottenburg and the family moved to Berlin. From 1828 to 1834 Bauer studied at the University of Berlin under Hegel, [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]], [[Heinrich Gustav Hotho]], and [[Philip Marheineke|Phillip Marheineke]].  While at the university, Bauer's 1829 essay on [[Immanuel Kant]]'s aesthetics won the Prussian royal prize in philosophy on Hegel's recommendation.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Moggach |first=Douglas |title=Bruno Bauer |date=2022 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/bauer/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |access-date=2023-07-27 |edition=Spring 2022 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref>

He became associated with the "[[Right Hegelians]]'" under Marheineke, who engaged Bauer years later to edit the second edition of Hegel's ''"Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion" (1818-1832)''.

From 1834 to 1839 Bauer taught theological and biblical texts in Berlin. In 1838 he published his {{lang|de|Kritische Darstellung der Religion des Alten Testaments}} (Critical Exhibition of the Religion of the Old Testament) in two volumes.

However, in 1839 he was transferred to the University of Bonn after publishing an attack on his former teacher [[Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg]].<ref name=":1" />

Consistent with his Hegelian Rationalism, Bauer continued in 1840 with, {{lang|de|Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte des Johannes}} (Critique of the Evangelical History of John). In 1841 Bauer continued his Rationalist theme with, {{lang|de|Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker}} (''Critique of the Evangelical History of the [[Synoptic Gospels|Synoptics]]'').{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

From 1839 to 1841, Bauer was a teacher, mentor and close friend of [[Karl Marx]], but in 1841 they came to a break. Marx, with [[Friedrich Engels]], had formulated a socialist and communistic program that Bauer firmly rejected. Marx and Engels in turn expressed their break with Bauer in two books: ''[[The Holy Family (book)|The Holy Family]]'' (1845) and ''[[The German Ideology]]'' (1846).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rozen |first=Zvi |date=1970 |title=The Influence of Bruno Bauer on Marx' Concept of Alienation |journal=Social Theory and Practice |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=50–68|doi=10.5840/soctheorpract19701213 }}</ref>

He was dismissed from the University of Bonn in 1842 due to his unorthodox writings on the [[New Testament]].<ref name=":1" /> At no time in his writing was Bauer ever an orthodox Christian.

He was called a "Right Hegelian" by his contemporary David Strauss.  (cf. [[David Strauss]], ''In Defense of My 'Life of Jesus' Against the Hegelians'', 1838).  Also, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels accused Bauer of being a right-wing fanatic in their book
''The Holy Family: Against Bruno Bauer and Co.'' (1845), and in ''The German Ideology'' (1846).  Further, several scholars (e.g., Dr. Lawrence Stepelevich) still maintain that Bauer's book, ''Trumpet of the Last Judgment Against Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist'' (1841), was a genuinely right-wing production.

Despite this, Bauer was much later accused of being a "Left Hegelian" because of his association, or rather his early leadership, of the [[Young Hegelians]]. The labels of 'Left' and 'Right' were only placed on Bauer by others; never by himself.

The Prussian Minister of Education, [[Karl vom Stein zum Altenstein|Altenstein]], sent Bauer to the [[University of Bonn]], to protect his Rationalist Theology from the critique of the Berlin orthodox, as well as to win over Bonn University to Hegelianism. Bauer, however, created many enemies at [[pietist]]-dominated Bonn University, where he openly taught [[Rationalism]] in his new position as professor of theology. Bauer attested in letters during this time that he tried to provoke a scandal, to force the government either to give complete freedom of research and teaching to its university professors or to openly express its anti-enlightenment position by removing him from his post.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

The pro-Hegelian minister Altenstein died in 1840 and was replaced by the anti-Hegelian Eichhorn. The government officials asked for advice from the theology departments of its universities. Except for the Hegelian [[Marheineke]], most said that a professor of Protestant theology should not be allowed to teach "atheism" to his student priests. As Bauer was unwilling to compromise his Rationalism, the Prussian government in 1842 revoked his teaching license. After the setbacks of the [[revolutions of 1848]], Bauer left the city. He lived an [[ascetic]] and [[Stoicism|stoic]] life in the countryside of [[Rixdorf]] near Berlin.<ref>{{cite book |chapter='The Republic of Self-Consciousness': Bruno Bauer’s Post-Kantian Perfectionism |first1=Michael Kuur |last1=Sørensen |first2=Douglas |last2=Moggach |author-link2=Douglas Moggach |date=2019-11-07 |doi=10.30965/9783846762844_010 |title=Perfektionismus der Autonomie |pages=203–226 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]], Fink |isbn=9783846762844|s2cid=213377839 }}</ref>

Bauer continued to write, including more than nine theological tomes, in twelve volumes. The tomes varied between theology, modern history and politics. He wrote while working at his family's tobacco shop.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Between 1843 and 1845, Bauer published {{lang|de|Geschichte der Politik, Kultur und Aufklärung des 18ten Jahrhunderts}} (''History of Politics, Culture and Enlightenment in the 18th Century'', in 4 volumes). In 1847 Bauer published {{lang|de|Geschichte der französischen Revolution}} (''History of the French Revolution'', in 3 volumes). Between 1850 and 1852 Bauer published {{lang|de|Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs}} (''A Critique of the Gospels and a History of their Origin''),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bauer |first1=Bruno |title=Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprunges |date=1852 |publisher=Gustav Hempel |location=Austrian National Library |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dytLAAAAcAAJ |access-date=21 June 2024}}</ref> as well as {{lang|de|Kritik der paulinischen Briefe}} (''Critique of the Pauline Epistles'').<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bauer |first1=Bruno |title=Kritik der paulinischen Briefe |date=1851 |publisher=Gustav Kempel |location=The University of Chicago Libraries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_tMAQAAMAAJ&q=Bruno+Bauer+kritik |access-date=21 June 2024}}</ref>

In 1877 Bauer published {{lang|de|Christus und die Caesaren}} (''Christ and the Caesars''), and in 1882 he published {{lang|de|Disraelis romantischer und Bismarcks socialistischer Imperialismus}} (''Disraeli's Romantic and Bismarck's Socialist Imperialism'').{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Bauer's final book on theology, ''Christ and the Caesars'' (1879), was his crowning effort to justify Hegel's position that Christian theology owed at least as much to Greco-Roman classical philosophy as it owed to Judaism.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Bauer died at Rixdorf in 1882.