On the History of German Religion and Scholarship

Author: (German) Heinrich Heine
Translator: Hai'an
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-01-01
Features: In 19th-century Germany, the philosophical revolution preceded political change, a unique event in the history of philosophy. The earliest to discover and write about this was Heine in his History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany. This book is one of Heine's most brilliant political essays. In his own words, it aims to critically describe the true spirit of Germany, introduce the revolutionary significance of German philosophy, and make readers aware of Germany's revolutionary tradition. Therefore, do not merely view this book as a history of philosophy or a history of religion.
Preface: Engels said in The End of Classical German Philosophy that "Just as in 18th-century France, the philosophical revolution also preceded political change in 19th-century Germany. Hegel's system was even elevated to the state philosophy of the Prussian Kingdom! Behind these professors, behind their pedantic and obscure language, their clumsy and dry statements, could there be any revolution? But what neither the government nor the liberals saw was that at least one person had already seen it in 1833—he was Heinrich Heine." Engels here refers to Heine's remarks on the German philosophical revolution in History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany. History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany was written between 1833 and 1834, translated into French in 1834, and published in The Two Worlds Review in three installments; it was published in German in 1835 but heavily censored by the censors; in 1852, it was republished with additions based on the French translation (as the original German manuscript was lost at the time). After Heine's death, the original German manuscript was rediscovered, and the current standard edition is based on the corrected German manuscript. This book was once published in French together with On Romanticism as a standalone volume under the title De l'Allemagne (About Germany), the same as the one written by the famous French noblewoman writer Madame de Sta?l, who had fled to Germany during the French Revolution. As Heine himself said, Madame de Sta?l's About Germany was a glorified description of the backward feudal Germany, while his About Germany aimed to critically describe the true spirit of Germany and introduce the revolutionary significance of German philosophy to French readers, while also making the German people aware of their own revolutionary tradition.
This book is divided into three parts: The first part discusses the history of religion (from the birth of Christianity to the German religious scene during the Reformation); the second part discusses the origins of German classical philosophy, introducing the philosophies and influences of figures like Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz; the third part discusses the development of German classical philosophy from Kant to Hegel, with a focus on its revolutionary significance.
Heine's book begins with a critique of religion. In the first part, he tells French readers, "Because in Germany, the power of religion still needs to be dismantled. Our situation is like yours before the revolution, that is, Christianity has formed an inseparable alliance with the old regime. As long as Christianity still influences the masses, the old regime cannot be broken." (See page 12 of this book). He also wrote in On Romanticism, written from late 1832 to early 1833, that the Catholic Church "became a reliable pillar of autocracy by preaching that all worldly wealth should be despised and that people should obey like dogs and endure like angels."
As for the philosophical discussions, as Heine himself said in the second part of this book, "We are always concerned with socially significant issues" and "issues where philosophy and religion compete" (See page 55 of this book). Thus, the purpose of this book becomes very clear: to prepare public opinion for the impending bourgeois revolution in Germany.
The main theme of Heine's book is to argue that the development of German religion and philosophy since Martin Luther has been a preparation for the social revolution in Germany. He not only pointed out that German classical philosophy since Kant hides revolutionary potential but also linked a series of thinkers since Luther to social revolution, offering his own interpretation and promoting the demands of the bourgeois revolution at the time.
Heine believed that the history of German religion and philosophy since the Middle Ages has been a history of reason, freedom, and democracy gradually winning over religion, ignorance, and autocracy. He interpreted the Reformation as the rise of reason, Spinoza, Lessing, and Kant as atheists, and the philosophies of figures like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel as precursors of democratic revolution. Although many of these arguments are inappropriate and often misjudge the importance of figures, their basic tendency was still helpful to the bourgeois revolution at the time. Therefore, the significance of this book in the development of German revolutionary thought before Marxism should still be recognized.
However, we cannot overestimate Heine and this book. Despite the materialist tendencies in Heine's worldview, his social and historical views were idealist. His understanding of the opposition between materialism and idealism was also very vague, often not distinguishing between the two philosophical camps based on the fundamental question of philosophy—whether thought and existence are one or two. As a result, he even called Aristotle a typical materialist. He also exaggerated the revolutionary significance of Kant's philosophy and failed to analyze its incompleteness from the perspective of the contradictions faced by the German bourgeoisie, instead explaining it in terms of psychological factors.
Politically, Heine was a radical democratic bourgeois. He was not only a radical poet but also a political essayist. Many of his prose works and political essays had profound intellectual depth. For example, when discussing the issues of the era, he said, "What is the great issue of our time? It is liberation. Every era has its issue, and solving it pushes humanity forward." (Travel from Munich to Genoa, 1828). The "liberation" that Heine yearned for, to some extent, went beyond the horizon of the bourgeoisie—he dreamed of socialism, but his socialist views were heavily colored with Saint-Simonism, and it can be said that he never truly understood scientific socialism.
Overall, his philosophical and political views were full of contradictions. His life path was also tortuous and wavering. In the Preface to the French Edition of Lucretia, written in 1855 and later regarded as his "political will," he once again expressed his belief that "the future belongs to the communists," but at the same time, he was overcome with "an indescribable sorrow" and even "felt hatred and fear"—worried that the victorious proletariat would make him believe that all beautiful cultural treasures would disappear along with the old romantic world.
Heine's History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany is one of his most brilliant political essays. We translated and published this book primarily to provide readers with material for studying Marxist and Leninist works, especially Engels' The End of Classical German Philosophy. Of course, this book is also useful for researching the historical figure of Heine.