BAITER, Bauxo, a celebrated biblical critic and philosopher, belonging to the extreme school of German rationalism, was b. at Eisenberg. in the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg. on the 6th Sept. 1809. He is the son of a porcelain-pa inter. and studied at the university of Berlin, where he became doctor of theolog,y in 1834. From this period lie has devoted himself exclusively to what is termed in Germany the scientific criticism of Scripture— that Is to say, a criticism based ou the conviction, that the contents of the Bible have a natural, and not a siipernatnral origin, and ought to be subjected to the same process of philosophic l analysis as other human productions are. In 1839, B. became a prical docent in the university of Bonn. but in 1842 was forbidden to deliver anv more theo logical lectures. He then removed to Berlin, where he has since resided. Tic has passed thronmh various stages of anti-supernaturalism. At first, lie contented himself with believing that the substance of the Christian religion might be extricated from the entanglements of a confused and erroneous system of interpretation. Such is the idea that runs through his earliest works. his Criticism of &rages' Life of Jesus, in the Berlin Year•boole of Scientific Criticism his Jourruil of Specalative Theology and his Critical Exposition of the Religion of the Ohl Testament (Berlin. 1838). Ile soon, however, advanced so far in his "scientific' demands, that it became clear the Scriptures, in Ills eyes, had lost even the moderate authority which he originally supposed them to possess. To this period belong his Doctor Ilengstenberg, (Berlin, 1839), and :the Erangdical .church. of Prussia and Science (Leip. 1840). In the former of these works, B. appears as au opponent of the school of apologetic theologians, and exposes what he conceives to be the weakness of their system as a method of apprehending char acteristic difTerences In the historical developnient of Christian doctrine; in the latter, lie wished to prove that true philosophic union is the dissolution of the outward dogniatio church in the realm of the universal and free self-consciousness—language which is not very intelligible to the finite Anglo-Saxon mind. In his Critique of the Evangelical History of John (Brem. 1840), and Critique of the Evangdical Synopticists (Lop. 1840), he attempted to show that the so-called facts of the gospel never really had a historical existence, and that those artistic compositions which we term the gospels, were simply the product of the human self-consciousness. B. considers Strauss, a mere apologetical theologian, a com paratively orthodox writer( and regards his conclusions with the supercilious contempt of one who has reached a far higher elevation, while be conceives that his own special work in this world has been to strike off the last head of the hydra of the tradition-hypothesis.
The persecutions to which he was now subjected brought about a complete rupture between him and the church, the consequence of which was a brochure entitled The Question of Liberty, and my own Private Affairs (Zurich, 1843). Then followed his Chris tianity Unveiled (Zurich, 1843), in which he expressed the same conviction that he had previously done in two ironical treatises—viz., that a dogmatic religion was opposed to our self-consciousness. About this time he broke with his old friends, the liberals, by writing a pamphlet against the emancipation of the Jews, Die Jud•nfrage (Brunswick, 1843). This tractate forms the transition point to the third period of B.'s intellectual activity, in which he seems to have abandoned theology altogether as something hope less. lie now occupied himself exclusively with literature and political philosophy. The number of his writings in this department is very great. The principal arc, History of the Politics, Civilization, and Enlightenment of the 18th Century (Charlottenburg, 1843-45); History of Germany during the French Revolution and the Reign of .:Vapoleon (Charlotten burg, 1846); History if the French Revolution until time Establishment of the Republic (Lei p. 1847); Western Dictatorship; The Actual Position of Russia; Germany and Russia; Russia and England. The prominent idea in the whole of his works belonging to this period is, that the failure of the popular and national struggles in the 10th c. results from the essential weakness of the '• enlightenment" of the 18th century. More lately B. has again returned to theology. In 1830-31, appeared his Critique of time Gospels and the His tory of their Origin, and his Critique of the Epistles of St. Paul, the latter of which the author considers wholly apocryphal, and written during the 2d century. Besides the works mentioned, B. has composed various other treatises on important points of history, theology, and politics. All B.'s writings exhibit great learning, industry, research, and acumen; but are completely antagonistic to the received opinions in theology, or to any form of evangelical religion. He is generally admitted to be quicker in the discovery of error than of truth. his latest work is Philo, Strauss, Renan, unml das rchristenthum, (1874).