Arthur Drews
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Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews (; November 1, 1865 – July 19, 1935) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
writer, historian,
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, and important representative of German
monist Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
thought. He was born in
Uetersen Uetersen (, formerly known as ''Ütersen (Holstein)'') is a town in the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately south of Elmshorn, and northwest of Hamburg at the small Pinnau Ri ...
,
Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
, in present-day
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.


Biography

Drews became a professor of philosophy and German language at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. During his career he wrote widely on the histories of philosophy, religions and mythology. He was a disciple of
Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of ''Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of all ...
who claimed that reality is the "
unconscious Unconscious may refer to: Physiology * Unconsciousness, the lack of consciousness or responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli Psychology * Unconscious mind, the mind operating well outside the attention of the conscious mind a ...
World Spirit", also expressed in history through religions and the formation of
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
in the minds of philosophers. Drews often provoked controversy, in part because of his unorthodox ideas on religion and in part because of his attacks on
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
and passionate support of
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. He rose to international prominence with his book ''
The Christ Myth ''The Christ Myth'', first published in 1909, was a book by Arthur Drews on the Christ myth theory. Drews (1865–1935), along with Bruno Bauer (1809–1882) and Albert Kalthoff (1850–1906), is one of the three German pioneers of the denial of t ...
'' (1909), by amplifying and publicizing the thesis initially advanced by
Bruno Bauer Bruno Bauer (; 6 September 180913 April 1882) was a German philosopher and theologian. As a student of G. W. F. Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalism, Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism. Bauer investigated the sources of ...
,"Bruno Bauer", by Douglas Moddach, 2009, ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)''
/ref> which denies the
historicity of Jesus The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the historical Jesus as undertaken in the quest for the historical Jesus and the scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus. Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Je ...
. The international controversy provoked by the "Christ Myth" was an early part of Drews's lifelong advocacy of the abandonment of
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
and
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, both of which he regarded as based on ancient beliefs from antiquity, and shaped by religious dualism.See also "
Dualism (philosophy of mind) Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another ** ...
" an
"Dualism" (''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'')
/ref> He urged a ''renewal of faith'' 'Glaubenserneuerung''based on
Monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
and
German Idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...
. He asserted that true religion could not be reduced to a
cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
, even if based on the worship of the "unique and great personality" of a
historical Jesus The term "historical Jesus" refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. ...
, as claimed by Protestant
liberal theologians Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position, ...
, which he argued was nothing more than the adaptation of the Great Man Theory of history promoted by
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
of the 19th century. Drews was considered a
dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
. Many German academics didn't accept his "dilettantism" (''abweichungen von der communis opinio'', that is, "straying from common opinions"). Drews was a reformer, and stayed involved in religious
activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...
all his life. He was, in his last few years, to witness and participate in an attempt by the Free Religion Movement to inspire a more liberal form of worship. This was his reason for parting with the
German Faith Movement The German Faith Movement (''Deutsche Glaubensbewegung'') was a religious movement in Nazi Germany (1933–1945), closely associated with University of Tübingen professor Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away from ...
, a venture trying to promote (without success) an awakening of a ''German Faith'', an unusual form of nationalistic and racist faith with
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
overtones — far removed from the elitist
German Idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...
Drews expounded in his last book, ''The German Religion'' (''Deutsche Religion'', 1935) which he had hoped to see replace Christianity and what he considered its primitive
superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
s. Arthur Drews, "Idea and Personality: Settlement of the Religious Crisis" (Last chapter 14 of "The Witness of the Gospels", Part IV of ''The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus'', 1912) Later, Drews came back to the same subject in '' The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present'' (1926), which is a historical review of some 35 major deniers of Jesus historicity, covering the period 1780–1926.


Influences

During Drews's life, Germany was going through turbulent times, both politically and culturally.
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
had become a prominent cultural icon while
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
was a highly controversial personality. Nietzsche was a strong critic of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and its morality, which he perceived as glorifying weakness and death. At first he was a friend and admirer of Wagner, but soon became a disgruntled critic, turning against his previous friend. He reproached Wagner for his conversion to anti-semitic Christianity and his glorification of medieval sagas and spiritual chastity as the sign of a decadent, dying culture. He posited that Wagner's "unending melody" only dramatizes theatrical posing and is hostile to the affirmation of vital
Dionysian The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work ''The Birth of Tragedy'' by Fri ...
life forces. Nietzsche claimed that Wagner's art was not Germanic, but closer to Italy's
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. Nietzsche passionately critiqued Wagner's ideas, detailed in ''
Nietzsche contra Wagner ''Nietzsche contra Wagner; Out of the Files of a Psychologist'' is a critical essay by Friedrich Nietzsche, that is made up of selections he chose from among his earlier works. The selections are assembled in this essay in order to focus on Nietzsc ...
''. Drews was a staunch supporter of Wagner and wrote many books and articles on Wagner's religious and nationalistic ideas, which are still considered by some scholars to be important works on the subject. He also embarked on a critique of Nietzsche, who was a lifelong critic of Christianity and Christian morality. Drews reproached Nietzsche for being an apostle of unbridled individualism — a stance which put Drews in an awkward position in the German establishment. His criticisms were never well received by academics nor by German society as a whole, since Nietzsche had become a national figure. In 1904, Drews gave a critical lecture in Münich on the philosophy of Nietzsche, ''Nietzsches Philosophie''. " ietzscheis not aiming at bypassing morality as such, only the external morality which imposes its commandments to the individual, and results in the decay and submission of the Self. He would like to counter this old morality enemy of the Self with a ''new morality springing from the individual will'' and in conformity with his nature." mphasis addedDrews continued with his philosophical critique of Nietzsche in ''Nietzsche als Antipode Wagners'', 1919 'Nietzsche, Antipodes of Wagner'' His 1931 book on Wagner came out with a supplement on Nietzsche and Wagner, for which Bernhard Hoffers asserted that many of Drews' views later borrowed by the standard scholarship on Wagner without giving him credit. Drews delivered his last public critique of Nietzsche in his article ''Nietzsche als Philosoph des ''Nationalsozialismus''?'' Nietzsche, a philosopher of National Socialism?"in the journal ''Nordische Stimmen'' No. 4 (1934: 172–79). There Drews again attacked Nietzsche on philosophical grounds, in direct opposition to the Nazi effort to enlist Nietzsche in its propaganda, and unconcerned about potential consequences. Wolfang Müller-Lauter, in ''Experiences with Nietzsche'', quotes Drews:
One finds in Nietzsche ''neither national sympathy nor social awareness'', rews claimed Nietzsche is, on the contrary, and particularly after his break with Richard Wagner, ''an enemy of everything German''; he supports the creation of a "good European," and goes so far as to ''accord the Jews a leading role in the dissolution of all nations.'' Finally, he is an ''individualist'', with no notion of "the National Socialist credo: 'collective over individual utility'...After all this, it must seem unbelievable that Nietzsche has been honored as the Philosopher of National Socialism, … for he preaches in all things ''the opposite of National Socialism''", setting aside a few scattered utterances. The fact that such honors have repeatedly been bestowed on him has as its main reason, that most people who talk about Nietzsche tend only to ''pick the 'raisins' from the cake of his philosophy'' and, because of his aphoristic style, ''lack any clear understanding of the way his entire thought coheres''. mphasis addedref name="Heidegger
Rüdiger Safranski, ''Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil'', 1999 (Harvard UP) p. 277, 300
/ref>


