A review of "Franz von Baader´s Philosophy of Love" by Ramon J Betanzos
This is a difficult book on philosophy, theology and
mysticism. I admit that I didn't read literally every word of it! Still,
Betanzos' work seems to be to the only book-length study of Franz von Baader
available in English. Thus, it's impossible to avoid for those interested in
this particular thinker. There is also some interesting material on Baader's
political ideas in "Conservative Millenarians", which could
complement this study.
Franz von Baader (1765-1841) was a Bavarian polymath whose interests spanned science, theology, philosophy, politics and occultism. For a period, he was the Bavarian superintendent of mines. Baader had contacts with the Pietistic circles in Russia around Czar Alexander I, wrote several memoranda to the rulers of Russia, Austria and Prussia after the Napoleonic wars, and was involved in the drafting of the founding document of the Holy Alliance. Perhaps more importantly, he was something of an eminence grise of the Romantic movement, being personally acquainted with its foremost representatives. The infusion of esotericism into Romanticism was at least to some extent due to Baader's towering influence backstage. He was also on good terms with Hegel, despite major philosophical differences.
Baader was (of course) a political conservative, who wanted an organic and hierarchic society. He saw himself as a Christian and belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, however, it seems that Baader was nevertheless the wrong kind of conservative. His contacts with the Russian Pietists and his attempts at ecumenism between the Orthodox Church and the Western churches eventually made him persona non grata in Czarist Russia. His opposition to the papacy in favour of conciliarism didn't exactly endear him to the Roman Catholic hierarchy. His political ideas also took a somewhat unexpected turn, when Baader began calling for democratic reforms in Bavaria in order to win the working class for the conservative cause, thus making Baader a forerunner to Christian Democracy (this is not mentioned in Betanzos' book, however).
Philosophically, Baader was heavily influenced by Jacob Böhme. He also appreciated Saint-Martin. My impression is that Baader's project was to harmonize Böhme with more traditional Christian theology, including Trinitarianism. He rejected the idea that Böhme was a pantheist, and took a position that could perhaps be viewed as panentheist. While Schelling and Hegel seem to have emphasized the "heretical" sides of Böhme, Baader rather viewed him as a spiritually advanced Christian. Baader also lacked the evolutionary perspective of Hegel and the Romantics. Rather, he viewed the human condition as one of creation, fall and redemption, with the resurrection of the body as the last phase.
Of course, Baader's concrete interpretation of this Christian schema was somewhat unusual. Adam's fall is a gradual fall in several steps from a spiritual state into matter. Adam was originally an androgynous creature. The "creation of Eve from Adam's rib" was really a splitting apart of the androgynous creature, and a consequence of the fall. Man is saved by Sophia, sometimes called Sophia-Eros, who is embodied by Christ. Despite being in some sense "female", Sophia is at bottom androgynous and represents God's love. Baader sees many symbols of androgyny in the Bible or Church tradition, including the Virgin Mary who begets Jesus without a male, or the Father begetting the Son. Redeemed man will be restored to his androgynous position. His glorified resurrection body is sexless, something the Bible states explicitly.
The path to redemption goes through restoring God's image in man by subordinating oneself to God's love. One way of restoring the original androgynous unity is by marriage and marital love. The man and the woman complement one another, and hence become a kind of first attempt at restoring the primordial unity. Baader's view of gender roles was essentialist and hopelessly patriarchal, with women being subordinate to men, and marriage being indissoluble á la Catholicism. Indeed, his view of love, androgyny and hierarchy reflected his view of society as a whole: an organic unity, in which hierarchy is preserved, while the various classes or estates love one another, thereby reflecting God's love. (That's what they always say, isn't it?) Christian ecumenism was based on the same reasoning, with Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants uniting in love.
From Betanzos' description, I get the impression that Baader's message is a kind of domesticated occultism. The antinomian potential of love and androgyny are safely channelled away through traditional marriage. Something tells me Baader would have disapproved of transsexuality (that would presumably have been "negative androgyny"), not to mention sex magic. Although somewhat unusual, his exegesis is nevertheless based on the Bible, appeals to the Church Fathers, etc. In contrast to his role model Böhme, I don't get the impression that Baader was a real mystic. However, he did have a wild side nevertheless, with a strong interest in mediumship, magnetism and other paranormal manifestations. I believe I read in another book - probably "Schelling and Swedenborg" - that Baader used his own teenage daughter as a medium, which scared the living daylights out of poor Schelling, who was invited to one of the séances! This makes you wonder about Baader's discernment...
