Socialism and Apocalyptic

This publication is an introduction to the Political-Theology and the literary estate of Otto Bauer (*April 14, 1897, August 10, 1986). The nickname "small one" was used by the members of the Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei (SDAP) to distinguish him from his famous namesake Dr. Otto Bauer who was the vice chairman of the SDAP from 1918 to 1934 and together with Friedrich Adler co-founder of Austro-Marxism. Contrary to him Otto Bauer was a self-taught writer. During his early years he was working in the chemical and metal industries ind Upper-Austria and Vienna and from 1945 as librarian in the "Buttinger- Library" in New York. From 1927 to 1934 he was chairman of the Bund der Religiösen Sozialisten in Austria. Otto Bauer`s work is marked by deep grief, anger and inner conflict, gaining its biographical significance and contemporary historical importance through the Shoah, his escape from the Nazi regime and the constant nuclear threat of the postwar period. In his writings he always tries to rediscover humanity in the actions of contemporaries even when there is hardly finding any evidence of it. Humanity represents to Bauer the flash of "grace" in the history of human action sequences, which at the same time meant for him the reference to the real- historical existence of promise in the sense of Christian salvation history. In this sense his work is carried by the cry that "god`s image disappeared from earth`s face". This outcry is a political battle cry for the "last remnant" of dignity at a time with a awerness of history, who was shaped equally by the humanistic values of Christianity and socialism and is now preparing to forget this legacy altogether. The central idea in Otto Bauer`s political theology is the concept of grace. Its meaning results from the transformation of the anthropical presuppositions of history. Bauer`s transformation is followed by a change in the dramaturgy of salvation history, the eschaton of which is then determined by human action sequences and can manifest itself both in global self-extinction and in a history of humanity. This altered dramaturgy leads Bauer to the idea of a "policy of grace" as the horizon of a salvation history to be performed by people in the world Bauer`s lapsed writings are unpublished to date and are missing in the currently relevant scientific discourses in their entirety. In this respect, this work represents a significant extension of the scientific findings on Austrian contemporary history as well as political theology, cultural philosophy and, above all, systematic theology, and accordingly, a significant further development of research in the context of these specialist fields can be expected. Additionaly a hitherto completely forgotten piece of Austrian literary and intellectual history is presented to the reader.