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Audiobook edition · 10 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to faith when a philosopher questions whether the Jesus of the Gospels ever lived?
In The Christ Myth, Arthur Drews challenges the search for a historical Jesus. He argues that Christ begins as a divine saving figure shaped by older religious ideas, with a human biography added afterward. His investigation moves through non-Christian sources, the letters of Paul and the Gospels, asking what each can tell us about Christianity’s origins.
Drews reads Paul’s Christ as a heavenly figure and the Gospel stories as symbolic drama rather than biography. He places Christianity beside ancient religions of gods who suffer, die and return to life. This is a forceful philosophical case, not a balanced survey: many specialists reject his argument, and his claims provoke public debate.
What you’ll discover
- The historical Jesus question Explore why Drews challenges liberal theologians’ attempts to find the man behind the Gospels.
- The silence of outsiders Follow his questions about what non-Christian writers say, and what he thinks their silence means.
- Paul’s heavenly Christ Examine Drews’s reading of letters he sees as saying little about a human life.
- Ancient religious parallels Consider his proposed links between Christ and the suffering, dying gods of ancient religions.
- Faith beyond biography Meet a philosopher who asks whether religious faith needs a historical Jesus at all.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Drews questions the man behind Christianity
- The Messiah took shape before the Gospels
- Philosophy supplied a bridge to God
- A suffering savior had older patterns
- Christian rites have older religious relatives
- Paul preaches revelation rather than remembered teaching
- The Gospels express a community's faith
- A human Jesus served Church authority
- Each proposed connection needs its evidence
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The Christ Myth
by Arthur Drews · 1909
A philosopher in 1910 argues that Christianity grew from Paul and older savior myths, not from a man named Jesus.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
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.
The Christ Myth at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Length
- 84,000 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1909by Arthur Drews
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1909
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
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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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.
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