Drews's views on religion


Eduard von Hartmann

Drews, unsatisfied by the abstract rationality of
Kantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...
philosophy, was attracted to religion, but was put off by what he regarded as the spiritual dryness (geistige Dürre) of Christianity. Drews found his anchor in the
monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
of
Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of ''Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of all ...
(1842–1906), professor of philosophy in Berlin. Hartmann had been strongly influenced by
Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
and his pessimism and had embraced
Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...
and history. Hartmann published his work ''
Philosophy of the Unconscious ''Philosophy of the Unconscious: Speculative Results According to the Induction Method of the Physical Sciences'' (german: Philosophie des Unbewussten) is an 1869 book by the philosopher Eduard von Hartmann. The culmination of the speculations an ...
'', in 1869. The concept of the
unconscious mind The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations. Even though these processes exis ...
(''das Unbewusstsein'') became the new form of the ultimate reality, the
Absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...
, or the
Geist ''Geist'' () is a German noun with a significant degree of importance in German philosophy. Its semantic field corresponds to English ghost, spirit, mind, intellect. Some English translators resort to using "spirit/mind" or "spirit (mind)" to he ...
, or World Spirit of
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, combining
pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
with
rational Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abili ...
idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
(with the double attributes of
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
and
reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
). In his view the human mind is not separate from this unconscious reality, but exists as it approaches
self-consciousness Self-consciousness is a heightened sense of awareness of oneself. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. Historically, "self-consciousness" was synonymous with " self-awareness", referring to a state of awareness that ...
(''Selbstbewusstsein''), especially in the opinion of the philosophical community. Drews expanded his views in ''Die Religion als Selbst-bewusstsein Gottes: eine philosophische Untersuchung über das Wesen der Religion'', (Religion as Self-Consciousness of God: A philosophical inquiry in the Essence of Religion, 1906). The text expressed that religions are conscious expressions of the unconscious, and philosophy and religion can finally be united. The absolute Spirit was not another separate entity, and Hartmann and Drews rejected the idea of any
personal God A personal god, or personal goddess, is a deity who can be related to as a person, instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, "the All", or the "Ground of Being". In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, God is described as b ...
and mind-matter dualism. In ''Christ Myth II'', Drews specified his motivation: "The chief danger that has come to our time, especially to religion, ''under the influence of science'' is ''the denial of objective purpose in the universe''. Let men be taught to believe again in ideas, and then monism, in its idealistic form, will become the first principle of all deep religious life." mphasis addedDrews goes on to proclaim a need for the "religion of the future" to be a "concrete" monism. The advocacy of this system of monism became Drews's life program and the subject of his philosophical and religious writings. It was also the motivation for his social activism in the Free Religion Movement, which had been sprouting cultural associations (''Kulturbünde'') in Germany, especially in the search for a new religion anchored in European and, more specifically, German culture. Both Hartmann and Drews shared an infatuation with history, and the belief in the direction of history, transmuted into a philosophical axiom by Hegel, was applied to the history of religion and mythology.


Influence of Albert Kalthoff and Bauer

Drews derived additional key ideas from
Albert Kalthoff Albert Kalthoff (5 March 1850, Barmen – 11 May 1906, Bremen) was a German Protestant theologian, who along with Emil Felden (1874–1959), Oscar Mauritz (1867–1959), Moritz Schwalb (1833–1916) and Friedrich Steudel (1866–1939) formed a ...
(1850–1906). Kalthoff was an active minister who managed to marry three times in his short life, and revived Bruno Bauer's Christ Myth thesis in his ''Das Christus-Problem. Grundlinien zu einer Sozialtheologie'' (''The Problem of Christ: Principles of a Social Theology'', 1902) and ''Die Entstehung des Christentums, Neue Beiträge zum Christusproblem'' (''The Rise of Christianity'', 1907). Kalthoff criticized what he regarded as the romanticist and sentimental image of Jesus as a "great personality" of history developed by German liberal theologians (including Albert Schweitzer). In Kalthoff's views, it was the early church that created the New Testament, not the reverse; the early Jesus movement was
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, expecting a social reform and a better world, which fused with the Jewish apocalyptic belief in a Messiah. Kalthoff saw Christianity as a social
psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
. Drews accepted Kalthoff's ideas, but insisted that the original Christian socialism was religious, not economic.


