Bauer, Bruno (1809–1882)

German theologian and historian. His main works are on the origins of the Gospels, the 18th century, and the French Revolution.

Bauer was born in Eisenberg, and educated in Berlin, where he was licensed to teach theology in 1834. While in Berlin, he was, together with Karl Marx, a leader of the left-wing ‘Young Hegelians’. His views on the Gospels (namely, that Mark was written during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, and that the other Gospels were later forgeries by Gentile converts) were so unorthodox that he was eventually forbidden to teach, and he spent the rest of his life as a researcher and author.