Bruno Bauer (6 September 1809-13 April 1882) was a German philosopher and theologian.
Biography[]
Bruno Bauer was born in Eisenberg, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1809, and he studied Immanuel Kant's works at the University of Berlin before becoming associated with the conservative "Right Hegelians" group. Bauer became a theologian and professor, arguing that Christianity owed more to Ancient Greek Stoicism than to Judaism. From 1837 to 1841, he served as a teacher, mentor, and close friend to Karl Marx, but he broke with Marx over Marx's adoption of communistic views; Bauer wrote Trumpet of the Last Judgment Against Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist in 1841. His unorthodox writings on the New Testament led to his dismissal from the University of Bonn in 1842, and he wrote more than nine theological tomes in twelve volumes. Bauer infamously argued that Jesus never existed, and that he was a fusion of Jewish, Greek, and Roman theology. He died in 1882.