I can't say that "Franz von Baader's Philosophy of Love" is the most exciting read around, but as I already pointed out, those unfortunate enough not to understand German, have no other choice than to peruse this book. Today, Franz von Baader is almost forgotten, but one can't fully understand Romanticism without getting acquainted with the ideas and activities of its grey eminence.
Franz von Baader (1765-1841) was a Bavarian polymath whose interests spanned science, theology, philosophy, politics and occultism. For a period, he was the Bavarian superintendent of mines. Baader had contacts with the Pietistic circles in Russia around Czar Alexander I, wrote several memoranda to the rulers of Russia, Austria and Prussia after the Napoleonic wars, and was involved in the drafting of the founding document of the Holy Alliance. Perhaps more importantly, he was something of an eminence grise of the Romantic movement, being personally acquainted with its foremost representatives. The infusion of esotericism into Romanticism was at least to some extent due to Baader's towering influence backstage. He was also on good terms with Hegel, despite major philosophical differences.
Baader was (of course) a political conservative, who wanted an organic and hierarchic society. He saw himself as a Christian and belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, however, it seems that Baader was nevertheless the wrong kind of conservative. His contacts with the Russian Pietists and his attempts at ecumenism between the Orthodox Church and the Western churches eventually made him persona non grata in Czarist Russia. His opposition to the papacy in favour of conciliarism didn't exactly endear him to the Roman Catholic hierarchy. His political ideas also took a somewhat unexpected turn, when Baader began calling for democratic reforms in Bavaria in order to win the working class for the conservative cause, thus making Baader a forerunner to Christian Democracy (this is not mentioned in Betanzos' book, however).
Philosophically, Baader was heavily influenced by Jacob Böhme. He also appreciated Saint-Martin. My impression is that Baader's project was to harmonize Böhme with more traditional Christian theology, including Trinitarianism. He rejected the idea that Böhme was a pantheist, and took a position that could perhaps be viewed as panentheist. While Schelling and Hegel seem to have emphasized the "heretical" sides of Böhme, Baader rather viewed him as a spiritually advanced Christian. Baader also lacked the evolutionary perspective of Hegel and the Romantics. Rather, he viewed the human condition as one of creation, fall and redemption, with the resurrection of the body as the last phase.
Of course, Baader's concrete interpretation of this Christian schema was somewhat unusual. Adam's fall is a gradual fall in several steps from a spiritual state into matter. Adam was originally an androgynous creature. The "creation of Eve from Adam's rib" was really a splitting apart of the androgynous creature, and a consequence of the fall. Man is saved by Sophia, sometimes called Sophia-Eros, who is embodied by Christ. Despite being in some sense "female", Sophia is at bottom androgynous and represents God's love. Baader sees many symbols of androgyny in the Bible or Church tradition, including the Virgin Mary who begets Jesus without a male, or the Father begetting the Son. Redeemed man will be restored to his androgynous position. His glorified resurrection body is sexless, something the Bible states explicitly.
The path to redemption goes through restoring God's image in man by subordinating oneself to God's love. One way of restoring the original androgynous unity is by marriage and marital love. The man and the woman complement one another, and hence become a kind of first attempt at restoring the primordial unity. Baader's view of gender roles was essentialist and hopelessly patriarchal, with women being subordinate to men, and marriage being indissoluble á la Catholicism. Indeed, his view of love, androgyny and hierarchy reflected his view of society as a whole: an organic unity, in which hierarchy is preserved, while the various classes or estates love one another, thereby reflecting God's love. (That's what they always say, isn't it?) Christian ecumenism was based on the same reasoning, with Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants uniting in love.
From Betanzos' description, I get the impression that Baader's message is a kind of domesticated occultism. The antinomian potential of love and androgyny are safely channelled away through traditional marriage. Something tells me Baader would have disapproved of transsexuality (that would presumably have been "negative androgyny"), not to mention sex magic. Although somewhat unusual, his exegesis is nevertheless based on the Bible, appeals to the Church Fathers, etc. In contrast to his role model Böhme, I don't get the impression that Baader was a real mystic. However, he did have a wild side nevertheless, with a strong interest in mediumship, magnetism and other paranormal manifestations. I believe I read in another book - probably "Schelling and Swedenborg" - that Baader used his own teenage daughter as a medium, which scared the living daylights out of poor Schelling, who was invited to one of the séances! This makes you wonder about Baader's discernment...
I can't say that "Franz von Baader's Philosophy of Love" is the most exciting read around, but as I already pointed out, those unfortunate enough not to understand German, have no other choice than to peruse this book. Today, Franz von Baader is almost forgotten, but one can't fully understand Romanticism without getting acquainted with the ideas and activities of its grey eminence.
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