[Germ, ed.]) the assumptions by which his critique wouKl be fiuiilid. Tla-se were an invariable sameness uf nature in all that comes to pass,anil a consequent im- possibility that supernatural facts should occur in the course of history. In the prot^ress of his inquiry, he shows from Spinoza that the laws of nature are simply the will of (iod in the ct)urse of constant actualization, and that a miracle therefore involves a contradiction in the Deitv. He asserts, atjaiiist Nitzsch, that tlie dis- tinction l)etwecn a hiifher and a lower nature is without meaning, "since the hiy;her nature is still nature." The miraculous history of the Kedeemer is reduced to a nar- ration of natural events. .Fesus, a pious Jew, was at- tracted i)y the preaching of the Haptist, made the usual confession of sin, and was baptized into Him who was to come. Subsequently he attained to the consciousness that he was himself the promised Jlessiah, and through the energetic assertion of that consciousness, his high moral principles, and his bearing, he impressed many jieople favorably, especially among the lower classes, and gathered about him a number of enthusiastic ad- herents; but having incurred the hatred of the Phari- sees, he fell before their hostility, and ended his life on the cross. The miracles with which this simple history was embellished in the Church had their origin in the fancy of his devoted disciiiles, and came in time to be received as facts. A conclusion was appended to the boi>k, in which the author endeavored to replace the historical with an ideal .Jesus. He advanced the idea that the (iod-inan finds his actualization, not in the in- dividual, but in the human race as a whole. Later pub- lications showed that under the force of adverse criti- cisms the author had moditicd his views so far as to re- gard the life of Jesus as extraordinary and Jesus him- self as a religious genius, endciwed with power to con- trol the minds of men, and perhaps with powers of phys- ical healing; and the concessions were carried so far (in jit. ii of \'ert/aiii/lic/i€s unci BUibendes) as to compel the recognition in Jesus of the highest " that can be known or thought in religious things," and the acknowledg- ment that without him present in the mind no complete piety is possil)le, " so that the substance of Christianity is in him preserved to us." The earlier position was, however, eventually reassumed by Strauss. In the pref- ace to .S/itJkn Hud Charakteristiken, written in August, 1K39, he recalls the opinion he had expressed in favor of the authenticity of the Gospel of St. John, and in the 4th edition of the Lebeii Jesu he expresses regret at having nicked his sword, and returns to the negations of the 1st edition. .Strauss had been charged with having given too little attention to the authenticity of the gospels in grounding his work. He made no reply, but when liaur's tendency-theorij was published, he pro- fessed entire assent to its principles. It would seem that in this utterance he had not only hacked, but broken into jtieces, his sword ; for the tendency-criticism has no place for the mythical theory; the "'primitive idea of Christianity in historical garb" cannot be liar- nioni/.<Ml witli '• legend invented without purpose." This, however, did not liin<ler hitn, when celeijratiug the twen- ty-lifih anniversary of the issue of his Lchm Jimi, from expressing tlie/)pinion that the teachings of the book had l)een absorlKtd into the culture of the day and into tlie veins of science. He asserts, moreover, that during those years not a single line has i>een written on the topics of which il treats in which its infliu-nco may not be Hi-en, Such an ilhision respecting Ilie slate of the Church and of theological siience can b(! explained only in view of the "isolated life" to which he was, as he complained, condemned. The speculations of the book have pasjtffd away from tlermany and hft no trace be- hind; and in liul narrow circles in other lands can their iriMucnce b(! olwerved. Of responses to Sirauss we notice Ullmniui, llUilorurli od,r Mijiliiirlt ( (\KW) ; iil. ,V'»7/ ,in Wiirt uUr d. I'emim Clirlxli, etc., in .Stud. it. Krit. 1838; Thohick, Clindwiirdiijhit d. evmif/fl. Geschichte ("id ed. 183«;; Hug, (Jutuchfen iiber d. Leben Jesu von iSI/uuss
(1844); Wurm, Leben Luther's (Tiib. 1830); and Nean- der, Leben Jesu, 1837 (English, N. Y. 1848).— Herzog, Real-Eucyklop. s. v. See Mythical Theory.
Strauss, Gerhard Friedrich Abraham, a
German writer, was born Sept. 24, 178(;, at Iserlohn. He studied at Halle and Heidelberg, and after having served as pastor in different places, he was called in 1822, as court preacher, to the cathedral in Berlin, where he died July 19, 18G3. Strauss distinguished himself as pastor, preacher, and author. Of his many writings, we mention, Glockentone, oder Erinnerungen aus den Leben eines junyen Geistlichen (7th ed. Leips. 1840, 3 vols.): — Die Taufe im Jordan (Elberfeld, 1822): — He- Ions Wallfahrt nach Jerusalem (ibid. 1820-23, 4 vols. ; Engl, transl. Phila. 1860) : — Das evangelische Kirchen- jahr in seinem Zusinnmenhunge (Berlin, 1850) : — A bend- ■ glockentone, Erinneriingen eines alien Geistlichen aus seinem Leben (ibid. 1868). Besides these works, there are a large number of published sermons, preached on different occasions and subjects. See Tkeolog. Univer- sal-Lexikon, s. v.; Regensburger Conversations- Lexikon, s. v.; Zuchold, Bibl. fheolog. ii, 1283-87 ; Winer, Hund- buch der theol. Literatur (see Index). (B. P.)