Preface.

With the exception of Section IV, B of the introduction, the new spelling rules have been applied. I believe that in doing so—as I have already explained in the preface to my edition of the Critique of Pure Reason—I have acted in the truest spirit of Kant himself. Without wishing to offend those who think otherwise, I align myself with the words of the first editor of Kant's Collected Works, Rosenkranz (Preface to Vol. I, page XVII): "There is a servile archaism of fidelity which is concerned not so much with the subject matter and its reason as with the satisfaction of paleological precision original: "paläologischer Akribie"; referring to an excessive, almost obsessive attention to ancient or outdated linguistic details." Anyone who compares our text with the exceptions mentioned above will certainly notice the difference in the reading experience.

It would be the greatest reward for my labor if this edition of Kant's Religion Referring to "Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason," 1793, appearing in a new, contemporary guise, contributed to promoting anew the study of a writing which—despite its age and certain biases inherent to its time—is still capable today, amidst the religious struggles of the present, of stimulating the most fruitful thoughts, and indeed of becoming a guiding star for many.

Solingen, August 18, 1903.
Dr. K. Vorländer.

Regarding the fourth edition.

The entire introduction has been revised and has undergone numerous, sometimes quite drastic, improvements. For the text itself, the new editions published since 1903 by the Academy (edited by Wobbermin) and Cassirer (edited by A. Buchenau) have been compared. In general, in the years that have passed since my first edition of Religion, I have become more conservative regarding the formation of the text and have therefore deleted some of my changes from that time.

Solingen, July 1919.
Karl Vorländer.