Critique of liberal theology

Drews did become an acerbic critic of what he called the "faulty
historical method Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn o ...
" of academic liberal theologians. His primary critique of
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
and
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
was that they were ancient, archaic myths from antiquity that had become
obsolete Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...
, and "their concepts reforeign to our mindsets in the modern scientific age". He opposed the
Romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
applied to Jesus in what he referred to as the Christ myth. He rejected the attempt of liberal theologians like Albert Schweitzer to idolize a
historical Jesus The term "historical Jesus" refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. ...
as a unique personality, which he asserted was the result of The Great Man Theory subjected to modern manipulations by scholars of the
Historical Theology Historical theology is the study of the history of Christian doctrine. Stanley Grenz, Grenz, Guretzki and Nordling describe it as, "The division of the theological discipline that seeks to understand and delineate how the church interpreted Scri ...
school. This view had been already advanced by Schweitzer himself in his review of
historical criticism Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...
in Germany with his book '' The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' (1906). In ''Die Religion als Selbst-bewusstsein Gottes : eine philosophische Untersuchung über das Wesen der Religion'' (''Religion as Self-Consciousness of God: a Philosophical Inquiry in the Essence of Religion'', 1906), Drews saw the phenomenon of religion through his philosophical approach as the self-consciousness of God through the mind of mankind. "Godmen" were to be replaced by "God-mankind", an adaptation of
Georg Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
's "World-Spirit". In ''The Strong Personality'', Ch. 12 of "The Witness of the Gospels", Part IV of ''Christ Myth II'', Drews argues that the force of personality of ahuman Jesus cannot be at the source of Christendom's spread:
irst, quoting DupuisEach man fights for his own chimera, not for history...in matters of religion ''the belief of many generations proves nothing but their own credulity''... ''A great error is propagated more easily than a great truth'', because it is ''easier to believe than to reflect'', and men ''prefer the wonders of romance'' to the plain facts of history... we might urge against Christians that the faith of any people in the miracles and oracles of its religion proved its truth; I doubt if they would admit the argument, and we will do the same with theirs. I know that they will say that they alone have the truth; but the other people say the same.
he_Christ_cult_replaced_the_Mithras_cult_for_reasons_other_than_the_force_of_personality.html" ;"title="Mithras.html" ;"title="he Christ cult replaced the Mithras">he Christ cult replaced the Mithras cult for reasons other than the force of personality">Mithras.html" ;"title="he Christ cult replaced the Mithras">he Christ cult replaced the Mithras cult for reasons other than the force of personality..the Persian Mithra was a very shadowy form beside Jesus, who ''came nearer to the heart'', especially of ''women, invalids, and the weak'', in his human features and on account of the ''touching description of his death''. But that shows at the most that the ''more concrete idea'' has the better prospect of triumphing in a spiritual struggle than ''the more abstract''; it proves nothing as regards the historical reality of the idea. Moreover, history teaches us that it was quite different causes—partly external and ''accidental causes'' of a political nature, such as the ''death in the Persian war of the Emperor Julian'', one of the most zealous followers of Mithra—that gave Christianity the victory over Mithraism. mphasis added/blockquote> He had been outspoken in presenting his views on religion with extreme clarity in ''Idea and Personality: Settlement of the Religious Crisis'', Ch. 14 of ''The Witness of the Gospels'', and Part IV of ''Christ Myth II''. Drews asserted that mankind cannot let the present be still shackled by what he called "past
superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
s of ancient times". He outlined what he called the religion of the future, which he said must acknowledge the World-Spirit (geist) proclaimed by Hegel as God-mankind, which is God manifesting himself through history with human actors and oracles who are merely major agents. The cult of "great personalities" he dismissed as an illusion; individuals could no longer be seen as ''godmen'', just as revealers and oracles of the divinity.
''The purely historical conception of Jesus cannot satisfy the religious consciousness of our age. [It is] obsolete''. [Humanity] has not merely broken with the geocentric and anthropocentric view of the origin of Christianity, but has seen through the superstitious nature of ecclesiastical Christology. Modern humanity has, therefore, the task of again universalising the idea of divine redemption, or enlarging the idea of a god-''man''...to the idea of a ''god-''humanity...
treturns in a certain sense to pre-Christian religion and its numerous "god-men,"... filled with the idea of the one reality and its spiritual nature, to which the various individuals are related only as ''modi'', phenomena, or'revelations, confiding in the divine control of the world, and therefore in its rationality and goodness...Thus man secures a faith in himself, in the divine nature of his being, in the rationality of existence; thus he is placed in a position to save himself, without a mediator, simply on account of his own divine nature... The religion of the future will either be a belief in the divine nature of the self, or will be nothing... no Christ is needed for it, and there is no ground for concern that religion may perish with the denial of the historicity of Jesus...
he belief in Christ"is not only superfluous, but mischievous. It loads the religious consciousness with doubtful historical ballast; it grants the past an authority over the religious life of the present, and it prevents men from deducing the real consequences of their Monistic religious principles. Hence I insist that the belief in the historical reality of Jesus is the chief obstacle to religious progress... o need to appeal to Hegelto whom this high appreciation of the present above history may be traced, as well as this vindication of "personalities of world-history." The great personality has clearly a value even in our own view: in it the unity of God and man, the God-mankind, attains a clearer expression. It serves as proof to the religious consciousness that God raises up the right man at the right time. It reveals the living connection of the common individual life with the universal spiritual life. The divinity lives in history, and reveals itself therein. History is, in union with nature, the sole place of divine activity... one continuous stream of divine activity flows through time... To bind up religion with history, as modern theologians do, and to represent an historical religion as the need of modern man, is no proof of insight, but of a determination... to recognise the Christian religion alone.


Studies of monism

Drews believed that religion was intimately linked to the prevalent beliefs of the social group and not just the expression of individual beliefs and faith. He reflected on the history of the great faiths of the world, the European history of the 19th century, and
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
. His own mysticism, as a modern form of monism, glamorized the German idealism of the great German thinkers and poets as the superior form of future religion for mankind. It also was related to Spinoza's
pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
, which also rejected Judaism and Christianity as ancient superstition no longer valid for the rationalism of our modern times. Drews was especially drawn to
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
, who founded
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
600 years after the time of Plato. A year later, Drews edited ''Der Monismus: dargestellt in Beiträgen seiner Vertreter'', where he analyzes the major philosophers of monism. In 1913, he published ''History of Monism in Antiquity'' (1912) throughout the various schools of
hellenistic philosophy Hellenistic philosophy is a time-frame for Western philosophy and Ancient Greek philosophy corresponding to the Hellenistic period. It is purely external and encompasses disparate intellectual content. There is no single philosophical school or cu ...
. Drews thus managed to produce a modern system of philosophy joining the ancient idealism and monism of Plotinus's Neoplatonism and the modern historical idealism of Hegel, for whom the World-Spirit manifests itself in History. Towards the end of his life, Drews started writing more explicitly on what the idea of a monist God means in the context of modern Germany in the 1930s. ''God'' (1930) and ''The Word of God'' (1933) demonstrated his trend towards a German-inspired form of religion.


Astromythical views related to early Christianity

Drews was intrigued by the alleged influence of ancient
astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
on the origins of religion, developed by the French Volney and Dupuis and promoted throughout the 19th century. He included modern considerations on astromythical topics in some pages of his major books. The ''Appendix'' to his 1912 book ''The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus'' was an essay on the astral speculations of the Ancients in relation to Psalm 22. Hoffers notes that, in the 1921 book on ''The
Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...
as a Witness against the Historicity of Jesus'', Drews demonstrates "how Mark reflects an astromythical triple journey along the
zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...
". In 1923 Drews published a general introduction into
astral mythology Astrotheology, astral mysticism, astral religion, astral or stellar theology (also referred to as astral or star worship) is the worship of the stars (individually or together as the night sky), the planets, and other heavenly bodies as deities ...
, ''Der sternhimmel in der Dichtung und Religion der Alten Völker und des Christentums, eine Einführung in die Astralmythologie'' (''The Celestial Sky in the Poetry and Religion of the Ancients and Christianity: an Introduction to Astral Mythology''), and its special influence on early Christianity. His interest remained a professional expression of curiosity and admitted speculations on relations detected by intuition and finesse, and never replaced rigorous text and historical criticism.


