The New and the Old Faith

Chapter 15 is an examination of Strauß’s last philosophical writing, Der alte und der neue Glaube. This work was an attempt to work out a new humanism independent of religious belief. The chapter examines the various aspects of this new humanism: its cosmology, its ethics, and its politics. In this work, Strauß posed the provocative question whether his contemporaries were still Christians, and answered it in the negative. This chapter attempts to explain the reasoning behind Strauß’s answer. It ends with a brief characterization of Strauß’s politics: his conservative sentiments regarding political change, his fears of socialism, and his abiding belief in monarchy.

The Zurich Affair

This chapter considers two important developments in Strauß’s life in the late 1830s: his attempt to gain a position on the Zurich faculty of theology, and the composition of his long essay on Schleiermacher and Daub. Strauß’s attempt to join the Zurich faculty was a disaster, closing the door on all his attempts to acquire a professional position. The ups and downs of his attempt are described in this chapter. The essay on Schleiermacher and Daub, one of Strauß’s finest, contrasts these two contemporary theologians, who represent the “subjective” and “objective” poles of contemporary theology. Strauß found both views deficient because of their vacillation about the power of reason.

Crisis and Compromise

Chapter 9 examines the fallout from the reaction against Das Leben Jesu on Strauß’s life and writing. It first considers Strauß’s personal crisis from the spring of 1837 to 1838 when he fell into a deep depression because of his social isolation, which was the result of his reputation as a heretic. It then treats Strauß’s attempt to restore his reputation by revising some of his critical conclusions about the gospel of John in the third edition of Das Leben Jesu. It is argued that Strauß did not really retract his earlier conclusions but only slightly qualified them. This chapter also examines Strauß’s Zwei friedliche Blätter, where he attempted to modify his concept of Jesus so that he would be acceptable to a more orthodox Christian public. Though he was no longer divine in status, Jesus was now regarded as a genius.

Reaction, Demotion, and Exile

The main subject of this chapter is the immediate consequences for Strauß’s career of the publication of Das Leben Jesu. It first treats Strauß’s self-defense before the Inspektorat in Tübingen: that his critique was only developing a tendency already present in Protestant theology. It then examines the consequences of the failure of this defense: Strauß’s banishment to a minor post in Ludwigsburg. Strauß’s failure to adjust to this new life led to his decision to move to Stuttgart and to become a freelance writer. Another concern of this chapter is the changes Strauß introduced into the second edition of Das Leben Jesu.

Context and Background

Chapter 3 is a study of Strauß’s early intellectual context. It examines his early faith, his educational institutions (the Blaubeuren school and Tübinger Stift), his early devotion to mysticism and romanticism, his conversion to Hegel’s philosophy, his stint as an apprentice pastor in the village of Klein-Ingersheim, and his trip to Berlin to learn the master’s philosophy directly from its source. The chapter also discusses the influence of Kant, Schelling, Schleiermacher, and Boehme on the young Strauß, and attempts to reconstruct the major philosophical problem facing Strauß: the conflict between reason and faith in the early nineteenth century.

Reputation and Reality

This chapter attempts to explain the discrepancy between Strauß’s reputation and reality. Strauß is often portrayed as a revolutionary because he had written a radical book which undermined the authority of state and church. Yet Strauß was a moderate in both religion and politics. In religion, it was his intention to replace the weak historical foundation of Christianity in the Bible with a stronger philosophical foundation in the idea. In politics, Strauß dissociated himself from the left wing in the Württemberg Parliament and spurned the radical Junges Deutschland (New Germany) movement; on the whole, his politics was that of a moderate liberalism. Contrary to a widely accepted view, the chapter argues that Strauß was not a left-wing Hegelian.

Historical Significance of Das Leben Jesu

The aim of this chapter is to determine the historical significance of Strauß’s most famous book, Das Leben Jesu, which was first published in 1835. The book had a major religious and political significance. Its religious significance lay in undermining faith in the historical testimony behind the New Testament, which had been the chief reason for belief in the Bible in orthodox Protestantism. Its political significance came from undermining the belief in Christian revelation, which had been the main rationale for the authority of the state. Strauß also formulated the famous distinction between right- and left-wing Hegelianism, which became the main focus of political debate in the 1830s and 1840s.

Career in Politics and Political Writings

This chapter examines Strauß’s brief career in politics and his chief political writings, which took place from 1847 to1848. It first examines Strauβ‎’s attitude toward politics and his initial ambivalence about entering the political sphere It then examines his Der Romantiker auf dem Throne der Cäsaren, Strauß’s satire of the political ambitions of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. It then studies some of Strauß’s political articles in Jahrbücher der Gegenwart and Schwäbische Kronik. Strauß’s election campaign and his speeches for a seat in the Frankfurt Parliament are considered. It concludes with an account of his brief career in the Württemberg Parliament.

The Rogue’s Gallery

This chapter treats Strauß’s Streitschriften, his chief polemical writing against the first critics of Das Leben Jesu. These critics came from many quarters, from young Hegelians to orthodox pietists and Lutherans. The Streitschriften are very revealing about Strauß’s ambivalence on certain issues, viz., whether the dogma of Christ’s resurrection was necessary for Christianity; they also show that Strauß held out the possibility of an allegorical interpretation of the Bible. The Streitschriften are most interesting about the reasons for Strauß’s allegiance to criticism and the authority of reason. Here we see why Strauß believed that critique was essential for religious belief.

Tübingen Lectures

This chapter is a survey of Strauß’s early lectures in Tübingen. It first considers the context of Strauß’s lectures and their success with the audience. It then examines the question of why Strauß, after such initial success, abandoned his career as a lecturer. There follows a brief summary of the three lecture series: the 1832 lectures on logic and metaphysics, which were primarily an exposition of Hegel’s Wissenschaft der Logik; the 1832–3 lectures on the history of philosophy since Kant, which give us Strauß’s own views about the history of philosophy, though they are still heavily influenced by Hegel; and the 1833 lectures on the history of moral philosophy.