Gotthold Lessing (1729-81)

Major works

•          Fragments (opened door to critical study of the Bible, especially the New Testament)

•          The Education of the Human Race

Importance

•          German dramatist, critic and writer

•          A deist who rejected validity of biblical revelation and explained the origin of Christianity from a naturalist standpoint

•          Said Jesus of the Gospels is different than the Jesus of history

•          View on gap between history and faith became known as “Lessing’s Ditch” –“the accidental truths of history can never become the proof of necessary truths of reason”

•          Believed there was an Aramaic Gospel of Matthew

•          Known for his contributions in literature and the evolution of the German language