(April 22, 1724–February 12, 1804), was a German philosopher, whose major philosophical work, Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781, is comparable to the works of Plato or Aristotle in importance. His later works include Critique of Practical Reason, 1788, and Critique of Judgement, 1790. Born in Kaliningrad, Immanuel Kant stated:
The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.651
In the life and the Divine doctrine of Christ which are recorded in the Gospel, example and precept conspire to call men to the regular discharge of every moral duty for its own sake, and to the universal practice of pure virtue. “He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.”
The Sermon on the Mount, in particular, comprises so pure a doctrine of religion, which Jesus obviously had the intention of introducing among the Jews, that we can not avoid considering it the Word of God.
Beyond doubt, Christ is the Founder of the first true Church; that is, that Church which, purified from the folly of superstition and the meanness of fanaticism, exhibits the moral kingdom of God upon the earth as far as can be done for man.652