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RATIONALISM. 



RATIONALISM. 



950 



Michaclis, and J. G. Eichhorn. They directed their attacks against the 

 deists as well as against the orthodox divines, but they confined the 

 application of the rationalistic principle chiefly to the books of the 

 Old Testament. Sender's principal works in this department are, 

 ' Apparatus ad liberalem Veteris Testament! Interpretationem,' Halle, 

 1773 ; ' Abhandlung von der Untersuchung des Kanons,' 4 vols., Halle, 

 1771-75, compare Sender's ' Leben, von ihm Belfast verfasst,' 2 vols., 

 Halle, 1781-82. The principal works of Michaelis are ' Einleitung in 

 die gottlichen Schriften des alten Bundes,' 2 vols., Gb'ttingen, 1750; 

 ' Mosaischea Recht,' 6 vols., Frankfurt, 1770-75. Eichhorn was by far 

 the most important writer of the school ; he laid down and carried 

 out the new principles in his ' Allgemeine Bibliothek der biblischen 

 Literatur,' 10 vols., Leipzig, 1788-1801; 'Einleitung in das Alte 

 Testament,' of which there appeared, in 1824, at Gottingen, the fourth 

 edition, in 5 vols. ; ' Einleitung in das Neue Testament/ in 2 vols., and 

 several other works. 



Eichhorn, whom we may consider as the representative of the new 

 school, previous to the time when Dr. Paulus began to occupy a pro- 

 minent position in it, sets out from the principle that the early history 

 of the Jews should be considered in the same light and treated in the 

 same manner as the early history of every other nation ; and that a 

 direct interference of the deity in the early affairs of all nations must 

 either be admitted or denied. The reasons which led him to con- 

 sider the fact of such a direct interference inadmissible in the case 

 of other nations, led him to deny it in the case of the Jews also. 

 Rejecting the views of the deists as unphilosophical and incompatible 

 with the character of early history in general, he proceeds to state that 

 it is natural to all nations in their primitive ages to speak of a divine 

 interference in their affairs, wherever their ignorance conceals from 

 them the real causes of the things which fall within their experience. 



It is this belief, according to Eichhorn, which gives a form to all 

 their ideas and expressions. But we, who live in a far more advanced 

 ui'l enlightened age, have neither reason to suppose that any miracles 

 actually took place, nor that any kind of imposition was practised : we 

 have only to translate the expression of those early ages into the lan- 

 guage of our own time. In the infancy of mankind everything of 

 which no direct cause appeared was referred to the intervention of 

 -:i[ t niatural powers; and accordingly all elevated thoughts, great 

 determinations, useful inventions and institutions, and particularly 

 dreams, were considered as the effects of a direct interposition of the 

 deity; extraordinary knowledge and skill were looked upon by the 

 people as proofs of supernatural power and of an intercourse with 

 beings of a higher order. Moreover, not only the people, but the wise 

 and great, were themselves fully convinced that they were acting under 

 the immediate influence and were enjoying the especial favour of the 

 Deity. Taking these premises for granted, and at the same time 

 admitting that the biblical books were written by contemporaries, 

 Eichhorn thought that all the facts of the Mosaic history might be 

 explained as natural occurrences, without supposing, with the deists, 

 that the writer was an impostor. The temptation and the eating of 

 the forbidden fruit, the histories of Noah, Abraham, and Moses, are 

 thus stripped of their supposed allegorical dress and of those features 

 which it is supposed that they have received from the imagination of 

 the writer, and are explained as natural events. According to Eich- 

 horn, Moses was nothing but a great and benevolent patriot, who, after 

 having long entertained the idea of delivering his countrymen from 

 foreign slavery, was suddenly reminded of his scheme in a dream, and 

 believing this dream tu be from the deity, he represented it as a sum- 

 mons from Jehovah. The burning and smoking of Mount Sinai, 

 according to this system of exposition, were only the effect of a fire 

 which Moses kindled on the Mount for the purpose of keeping up the 

 excitement of his people ; and a storm with lightning, which fortunately 

 happened at the same time, was a useful aid to him. The shining of 

 his face was nothing but the consequence of great heat and excitement, 

 which the lawgiver as well as his people, not knowing the real cause of 

 it, believed to be the effect of a direct interference of the deity. 



This system of interpretation was, as we have observed, principally 

 applied to the Old Testament, but the New Testament also contains 

 passages which were too tempting to be passed over by the rationalists. 

 It was at first chiefly the appearance of angels in the New Testament 

 on wliieh Eichhorn tried the rationalistic interpretation, and all pas- 

 sages of this kind ought, according to this critic, to be considered as 

 figurative expressions or allegories : thus a happy chance is represented 

 as a saving angel ; an internal joy, as the salutation of an angel ; and 

 great calmness and peace of mind, as a comforting angel, &c. 



The way being thus prepared, the number of rationalistic divines 

 increased, and their influence became apparent in many other depart- 

 ments of knowledge. A Utilitarian school had at the same time 

 acquired considerable power ; and so far as it endeavoured to instruct 

 the people in the so-called useful sciences, and to do away with every- 

 thing which was deemed superstitious, it went hand in hand with and 

 supported rationalism, which now began to be carried out in its whole 

 extent with regard to the New as well as the Old Testament. 



