Hermeneutics of the Bible – |
The German Enlightenment was not acknowledged by its successors without reservation. Quite often later scholars of speculative philosophy were convinced they could surpass Enlightenment achievements and overcome its weaknesses. This can be traced back to the fact that, although Kant's Transcendentalism is firmly rooted in the German Enlightenment, it simultaneously reaches out towards the systems of German Idealism.
Consequently, one of the most important representatives of the German Enlightenment, Moses Mendelssohn – whom Kant originally had called "The One and Only" and Lessing looked upon as the "New Spinoza" – was discredited.
My survey aims to reconstruct Mendelssohn's philosophy of religion through an examination of his biblical hermeneutics. Moreover, I will compare Mendelssohn's philosophy of religion with both the emergence of ethical religion and critical Bible exegesis within Enlightenment theology.
At the beginning of his philosophical career, Mendelssohn develops a theory of aesthetics peculiar to himself by analysing what in the German language is called 'Empfindung', which could be translated as "perception". In Mendelssohn's view, this specific type of perception has a quality which enables human beings to open themselves to the sublime.
This particular concept of perception is also of special interest because of the debate which Herder and Michaelis, among others, pursued concerning Old Testament poesy. Participants on all sides of the controversy refer to Lowth's 'De sacra poesi hebraeorum praelectiones' in both critical and positive ways.
In the debate on Old Testament religion, however, there is a further crucial element to consider: German Enlightenment theology had renounced reading the Bible as a word for word inspiration from God. Henceforth the Bible was understood as a document recounting the belief in divine providence and eternity. Furthermore, the edifying dimension of Mosaic religion was underlined in the biblical account. Mosaic religion represents the 'genesis' of edification.
Mendelssohn connects this dimension of edification and ethics with his interpretation of the Jewish religion, the centre of which is the Ceremonial Law. From the point of view of the philosophy of history, the explosive potential of this connection becomes evident in the comparison of Mendelssohn's understanding of religion and history with Kant's 'Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht' (1784). Kant's historical teleology and his optimism towards the concept of Constitution ('Staatsverfassung') differ significantly from Mendelssohn's pessimistic philosophical view of history and his notion of the discontinuity of historical events. At the centre of Mendelssohn's reasoning is the indivduation of the human beeing, which manifests itself in the countenance ('Antlitz').
In his translation of the Book of Psalms and the Pentateuch, Mendelssohn transforms religious principles into the language of vivid belief. Indeed, one could claim that this translation is the application of lived religion.