On the (Un-)Presence of a Personal God in the German Literature of the Late 18th Century

Agnieszka HAAS

Katedra Literatury i Kultury Niemieckiej, Instytut Filologii Germańskiej, Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Gdański, ul. Wita Stwosza 51, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake is considered an event that changed the course of world history. It also changed the belief in the Divine Providence popular in the Christian West and confirmed some philosophers in their skeptical opinion on the so-called Leibnizian optimism. In mid-18th century German writers changed their way of speaking about God and Divinity, which was in part conditioned by the ‘optimism crisis’ characteristic of the period in question.

Translated by Dorota Chabrajska

Keywords:

Gottfried W. Leibniz, Alexander Pope, Christoph M. Wieland, Johann W. von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Hölderlin