Other books on early Christianity

Drews also wrote a few more books on various aspects of Christianity where he systematically analyzes what he regarded as the mythical nature of the personages involved with Jesus Christ. Klaus Schilling wrote in his "English summary" to ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present'':
Drews was involved too deep into the subject to stop there, and went boldly further, exploring how Christianity could ''become a world religion without a historical founder'' or core group described in scripture... During the
irst World An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...
war, Schweitzer published more essays in a weak attempt to justify theology, which strengthened Drews' attitude and endeavor. mphasis added/blockquote> In ''The Legend of Peter'' (1910, translated into English in 1997 by
Frank Zindler Frank R. Zindler (May 23, 1939) is an American atheist who served as interim president of the atheist organization American Atheists in 2008. Career Prior to his involvement in the atheist community, he was Chairman, Division of Science, Nursi ...
), Drews complains that "the confusion in educated circles...is so great and the posture of Rome so impudent", and exposes the completely legendary character of the figure of
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
, both in the Gospels and the fantastical history of Peter in Rome. According to Drews (in Klaus Schilling's "English Summary" of ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus''):
The Gospel is a poetic retelling of the astral mythical journey of the sun god, dressed in Tanakh pictures... The order of the tales follows almost strictly the astral mythical cycle. Mark's gospel is of astral magical, ''Gnostic origin from the middle of the second century''... Drews had published an introduction to astral mythology in the cultures of the Mediterranean and Iranian region up to imperial times, in order to decrease the above ignorance. But theologians continued to indulge in their self-induced ignorance. mphasis added/blockquote> In his 1924 book ''The Origin of Christianity in Gnosticism'', Drews developed the hypothesis of the ''derivation of Christianity from a
gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people ...
environment''. In Drews's own words (in Klaus Schilling's "English Summary" of ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus''):
''Gnosticism is undeniably pre-Christian'', with both Jewish and gentile roots. The
wisdom of Solomon The Book of Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Jewish work written in Greek and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid-first century BCE, the central theme of the work is "wisdom" itself, appearing under two p ...
already contained Gnostic elements and prototypes for the Jesus of the Gospels...God stops being the Lord of righteous deed and becomes the Good One...A clear pre-Christian Gnosticism can be distilled from the epistles of Paul. ''Paul is recklessly misunderstood by those who try to read anything Historical Jesus-ish into it''. The conversion of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles is a ''mere forgery from various Tanakh passages.''.. he epistlesare from Christian mystics of the middle of the second century. ''Paul is thus the strongest witness against the Historical Jesus'' hypothesis...John's Gnostic origin is more evident than that of the synoptics. Its acceptance proves that even the Church wasn't concerned with historical facts at all. mphasis added/blockquote> In ''The Myth of Mary'' (1928), which reads as ''Jesus's Family and Entourage Exposed'', Drews asserted that all the characters around Jesus were as imaginary and fantastic as Jesus himself.


Drews's activism for free religion and monism


The need for a modern reform of religion

One consequence of the success of the German school of historical criticism had been to instill an overt skepticism towards the Christian religion among the German population. A search for a German, non-Christian religion dated to pre-World War I times. Arthur Drews himself was a product of this emerging opposition to Christianity, expressed in his lifelong concern about the state of the Christian churches. After World War I, Germany became ''radicalized'', the skepticism towards the two established Christian churches and the search for a new kind of worship attuned to the national culture became a latent national preoccupation, as alluded to by Leonard Foster in his 1938 article on "The New Paganism and the Old Teutonic Religion". One of Drews's concerns was about restoring the authenticity of religion in mankind. Both William Benjamin Smith and Arthur Drews denied the historicity of Jesus Christ, but, unlike most exponents of the myth thesis, they were dedicated theists who thought that by purging religion of all its legendary accretions, they were providing an important cleanup service and equipping it with the tools to efficiently withstand the onslaught of modern materialism. Drews felt an urgent need to reform the structure of established religion, free it from its attachment to the primitive features of the early mythical Christianity. In ''Christ Myth II'' he glorifies the greatness of the German mind and complains: "How, then, can we be asked to admit that the salvation of modern times depends on a belief that has, in the Churches, degenerated into a stupid superstition?...Why, then, should we be compelled to take our religious possessions from the past? ...Are the ideas of a remote age and a degenerate culture to keep us under their power for ever?" Drews's books were released during a phase of profound turmoil in Germany and a restructuring of its religious scene. Repeatedly, Drews came back to the same theme of reform and started thinking about the nature of religion in the future.


The Free Religion movement

Drews was one of those scholars and intellectuals who were not averse to bringing their ideas to the public, especially, in his case, if it was for the cause of countering the influence of Christian churches. He was a religious activist, willing to descend into the public forum, stand up for his views, and harangue the crowds. The concern about a renewal of religion had been Drews's preoccupation all his life, along with many other Germans. Germany was going through a craze of forming all kinds of associations for matters of public concern, including religion. Alongside the established churches, Germany had seen a few important movements emerge with a liberated attitude towards religion. In 1859 the German Association of Free Religion Societies (''Bund Freireligiöser Gemeinden Deutschlands'') was founded. This was followed in 1881 by the ''German Association of Freethinkers'' (''Deutscher Freidenkerbund''), and in 1906 the ''German Association of Monists'' ( ''Deutscher Monistenbund''). Drews threw in his lot with both the Free Religion Association and the Monist Association, which were part of the Free Religion Movement ( ''Freireligiöse Bewegung''). In addition, Drews was a member of the new No-Confession Committee (''Komitee Konfessionslos''), formed in 1909, becoming president in 1912. The Komitee supported the Church Exist Movement 'Kirchenaustrittsbewegung'' which became very successful since its inception in 1905 for attracting lapsed members of other churches as well as scientists, academic personalities, and cultural celebrities. In 1924 Drews, who was the leader of the ''Free Religion Society of Karlsruhe'', joined a few other Societies of the Southwest to form a new Association of Free Religion for the Southwest(''Verband Freireligiöser Gemeinden Süd- und Westdeutschlands''), with a more religious and less political orientation than the other movements.


The Völkish movement

In opposition to the religious movements, a non-religious cultural current had gained some impetus: the so-called '' Völkische Bewegung'' (Völkish movement), which dated back to the Romanticist movement of the 1850s, when the German revolutionary drives had been crushed by the arrival of Bismarck. Uwe Puschner is a well-known historian of this movement. This movement had a popular base and combined various elements: extreme nationalism, anti-Christianity, a reverence for the mythical Teutonic past, racism, anti-semitism, and a revival of Germanic paganism. This trend is described in the books by Hubert Cancik & Uwe Puschner, ''Antisemitismus, Paganismus, Völkische Religion'' (''Anti-semitism, Paganism, and Völkish Religion'', 2004), and by Stefan Breuer, ''Die Völkischen in Deutschland'' (''The Popular Societies in Germany,'' 2008). Although the Völkish Movement was different in ideology from National Socialism, Uwe Puschner has stressed that the two movements had great similarities and that the Völkish significantly contributed to the eventual success of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
.


