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The Old Faith and the New by David Friedrich Strauss published by Prometheus Books

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. ". . . gives rise to important questions in modern religious thought that have lingered since Strauss' time. The devout and skeptic alike will enjoy the mental gymnastics this discourse provides while challenging the basic tenets of religious thought." --Small Press

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