Abstract

In the Anweisung zum seligen Leben Fichte presents a penetrating interpretation of the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel. Fichte moves from the assumption of a fundamental correspondence between the thesis of his transcendental ontology and Christian doctrine as it emerges from the Prologue of John, though the two theories are independent of each other. In the Prologue we can find the view that Jesus had of himself. The main criterion in the interpretation of Fichte is the distinction between the metaphysical and the historical moment in the Prologue, that is, the distinction between what is valid in itself and what is valid for the point of view of Jesus and his disciples. This distinction, however, does not lead to a devaluation of the historical moment of the Prologue, and inspires the construction of a “philosophical Christology”. Although the metaphysical is the decisive moment, the historical moment, which concerns the person and teaching of Jesus is worthy to be carefully considered, as Fichte does in his writing. From the historical fact arise essential impulses to the practice of an authentic life, that is, for the understanding of the fundamental unity of God with man as the latter really lives in God.