Among the works which gained the greatest popularity, we may 

 mention K. F. Bahrdt, ' Briefe uber die Bibel im Volkston,' 1782; 

 Eck, ' Versuch iiber die Wundergeschichten des Neuen Testaments,' 

 1795; 'l>i- W'.iidi-r <!. Ni-ueii Testaments in ilirer wain-en Ccstalt 

 fur achte Christusverelirur,' 17Ul> ; ' Natiirliche Geschichte des 



grossen Propheten von Nazaret,' 1800. The two last works, which 

 were published anonymously, were written by Venturini. Most of 

 these, and the numerous other works of the same tendency, were 

 written in a popular style ; and those of Bahrdt had often a coarse 

 and vulgar tone. The philosophical systems of Hegel and Schelling 

 had the same realistic tendency, though in a less popular form. But 

 none of these writers equalled Dr. Paulus of Heidelberg, either in 

 learning or ingenuity ; and he it was who most completely developed 

 the whole system of Rationalism. His principal works are ' Philolo- 

 gisch-kritischer und historischer Commentar uber das Neue Testament,' 

 4 vols., Liibeck, 1800-1804 (this work was republished in 1830-33, in 

 3 vols., with numerous alterations and corrections, under the altered 

 title of ' Exegetisches Handbuch iibcr die drei ersten Evaugelien ') ; 

 ' Das Leben Jesu, als Grundlage zu einer reinen Geschichte des 

 Urchristenthums,' 2 vols., Heidelberg, 1828. Paulus first insists upon 

 the necessity of distinguishing between those passages of the Bible in 

 which the writers simply state facts and those in which they give their 

 own opinions of them. A fact, according to him, is that which the 

 writers describe as having taken place within then* own experience ; an 

 opinion, on the other hand, is the manner in which they interpret an 

 occurrence and trace it to what they conceive to be its cause. But as 

 these two elements are in most cases interwoven and mixed up with 

 each other in the biblical writings, Paulus conceives it to be the chief 

 object of the biblical critic to separate them, and to discover the 

 genuine historic truth in the various disguises with which the opinions 

 of the age and of the writer have surrounded it ; and he thinks with 

 Eichhorn, that this object may be accomplished if the critic transports 

 himself as much as possible to the scene of the events, and supplies 

 such accessory and explanatory circumstances as may have beeu neg- 

 lected or overlooked by the reporter or eye-witness. Thus the New as 

 well as the Old Testament is deprived of its divine character, and all 

 supernatural interference in the affairs of the Hebrews and in the 

 introduction and establishment of Christianity is denied. Christ is no 

 longer the son of God, but a wise and virtuous man ; his miracles are 

 either acts of friendship and humanity, and manifestations of his skill 

 in the healing art, or the effects of a happy chance. In short, the 

 whole history of the Bible assumes an aspect totally different from that 

 of the original records, and from that which their authors manifestly 

 intended ; in fact it becomes a romance without any foundation except 

 the assertion of the Rationalist that things did actually happen thus 

 and thus. 



A reaction against the spirit of this school manifested itself during 

 the first ten years of the present century. The dreadful ravages caused 

 by the French Revolution created a general desire to restore or maintain 

 the good old times by returning to the religious and political institutions 

 of past times. But although this reaction was successful in other depart- 

 ments, it had very little effect in theology, as it manifested itself rather 

 in passive and retired mysticism than in energetic efforts against the 

 system of the Rationalists. A vigorous opposition however began in 

 1810, which was called forth by the publication of Reinhard's ' Ges- 

 t.aidmsse,' in which Rationalism and Supernaturalism were declared to 

 be diametrically opposed and utterly irreconcilable with each other. 

 This assertion was denied by other theologians, who endeavoured to 

 reconcile the two schools. The contest which then commenced was 

 carried on in a calm and philosophic spirit till 1817, when the cente- 

 nary anniversary of the Reformation was celebrated in Germany, and 

 the Suj>ernaturalistic party, headed by Dr. Harms, of Kiel, endeavoured 

 to make the question a practical one, and to draw to it the attention of 

 the governments and of the whole German nation. The Rationalists 

 were now universally decried as infidels, and as men who had forfeited 

 all right to be called Christians ; and innumerable works were written 

 by the theologians of both parties to defend their opinions. The 

 principal champiofls on the Supernaturalistic side, besides Harms, were 

 Hengstenberg and Tholuck ; on the side of the Rationalists, Gesenius, 

 Wegscheider, Paulus, and Rohr. In these controversies, the rational- 

 istic theory itself almost disappeared, and the question assumed the 

 more general character, whether the Protestant church should allow 

 freedom of thought or not. This turn of the question induced many 

 of the moderate Supernaturaliste, who could not sacrifice their liberty 

 of conscience, to side with the Rationalists. Their wish, however, was 

 merely to bring about some kind of a reconciliation, and not to allow 

 the question to become a national one. Their opinion was that it 

 should be kept strictly within scientific limits, and confined to the 

 learned. Although willing to make concessions to the Rationalists on 

 many points, they were anxious to prevent any practical innovations. 



Each party, however, continued to maintain its tenets. One of the 

 more important rationalistic works which appeared during this period 

 was ' Was heisst glauben, und wer sind die Unglaiibigen ? ' by David 

 Schulz, 1880 ; while Neander and Schleiermacher took the opposite 

 side with much learning and success. 



Up to the year 1835 this second form of Rationalism had been 

 applied only partially, and chiefly to portions of the Old Testament ; 

 but it was then carried out in its full extent with reference to 

 the books of the New Testament, by Dr. David Frederick Strauss, in 

 his ' Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitct,' in 2 vols. The first edition 

 appeared in 1835-36 ; a second was published in 1837, and a third in 

 1838. This work, the production of a man of great learning, profound 

 reflection, and critical skill, called forth a host of polemical works, 