The new popular myth of the superior German race

Drews had been a philosopher and an historian of philosophy, with a proselytizing drive for promoting his brand of idealistic monism. His interest in religion and mythology made him sensitive to the religious "essence" of social cultural beliefs. Romantic Nordic mysticism had become a prevalent fascination among the 19th-century German elite, such as Richard Wagner and contemporary artists, historians, and writers. It had unavoidably aroused Drews' attention for the old Teutonic beliefs that were much in vogue in Northern Europe. Drews had seen in early Christianity a religion of promise of rebirth and transfiguration for a defeated and oppressed country (announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God), and the creation of a national myth giving hope to ancient occupied Palestinian Jews (an expectation of a messianic leader and liberator). Jews were expecting that Palestine was going to go through its own course of death and rebirth. During its rise in Germany, the Nazi Party included in its ideology the old Teutonic mysticism of the highly educated artistic and literary elite, and its propaganda vulgarized it into a crude, popular mass mythology of Germanic
Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
superiority with quasi-religious overtones, encouraging the fringe development of what came to be called
Germanic neopaganism Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th centu ...
. Aging and close to death, Drews was struck by the theoretical parallel of early Christianity with modern National Socialist mysticism, a promise of national rebirth and transfiguration from an oppressed state and ofrenewed hope for a defeated country under the leadership of a new charismatic liberator, which resonated with his own concept of a future religion based on German monist idealism.


German nationalism and repudiation of Christianity

With the National Socialist Party's propaganda overwhelming the country, Drews's language in his last theological writings became increasingly focused on the concepts of glorified Germanness by opposition to the people of the
Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
, whose cultures had given rise to Greco-Roman classicism (including Drews' beloved
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
), but also Christianity — now all devalued and labeled as foreign races. Drews thus seemed convinced that the unconscious World Spirit had moved from the Mediterranean to Germany, and the philosopher had to go along. Feeling in touch with the new cultural spirit of national rebirth and exalted hope in the future then prevailing in Germany, Drews started evangelizing on the theme of German nationalism, using it as another argument against Christianity. Thus, he wrote in ''Das Wort Gottes'' (''The Word of God'', 1933, p. 11):
ree Religion believersare "German and not Romans… nd must rejecta determination of our faith on the Bible and its knowledge...Christendom is the expression of sunken times and of ''the mindset of a race foreign to us''…''Christendom has absolutely nothing to do with Germanness'' eutschtum..and a German Christendom
ould be Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد‎ (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames. Notable pe ...
''nonsense'' ... s for Protestantismwith the blows it delivers on the Gospels, it is straight on its way to Rome... Jesus the Aryan s''a pure ideal''.
here is Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...
no reason
o assume O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
a Nordic origin of Jesus. ut the question of the origin of Jesus is secondary for Drews.. ontrary tobelievers in the Bible for whom Palestine is the 'Holy Land', for devotees of Free Religion, ''Germany is the Holy Land''. he German is as an Aryan, fundamentally Monist, (Pantheist), ontrary to dualist Christians. Free Religion isthe manifestation of the essence 'Wesensausdruck''of our German people. mphasis added/blockquote> Drews systematically used monism in his battle against Christianity. Drews concluded that free religion was "the very expression of the being of our German people". Using the accoutrements of the rampant nationalistic fervor for his own agenda, Drews was still upholding his lofty ideals, but now in the form of a German monist idealism.


Berdyaev's critique

Nikolai Berdyaev Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев;  – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who e ...
(1874–1948) was a Russian philosopher of religion and politics. Writing in 1927 as a refugee from the Bolsheviks in a Paris threatened by Germany, he contends that Drews, as a religious anti-Semite, argues against the historical existence of Jesus for the religious life of Aryanism.
Drews -- is a philosopher of the Hartmann school. In his capacity as an Hartmannist, he preaches a ''religion of pure spirit''. And he fights against the historicity of Jesus Christ in the name of a religion of spirit, he contends ''against the religious materialism'' which he detests. He is prepared to admit the existence of Christ, as the Logos. But for him ''the Logos never could have been incarnated into a man'' upon the earth, within earthly history. The ''religious materialism of Christianity is a legacy inherited from Judaism'', it is a Semitic graft, and Drews in his capacity ''as a religious anti-Semite'', struggles against this materialistic Semitic graft ''for the religious life of Aryanism'', expressing itself in its purest guise in India. Drews, just like E. Hartmann, is a resolute ''antagonist against Protestantism'' and the religion of Jesus. For him Jesus was not real, in the metaphysical sense that Christ is real. He is the ''antipode to Harnack'', a result of the splitting apart of the God-Man -- the polar opposite to the Jesusism of the Protestants. (With the Christian Myth was connected the teaching of Drews and E. Hartmann about the unconscious Divinity, which in a fit of madness created the vale of being and ''comes to consciousness through man''. cf. Drews, ''Die Religion als Selbstbewustsein Gottes''.) mphasis added/blockquote> Drews was opposed to the theology of ancient Hebraism as much as he is ''opposed to Christianity'', and even more opposed to liberal Protestantism. This cannot be construed as a claim that Drews was a social anti-semite, as he was firmly opposed to social anti-semitism. Drews shared the intense belief with the German elite of the sublimity of German consciousness (in art, literature, philosophy, and science), again re-iterated in his book ''Das Wort Gottes''. However, he saw religion as an expression of the unconscious World-Spirit anchored in a community tightly rooted on an ancestral territory. In the late 1920s and '30s, hoping to see Germany pull away from Christianity, his writings took on an even stronger German nationalist fervor left in the wake of the Nazis.


