The claim of this article is to argue that the main thrust of Karl Marx’s philosophy was neither a critique of political economy, nor a critique of the bourgeois political system, but an anti-theistic raid of a metaphysical nature, and that this drive gave him the impetus that motivated his intellectual activity from the time when he had not yet had any economic theory and when the proletariat had not yet played a major role within the purview of his interests. Marx’ rebellion led him to a condemnation of the entire creation as a product of an evil Demiurge, who – to exacerbate the situation even further – was nothing else than a product of human false consciousness, manifesting itself politically as a division of any populace into friends and foes, who were subsequently conglomerated into antagonistic social classes but could be transformed in appropriate conditions into stateless community of friends.

Im Koran wird eine Religionsgemeinschaft der Sabier genannt. Damit können aus lautlichen Gründen nicht die südarabischen Sabäer gemeint sein, wie man früher geglaubt hat. Heute werden nach Meinung vieler Gelehrter die Mandäer mit den Sabiern in Verbindung gebracht. Die Berichte über die Sabier stimmen aber weitgehend nicht mit den religiösen Vorstellungen und rituellen Handlungen der Mandäer überein. In der Literatur der Mandäer kommt die Selbstbezeichnung „Sabier“ nicht vor. Deshalb verbergen sich hinter diesem Namen mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit die Elchasaiten oder eine samaritanische Sekte. Die Verwendung des Namens machte aber die Mandäer unangreifbar und sie konnten als Sabier des Korans und Besitzer eines Buches, das von Johannes geoffenbart wurde, bis auf den heutigen Tag im Herzen der islamischen Welt als einzige gnostische Religionsgemeinschaft überleben.

This paper focuses on three issues. First, it is about the context and environment of pre-Nicene theology. It is emphasized that pre-Nicene theology did not neglect ca-techetical and liturgical reflection (ad intra) while at the same time successfully ente-red into a critical and creative dialogue with both the Semitic and Greco-Roman world where first Christians lived (ad extra). For contemporary theology its means that it cannot reject historical reasoning, placed in space and time. The second part stresses that, in spite of different situations and all historical and cultural contexts, theology before Nicea was above all an understanding of Sacred Scripture to which the key is the Risen Christ as the source and definitive fulfilment of the inspired writings. Finally, the third part of the paper focuses on the existential and spiritual experience from which pre-Nicene theology originated. For this theology the Gospel of Christ is not just the rule of faith but also the rule of life. This leads to a conclusion that a contem-porary theologian is a to take up an existential-personalistic reflection on Revelation using the historical-hermeneutic method .