Karl Friedrich Bahrdt
1741–1792 · German rationalist theologian
Karl Friedrich Bahrdt (Bischofswerda, 1741 – near Halle, 1792) was a German Protestant theologian, a figure of early German rationalism and a participant in the quest for the historical Jesus begun by Hermann Samuel Reimarus. His controversial career made him one of the most notorious figures of his age.
He studied at Leipzig and worked as a preacher and lecturer in Erfurt and Giessen. His drift towards extreme rationalism estranged him from orthodoxy and brought him into conflict with church authorities. His free rendering of the New Testament into modern German, published between 1773 and 1775, drew a scornful attack from Goethe and led to a ban on teaching and publishing theology. Burdened by debts, he eventually lectured on moral philosophy in Halle while running a tavern.
His thought aimed to replace supernatural Christianity with a rational moral system. In his Life of Jesus of 1786 he argued that Jesus belonged to the Essenes. In 1787 he founded the German Union of the Two and Twenty, a secret society with Masonic leanings. Arrested in 1789, partly for a lampoon against a Prussian religious edict, he wrote his autobiography during his imprisonment. His voluminous output is remembered more as a sign of the radical Enlightenment than for its lasting merit.
Key ideas
- Extreme rationalism: faith should be examined through reason, and supernatural biblical accounts are given natural explanations.
- Jesus and the Essenes: he proposed that Jesus belonged to the Essene group, placing him in a specific Jewish setting.
- Rational morality: he sought a moral system that could replace supernatural Christianity.
- Freedom of the press: he defended free expression and its limits in an anonymous 1787 work.
Curiosities
Goethe and the rewritten Bible
His free translation of the New Testament drew a satirical prologue from Goethe, published in 1774.
A tavern in Halle
Without means, he kept a tavern with a billiard table near the town gate while giving his lectures in the morning.
A student prank
As a young man he tried to raise spirits with the help of a book attributed to Dr Faust, one of his university pranks.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.