Bernard Bolzano Gesamtausgabe / Reihe I: Schriften. Band 6,2: Lehrbuch der Religionswissenschaft. Erster Teil. §§ 86-177

The lectures which Bernard Bolzano held from 1805 up to his dismissal in January of 1820 as a professor for Catholic religious education at the University of Prague in the context of the philosophical studies were published anonymously in 1834 in a four-volume edition with which Bolzano was very unhappy. As part of the collected works of Bolzano there is now for the first time a new critical edition of this work which includes the corrections and variants of a master copy authorized by Bolzano. The textbook is divided into three parts: In the first part Bolzano explains the concept of religion and other terms which are essential for his philosophy of religion and presents the most important theories of natural religion and rational religion, divided into “natural dogmatics” and “natural morality.” In the second part, Bolzano studies the miracles which serve as a confirmation of Catholic Christianity. In the third part, he describes the individual individual articles of faith of “Old Catholic dogmatics” and those of “Old Catholic morality.” Als den wertvollsten Bestandteil der natürlichen Religion schätzt Bolzano die natürliche Moral ein; besondere Aufmerksamkeit widmet er dem obersten Sittengesetz, das auch für Gott verbindlich sei. Die natürliche Religion muß durch die auf Wundern gründende Offenbarung ergänzt werden. Wunder seien Winke Gottes, gewisse sittlich zuträgliche Lehren gläubig anzunehmen. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit abweichenden Theorien der Offenbarung und der Wunder beschließt den Band.