The German Faith movement

A thorough description of this religious movement was presented by Ulrich Nanko in his 1993 book on the movement. Many adventurers were trying to ride the coattails of the Nazi success to establish new spiritual/religious movements. Among them were the founders of the new
German Faith Movement The German Faith Movement (''Deutsche Glaubensbewegung'') was a religious movement in Nazi Germany (1933–1945), closely associated with University of Tübingen professor Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away from ...
(''
Deutsche Glaubensbewegung The German Faith Movement (''Deutsche Glaubensbewegung'') was a religious movement in Nazi Germany (1933–1945), closely associated with University of Tübingen professor Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away from C ...
''), founded by Jakob W. Hauer (1881–1962), and
Ernst Graf zu Reventlow Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf zu Reventlow (18 August 1869 – 21 November 1943) was a German naval officer, journalist and Nazi politician. Early life Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf (Count) zu Reventlow was born at Husum, ...
(1869–1943). Hauer had been a Protestant missionary in India, who had turned into a Sanskrit scholar imbued with the spirituality of
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and a professor at the
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
. His friend
Ernst Graf zu Reventlow Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf zu Reventlow (18 August 1869 – 21 November 1943) was a German naval officer, journalist and Nazi politician. Early life Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf (Count) zu Reventlow was born at Husum, ...
had been a navy officer, a journalist, and a Reichstag deputy who had joined the NSDAP in 1927. He was an influential Nazi party member, but one who never gained the trust of Hitler and never received a position from the Nazi government. The movement adopted as its official emblem the "Sun Cross", an image of the sun forming a rounded shape with the Nazi swastika. Hauer had started a religious movement that he wanted to expand with a larger group from the Völkish movement. Reventlow's cultural (but not racial) antisemitism led him to accept an alliance with Hauer in organizing a conference in July 1933 that would create another entity, the
German Faith Movement The German Faith Movement (''Deutsche Glaubensbewegung'') was a religious movement in Nazi Germany (1933–1945), closely associated with University of Tübingen professor Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away from ...
. This new religious group became active in 1934. Hauer's ambition was to use Reventlow's NSDAP connections to engineer a unification of the Free Religion movement with the Völkish movement. As the movement developed, its objectives were revealed as follows: A state religion, anti-Christian with a Hinduism coloration, veneration of the sun, and pursuing a "species-true faith" for Germany, (a goal that resonated with Drews' hopes to see the emergence of a German religion). Also included were '' Blood and Soil'' (''Blut und Boden''), racist values (blood descent), nationalism (ancestral land occupation), Völkish populism (fusion with the racist/antisemitic Völkish movement), and German neopaganism. The Southwest Association for Free Religion, including Drews' Karlsruhe Society, had formed and Drews was invited to sit on the Working Committee of this new movement. The collaboration was short-lived, however. The new group's political objectives (dreams of becoming a state religion) clashed with the basic program of the Free Religion Societies, which were pursuing more limited interests of freer religion. In addition, racism and antisemitism, which had become more overt in the NSDAP's national policy after it had reached political power, became also quickly apparent as a major goal of Hauer and Reventlow. As a result, the Southwest Association of Free Religion, in which Drews' Karlsruhe Free Religion Society was a member, soon withdrew from the German Faith Movement. The two leaders of the new group proved that they didn't have enough political pull. Hauer could not implement the planned fusion with the Völkish movement. Reventlow's connections did not bring any benefits from the Nazi government. Contrary to their hopes, the German Faith movement never became endorsed as a Nazi party organization, never obtained the privileges Hauer was seeking, and never achieved its latent goal of becoming legitimized as the state religion by the NSDAP, in a vain hope to duplicate the endorsement of the Catholic Church by the Roman Emperor
Theodosius I Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...
in 380 AD. Disillusioned, Hauer left in 1936, and joined the Party in 1937; Reventlow also left the movement early to resume the practice of Christianity and was still unable to gain Hitler's favor. The anthropologist
Karla Poewe Karla Poewe (born 1941) is an anthropologist and historian. She is the author of ten academic books and fifty peer reviewed articles in international journals. Currently Poewe is Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at the University of Calgary, C ...
has devoted her book ''New Religions and the Nazis'' (2005) to Hauer's attempt at founding a national religion.
Richard Steigmann-Gall Richard Steigmann-Gall (Born October 3, 1965) is an Associate Professor of History at Kent State University, and the former Director of the Jewish Studies Program from 2004 to 2010. Education He received his BA in history in 1989 and MA ...
, author of ''The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945'' (2004), is another expert on this period. He contends that Poewe, sharing "Hauer's sense of grandiosity", portrays Hauer as more significant than he was, making of "Hauer a 'truer' exemplar of Nazism than its own institutional incarnation". Whereas Hauer was at most a fellow traveler of the Nazis, a hanger-on with big ambition, "intent to appear relevant but ultimately rejected..." The movement never achieved more than the status of a small esoteric fringe group. It never managed to dent, let alone replace, Christianity in the land of Martin Luther. It turned out to be merely a cultural flash-in-the-pan, a curiosity in the complex landscape of Germany's religious life in the mid '30s. The NSDAP government changed its name in 1938 and jettisoned it as a nuisance that was incapable of displacing the two strong Christian churches in Germany, and only risked to alienate them against the new regime. So, in spite of Drews' hope to promote a new religion based on idealistic monism and pantheism of a distinct German character, the participation of the Karlsruhe Free Religion Society in Hauer's effort to unify the provincial Free Religion associations with the Völkish movement was short-lived and produced no results. Drews, an elitist thinker in the
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
and Hartmann tradition, had been an advocate of the unconscious World Spirit as being the fundamental engine of religion acting in history through agents and oracles. He remained hostile to any religion based on a historic personality cult and, late in life, was confronted with the practical difficulty of translating his lofty ambitions to the simpler drives and requirements of a mass movement.


Against anti-Semitism

Among the many reservations about the German Faith Movement, one reason for abandoning it was what Drews and others perceived as blatant antisemitism. Drews objected to the racist assumption in antisemitism in an article, Jesus the Aryan (''Jesus der Arier,'' 1934) where he paid homage to the courage and moral fiber of the Jews through history and to the ancient Hebrew prophets who transformed the primitive god of wrath into a god of mercy in the ''Psalms'', ''Proverbs'', and ''Wisdom'' books:
rews denies thata Jew cannot be driven by liberty and courage... rews mentioned thefights for freedom of the ''Maccabees'', the fatal defense of Jerusalem against the Romans and the last desperate fight of the Jews in the ''Bar Kokhba wars'' he third and last Jewish war against the Roman army, that led to the final destruction of the Jewish state in Palestine n the same vein, Drews referred to the courage of thosepoor Jews of the ''medieval Ghetto'' who preferred to endure a thousand dead rather than renounce their faith, and climbed, still self-controlled, to the stakes... he Jewish prophetsimpassioned by freedom and courage... honever feared jail, exile, or death... n the course of the progress of the Jewish religionthe desert god Yahweh of the Old Testament has ''become larger, more tolerant, more humane, more friendly''...
o that O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
from an angry and authoritarian god he changed ''into a merciful god'', who is all goodness and love, ''the god from the Psalms, the Proverbs and the Wisdom writings''. mphasis added/blockquote> Contrary to other Free Religion devotees who parroted the slogans of the NSDAP propaganda, Drews engaged in a real discussion with Jewish intellectuals and scholars. He was able to deliver a tribute to the Jewish faith, which, on one hand, brought to light its differences with Free Religion, but also showed respect to people who had other thoughts.


