Book summary
Samenvatting van De Christusmythe
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 key ideas
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A philosopher in 1910 argues that Christianity grew from Paul and older savior myths, not from a man named Jesus.
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De Christusmythe in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Lengte
- 84.000 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Uitdagend long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1909by Arthur Drews
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De Christusmythe in short
Drews argues that Christianity arose from many streams in the first-century Near East. Persian hopes, Jewish apocalypses, Greek philosophy and the rites of dying gods all supplied pieces of a savior who judges, suffers and rises. Paul gave the idea its force, and the Gospels later turned it into the story of a man.
What De Christusmythe is about
What if the man at the center of Christianity never walked the roads of Galilee? In 1910 the German philosopher Arthur Drews put that question to the public in The Christ Myth, and the storm that followed filled newspapers, lecture halls and even a circus tent in Berlin.
He thought the liberal picture of Jesus as a gentle moral teacher rested on guesswork. His case runs in two parts: a savior god before the Gospels, then what Paul and the Gospels really tell us.
Voor wie is het?. This book suits readers who enjoy bold arguments about the roots of religion, and anyone who wants a much debated case about Christian origins in its own terms.
The 10 key ideas
Key idea 1 · free to read
An anxious age was ready for a savior
Drews opens with Seneca, the Roman philosopher who died in 65. Seneca urges his readers to choose a good man and keep him always before their eyes. Drews takes this as a sign of how strongly the age longed for a divine pattern of goodness.
Rome had crushed old nations, wars had left many dead, and the old philosophy had run out of answers. Emperor worship fed the same hope. An inscription at Priene calls Augustus a savior sent by providence and says his birthday brought the good news, using the Greek word that gives us gospel.
Many also expected the world to end, and people no longer trusted the old national religions. They turned to gods from across the East and to small private brotherhoods. Drews argues that a new faith needed no single founder, because the ground was prepared on every side. Christianity grew in an age already hungry for a god who saves.
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Persian and Jewish ideas shaped the Messiah
Drews starts with the Jews, who longed for redemption more fiercely than any other people.
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Greek thought supplied a divine mediator
Alexander's conquests drew Palestine into Greek culture, and Jews in the port cities met Greek philosophy.
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A god named Jesus may have been worshipped before Christ
Drews follows the secret Jewish sects of the last centuries before Christ.
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Dying gods prepared the idea of a suffering Messiah
Many peoples of the ancient Near East mourned a young god who died and rose again, such as Tammuz, Adonis, Attis and Osiris.
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Birth, baptism and supper follow ancient fire worship
Drews argues that the stories of the child Jesus echo a widespread myth.
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The lamb and the cross were older than Christianity
Drews turns to symbols.
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Paul knew no human Jesus
Drews now moves to Part Two and to Paul, the earliest Christian witness.
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The Gospels record a community's faith, not a biography
Drews notes that experts agree the Gospels are creeds.
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The human Jesus served the Church, and belief can outlive him
If Jesus was first a god, why did he become a man?
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Vragen over De Christusmythe
What is The Christ Myth by Arthur Drews about?
It argues that belief in Christ grew out of older savior myths, Jewish sects and the mission of Paul, and that no historical Jesus is needed to explain Christianity. Drews also examines the Gospels and the liberal theology of his day.
Did Arthur Drews say Jesus never existed?
Drews holds that the Jesus of the Gospels is a mythical figure and that nothing reliable is known of any man behind him. He allows that some Jesus might have lived, but says such a person would matter little.
Why does Drews say Paul matters more than Jesus?
He claims Paul gives no detailed account of a human teacher's life, treats the few sayings as community rules, and preaches a heavenly Christ who dies and rises. In his view Paul, through his ideas and energy, founded Christianity as a new religion.
When was The Christ Myth written and who answered it?
The first edition appeared in 1909 and the third edition in 1910. Theologians such as Weinel, Bornemann, von Soden and Beth answered with pamphlets, and public meetings were held against it in Berlin.
Is The Christ Myth easy to follow for a general reader?
Drews writes as a philosopher addressing educated readers, and the book moves in clear steps from ancient religion to Paul to the Gospels. Each chapter takes one theme, so you can follow the argument section by section.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Drews, Arthur. The Christ Myth. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-christ-myth.
Drews, A. (2026). The Christ myth. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-christ-myth (Original work published 1909)
Drews, Arthur. The Christ Myth. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-christ-myth.
@book{drews2026christ,
author = {Drews, Arthur},
title = {The Christ Myth},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-christ-myth},
note = {First published 1909}
}
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