Who was C. Promus?

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Chrissy Hansen
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Who was C. Promus?

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

I'm trying to figure out who this person, C. Promus, was. They published "Die Entstehung des Christentums" with the German conservative and nationalist Eugen Diederichs' Verlag, Jena, 1905. Anyone know who this was? I've hit a dead end.
Kunigunde Kreuzerin
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

Post by Kunigunde Kreuzerin »

Chris Hansen wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:29 pm I'm trying to figure out who this person, C. Promus, was. They published "Die Entstehung des Christentums" with the German conservative and nationalist Eugen Diederichs' Verlag, Jena, 1905. Anyone know who this was? I've hit a dead end.
According to Ulf Diederichs, "Eugen Diederichs und sein Verlag: Bibliographie und Buchgeschichte 1896 bis 1931", p. 86, it was the pseudonym of Reinhold Biese, a high school teacher in Saarbrücken.
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neilgodfrey
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

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Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:06 am
Chris Hansen wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:29 pm I'm trying to figure out who this person, C. Promus, was. They published "Die Entstehung des Christentums" with the German conservative and nationalist Eugen Diederichs' Verlag, Jena, 1905. Anyone know who this was? I've hit a dead end.
According to Ulf Diederichs, "Eugen Diederichs und sein Verlag: Bibliographie und Buchgeschichte 1896 bis 1931", p. 86, it was the pseudonym of Reinhold Biese, a high school teacher in Saarbrücken.
confirmed by LOC ... https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3A ... hot_author
Chrissy Hansen
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

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Thank you! That helps a lot
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

Post by Kunigunde Kreuzerin »

Chris Hansen wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:29 am Thank you! That helps a lot
Have you read the book? Is it interesting?

At that time the publishing house Diederichs had some interesting authors and books on the history of Christianity.
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 12:01 pm
Chris Hansen wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:29 am Thank you! That helps a lot
Have you read the book? Is it interesting?

At that time the publishing house Diederichs had some interesting authors and books on the history of Christianity.
I have. It is not particularly great, Friedrich Steudel and Albert Kalthoff offered infinitely more interesting perspectives, imo. I was just wanting to know because Promus was rebutted to numerous times but he appeared in no official records.

I'm more interested specifically in Diederichs Verlag, specifically its history as a popularizer of Volkisch and German Nationalist materials. Eugen Diederichs seems to have used mythicism to try and influence people away from Christianity and toward a more German religion, hence his close association with Arthur Drews and Volkisch publications. The German Monist League largely had this goal as well, hence why Kalthoff, Haeckel, and Steudel published with Diederichs.

The difference was political. Kalthoff and many of his followers were socialists. But Diederichs offset this by publishing an exorbitant number of nationalistic and conservative works.
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neilgodfrey
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

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Chris Hansen wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:05 pm
I have. It is not particularly great, Friedrich Steudel and Albert Kalthoff offered infinitely more interesting perspectives, imo. I was just wanting to know because Promus was rebutted to numerous times but he appeared in no official records.
Curious -- though more about the author than your primary interest in the publisher -- Can you point us to where Promus's/Biese's book was discussed? Thanks
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Re: Who was C. Promus?

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Albert Schweitzer dismissed it in his later edition of the Quest of the Historical Jesus, mostly because it was just very general stuff and Steudel and Kalthoff and Drews offered more concrete cases to rebut to.

Arthur Drews' covered him in his historiographical essay, though I know of no translation of it, only Klaus Schilling's summary.

A summary produced here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/De ... frontcover

I'm sure there are others, I saw the name popping up in English language works too, but I don't have the references handy. I'll try doing more digging when I can.
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