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