ABSTRACT
In 1906 Albert Schweitzer published his Quest of the Historical Jesus. It became an instant classic. It not only profoundly affected New Testament scholarship but also was widely read and admired by the general public. Schweitzer wrote that Herman Samuel Reimarus had no "predecessors", and that his account of Jesus was "one of those supremely great works which pass and leave no trace, because they are before their time". In 1720-1721 Reimarus actually studied in both Holland and England and thus could even have encountered the ideas of these thinkers at their source. In the seventh and final fragment that Lessing published, which is entitled The Intention of Jesus and His Disciples, Reimarus distinguished sharply between Jesus as he actually was and as he had been portrayed in the New Testament. According to Reimarus, Jesus' message was about the coming of the kingdom of God and the ensuing liberation from Rome.