Late theological writings and racism

Late in his life, with the rise of the Nazi Party and Nazi propaganda, Arthur Drews appears to have taken up more nationalistic and racist theological positions, which once again centered "true" theological experience in German pride. Drews would write in one of his final writings: "Christianity is the expression of sunken times and of the mindset of a race foreign to us ..Christianity has nothing to do with Germanness." According to Bernhard Hoffers, his affinities for the German Faith movement bordered on that of J. Goebbels' own views. Drews likewise served as the primary advisor for Eugen Diederichs Verlag, which was a focal point for the rise of extreme conservatism, nationalism, and antisemitism. As such, while Drews may have been against antisemitism earlier in his life and even later, he still voiced a German superiority and had a spiritual opposition to the religion of a "foreign race" by his later life.


Death

Drews died on 19 July 1935 in Illenau,
Achern Achern (; gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Achre) is a town in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 18 km southwest of Baden-Baden and 19 km northeast of Offenburg. Achern is the fourth largest town in the distric ...
(near Bühl),
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
at the age of 70.


Re-evaluation of Drews by Bernhard Hoffers

Germany has been struggling with the legacy of the Nazi era and is still in the process of rehabilitating its exceptional scholars. Bernhardt Hoffers, in his 2003 biographical eulogy, took up the challenge of restoring Drews's reputation that he felt had been unfairly tarnished. He stressed the following facts: He highlighted that Drews, during his life, had been an irritant, continually encroaching on the turf of many specialists in German universities: in theology, philology, astronomy, mythology, music criticism, and psychology. Specialists didn't welcome his interference and even resented him as an outsider. Drews had been regarded as a maverick; his philosophy stood outside of academia, which didn't accept his dilettantism (''Abweichungen von der communis opinio''). Hartmann was not in vogue, either, and Drews' dependence on this old professor was another hindrance. Drews created no school and had no followers in Germany. He had to remain a teacher in his Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe for the rest of his life. Drews' support of Wagner and opposition to Nietzsche did nothing to improve his standing. He met with the studied indifference 'das Ignorieren''and the silence 'das Totschweigen''of the academic pundits, while his international public popularity and press coverage were increasing. Even the University of Karlsruhe, in the very town where he lived and taught, didn't want to mention his name. His treatment at the hands of academics was similar to those of William B. Smith in the US, John M. Robertson and later George A. Wells in England, and Paul-Louis Couchoud in France. After his death his name was largely forgotten. He was mentioned in the German media mostly for having advocated the need for a religion renewal, and in the literature about Wagner and Nietzsche. His work was omitted or grossly misrepresented and discredited in major German reference books. His books in Germany are now hard to find. However, his book on Plotinus is still in demand, the ''Christ Myth'' is widely available in the English-speaking world, and Hermann Detering of ''Radikalkritik'' continues to make the ''Denial of the Historicity of Jesus'' still available.. Drews had been fighting all his life for acceptance and recognition in Germany and for tenure at a university. In spite of his enormous scholarly output, and his popularity, he never was able to obtain a university position. One has to understand why, at the end of his life, Drews was expressing a hope for a renewal of Germany. Hoffers, for the sake of fairness, remarked that Drews never was a member of the Nazi party, and spoke out early against growing antisemitism in the 1920s . He never was involved in any action against Jewish intellectuals, artists, and academics. Whereas, for instance, a philosopher like
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
was more visibly active in the Nazi movement, as Rüdiger Safranski has described in detail in ''Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil'' (1999). Hoffers emphasized that "As a scholar, Drews had always been objective and honest." In spite of scholarly differences, he maintained a friendship with Schweitzer for a while. He was a polyglot and collected Japanese art prints. He was a gifted, energetic man, with a tremendous capacity for work. He gained the esteem of van den Bergh van Eysinga, the leader of the Dutch Radical school, who viewed him as a" good guy" (''ein netter Kerl''). In conclusion, Hoffers urged scholars to renew an acquaintance with Drews' books. Claiming that the arguments developed in his work were outmoded or refuted 'überholt''is unjustified. As a parting shot, Hoffers asks a pertinent question: "Is it really true that the question of Jesus's historicity has been absolutely clarified and is moreover uninteresting, as can be heard in discussions with theologians? (''Ist es wirklich so, dass die Frage nach der Historizität Jesu absolut geklärt und obendrein noch so nebensächlich ist, wie man in Gesprächen mit Theologen zu hören bekommt?'')." Hoffers concludes that Drews's life was a fascinating chapter of the ''zeitgeschichte'' (history of our times).


