Between rationalism and a new myth: Lessing and post-Enlightenment theology
Między racjonalizmem a nowym mitem. Lessing i teologia postoświeceniowa
Keywords: rationalism; myth; Gotthold Ephraim Lessing; Enlightenment in Germany; Lutheran theology; forms of mythical imagination; post-Enlightenment theology
The most important elements of the theological-philosophical works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – the main representative of Enlightenment literature in Germany. Departing from the dispute with Lutheran theology, the author presents Lessing’s ideas for overcoming the impasse in which the forms of mythical imagination found themselves in the era of advancing secularization. Based on reading source texts, the author portrays the transition from radical rationalism to a new conceptualization of mythical constructs and symbolical structures in correlation with a dynamics of the functioning of the social community in its political dimension.
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