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The article presents a discussion related to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's drama "Faust." As any survey of the secondary literature on Goethe's "Faust" will demonstrate, the understanding of the work and of the author's intentions has not increased linearly during the two centuries in which it has been subjected to critical exegesis. Even broadly based differentiations between successive stages in "Faust" criticism, cannot do justice to the vast range of individual interpretations that "Faust" has elicited since its publication. From the earliest days to the present, the judgments that have been passed on the work have ranged from relentless condemnation to unmitigated praise. Few aspects of "Faust" have led to such extreme clashes of opinion as has the author's treatment of religious themes. This is because the function of religion in "Faust" is intimately bound up with the vexed question of how the drama is to be understood. From the outset, two views have been heard on this subject, according to which "Faust" might either be a model of the striving individual or this alternative is virtually irreconcilable with the former standpoint, his career might be interpreted as a warning against presumption and excess.