Works

* ''Die Lehre von Raum und Zeit in der nachkantischen Philosophie. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Bekenntnistheorie und Apologetik der Metaphysik'', Dec. 1889, 73 p. Ph.D. thesis, Halle-Wittemberg University * ''Die deutsche Spekulation seit Kant'', 2 vols., 1893 * ''Der Ideengehalt von Richard Wagners
Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...
in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Philosophie'', 1898 * ''Giordano Bruno'', München, 1900 * ''Die moderne Psychologie'', 1901 * ''Eduard von Hartmanns philosophisches System im Grundriss'', 1902/1906 * ''Der transscendentale Idealismus der Gegenwart'', 1904 * ''Nietzsches Philosophie'', Heidelberg 1904 * ''Hegels Religionsphilosophie : in gekürzter Form'', Jena, 1905 * ''Die Religion als Selbst-bewusstsein Gottes : eine philosophische Untersuchung über das Wesen der Religion'', Jena 1906, 2d ed. 1925 * ''Plotin und der Untergang der Antiken Weltanschauung'', Jena, 1907 * ''Der Monismus : dargestellt in Beiträgen seiner Vertreter'', (edited by Drews, with opening article by him), Jena, 1908 * ''Die Christusmythe'' 1909 (Transl. C. Delisle Burns, ''The Christ Myth'', London 1910) 4th ed. 1924 * ''Hat Jesus gelebt? Reden gehalten auf dem Berliner Religionsgespräch des Deutschen Monistenbundes am 31. Januar und l. Februar 1910 im Zoologischen Garten über "Die Christusmythe" von Arthur Drews'', 1910, Verlag des Deutschen Monistenbundes, Berlin * ''Die Petruslegende, ein Beitrag zur Mythologie des Christentums'', 1910 (Transl.
Frank Zindler Frank R. Zindler (May 23, 1939) is an American atheist who served as interim president of the atheist organization American Atheists in 2008. Career Prior to his involvement in the atheist community, he was Chairman, Division of Science, Nursi ...
, ''The Legend of St Peter, A Contribution to the Mythology of Christianity'', 1997) 2d ed. 1924 * ''Die Christusmythe II: Die Zeugnisse für die Geschichtlichkeit Jesu, eine Antwort an die Schriftgelehrten mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der theologischen Methode'', Jena, 1911 (Transl.
Joseph McCabe Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. He was "one of the great mouthpieces of freethought in England". Becomi ...
''The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus'', 1912, London & Chicago) * ''Lebt Jesus ? Reden über den 'historischen Jesus und die Religion', gehalten am 12. März 1911, von Prof. Dr. Arthur Drews — Kernprobleme der Gegenwart. Berliner Religionsgespräch'' herausgegeben von Alfred Dieterich, Berlin, 1911 * ''Die Philosophie im ersten Drittel des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts'', Leipzig, 1912 * ''Geschichte des Monismus im Alterturm'', Heidelberg, 1913 * ''Die Hypothese des Unbewußten'', 1914 * ''Freie Religion. Vorschläge zur Weiterführung des Reformationsgedankens'' 1st ed. 1917, ''Freie Religion : Gedanken zur Weiterbildung und Vertiefung der Religion für die Gottsucher unserer Tage'', 3d ed. 1921 * ''Der deutsche Gott'', 1918 * ''Nietzsche als Antipode Wagners'', 1919 * ''Das Markusevangelium als Zeugnis gegen die Geschichtlichkeit Jesu (The Gospel of Mark as a testimony against the historicity of Jesus)'', Jena, 1921, 2d. ed. 1928 Image o
p. 330
at Google Books
* ''Einfuehrung in die Philosophie'', 1922 * ''Der sternhimmel in der Dichtung und Religion der Alten Völker und des Christentums, eine Einführung in die Astralmythologie'', Jena 1923 * ''Psychologie des Unbewussten'', Berlin, 1924 * ''Die Entstehung des Christentums aus dem Gnostizismus'', Jena, 1924 n syncretism* ''Selbstdarstellung'', 1924 'Autobiography''* ''Die Leugnung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart'', Karlsruhe, 1926 (English summary by Klaus Schilling, ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present'', Radikal Kritik) * ''Die Marienmythe'', Jena, 1928 * ''Hat Jesus gelebt?'', Mainz, 1928 * ''Gott'', Mainz 1930 * ''Der Ideengehalt von Richard Wagners dramatischen Dichtungen in Zusammenhang mit seinem Leben und seiner Weltanschauung. Mit einem Anhang: Nietzsche und Wagner'', Leipzig 1931 * ''Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" und das Christentum'', Mainz 1933 * ''Das "Wort Gottes" : zur religiösen Lage der Gegenwart'', Mainz, 1933 * ''Deutsche Religion; Grundzüge eines Gottesglaubens im Geiste des deutschen Idealismus'', München, 1935 'German Religion: Principles of a Belief in God in the Spirit of German Idealism''* ''Briefwechsels mit Eduard von Hartmann 1888-1906'', ed. Rudolf Mutter; Eckhart Pilick, 1996 * ''Die Ethik Jesu'', Rohrbach/Pfalz Guhl 2008


Notes and references


External links


''The Christ Myth''
— Burns translation of the 3d edition (1910) at Internet Archive. Also available as
PDF version
digitalized in 2010.

Full German text at ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070927031018/http://radikalkritik.de/Petruslegende.htm ''Die Petruslegende''
Albert Schweitzer, ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus'', (1906)
in 20 chapters (Transl. W. Montgomery, 1910, London.
A new translation
is based on the 9th German edition (1984) in 25 chapters, (2001, Fortress Press).

is on Bruno Bauer. * ''The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus'', (1912) — Transl. Joseph McCabe
Isaiah 53
- ESV
Psalm 22
- "Why Have You Forsaken Me?" - ESV
Wisdom of Solomon
- Oremus

- New Advent

Full German original ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120721231515/http://www.radikalkritik.de/leugnung.htm ''Die Leugnung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart'', Karlsruhe (1926)
Edwin Johnson, ''The Pauline Epistles'', 1894

Albert Kalthoff, ''The Rise of Christianity'', (1904)
— 1907 translation at Internet Archive.
William B. Smith, ''Ecce Deus - Studies of Primitive Christianity'' (1913)

John Mackinnon Robertson, ''Christianity & Mythology'', (1900-10)

John Mackinnon Robertson, ''Pagan Christs: Studies in Comparative Hierology'', (1903-11)
* Van Manen's views on Paul are presented as Part II o
Thomas Whittaker's ''The Origins of Christianity, with an Outline of Van Manen's Analysis of the Pauline Literature''
(1904-1933), p. 65-216. Includes Van Manen's analysis of Acts, Romans, and 1 & 2 Corinthians.
See also

providing references for Van Manen's 15 articles in ''Encyclopaedia Biblica'', including "Old-Christian Literature", 1914, "Paul & Paulinism",
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
,
Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christian c ...
, Philemon,
Shepherd of Hermas A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
, and Rome (Church) (all signed "w. c. v. M.")
Robert M. Price, "The Evolution of the Pauline Canon", 1997

Shirley Jackson Case, ''The Historicity of Jesus: a Criticism of the Contention that Jesus Never Lived, a Statement of the Evidence for His Existence, an Estimate of His Relation to Christianity'' (1912)

Frederick C. Conybeare, ''The historical Christ, or, An investigation of the views of Mr. J.M. Robertson, Dr. A. Drews, and Prof. W.B. Smith'', (1914)

Maurice Goguel, ''Jesus The Nazarene, Myth Or History?''
(1926). Also available i

* A. D. Howell Smith, ''Jesus Not A Myth'' (1942)]. Not easy to find. An analysis of Howell Smith's arguments is presented in Archibald Robertson (atheist), Archibald Robertson's ''Jesus: Myth or History?'' See als
a series of five posts on ''Vridar''

Archibald Robertson, ''Jesus: Myth or History?'' (1946)
- A review of the major scholars involved in the public debate from 1890 to 1940.

(1999) * ttps://www.amazon.com/Christ-Myth-Theory-Its-Problems/dp/1578840171/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_har?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329487626&sr=1-1 Robert M. Price, ''The Christ-Myth Theory And Its Problems'' (2011)- Amazon listing and reviews
"Plotinus", by Lloyd Gerson, (2008)
- ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
Rüdiger Safranski, ''Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil''
(1999, Harvard UP) - Amazon listing & reviews {{DEFAULTSORT:Drews Arthur 1865 births 1935 deaths German philosophers People from Uetersen Christ myth theory proponents German male writers German modern pagans Modern pagan philosophers