Johann Joachim Spalding - Kritische Ausgabe

There is still a lack of critical editions of basic texts in research on the Enlightenment, a research which is in the process of transition. The Kritische Spalding-Ausgabe (Critical Spalding Edition) deals with this lack in two ways: It provides access to important writings which are in demand for research while at the same time offering them as reading texts in a new scholarly concept of an integrative critical presentation of various editions. In this way, the edition fulfils several research desiderata.

It is difficult to prove the significance of Spalding and his works, since most of his writings are only to be found in the manuscript reading rooms of a few libraries, and in addition only in editions which vary considerably from each other. The objective of the first section of this critical collected edition is to make Spalding's writings available once again in the form of individual editions and to provide research on the Enlightenment with the necessary momentum by offering an issue-related introduction, plausible explanations and detailed indexes.

If Spalding is quoted at all, then as a rule this is done randomly, using the edition available at the moment, without taking the significant changes made from edition to edition into consideration. On the basis of these however it is possible to prove the reception of pivotal texts of the Enlightenment (for example some of Kant's works) and to trace them discursively. The fact that the Kritische Spalding-Ausgabe enables the reader to verify various modes of quotation and to reconstruct the history of the texts puts it at the very top of scholarly research on the Enlightenment.

The Kritische Spalding-Ausgabe provides an indispensable basis for the further exploration of German Enlightenment theology in particular. It will have a positive and innovative impact on research pertaining to the Enlightenment and the post-Enlightenment. The sources provided are also an essential prerequisite for the new theological awakening at the beginning of the 19th century.

In addition to its significance for the history of theology, the Spalding Edition will also have a considerable influence on research in the humanities, in particular in philosophy and literary studies. In view of the way in which intellectual discourses were linked, which was typical of the 18th century, and especially in relation to   Spalding's interaction with philosophical anthropology as well as with the literary transformation of the subject of religion in his time, we can expect important advances to be made in research on Kant and Fichte as well as in research on literary history pertaining to the Enlightenment, Weimar Classicism and Early Romanticism.