The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present
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''Die Leugnung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart'' (English: ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present'') was a 1926 book in German by Arthur Drews on
Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...
. The book is a historical review of some 35 major deniers of Jesus historicity (radicals, mythicists) covering the period 1780 – 1926, and was meant to be Drews’s response to Albert Schweitzer's '' Quest of the Historical Jesus'' of 1906. Drews’s book was in fact presented in the guise of ''"Quest of the non-Historicity of Jesus"'', with its own historical review of the key Jesus deniers. As Schweitzer erected himself as the champion of "historicists", Drews stood up in opposition as the champion of "radicals" and "Jesus historicity deniers". They were later labelled "mythicists" by the media, a name never used by Drews, but popularized in the early 1940s by the British writers A.D. Howell Smith, in his book ''Jesus Not A Myth'' (1942) and
Archibald Robertson Archibald or Archie Robertson may refer to: Sports *Archie Robertson (footballer) (1929–1978), Scottish footballer * Archie Robertson (shinty player) (born 1950), ex-shinty player Others *Archibald Robertson (painter) (1765–1835), Scottish bor ...
in his book ''Jesus: Myth or History?'' (1946). This new label was convenient in opposing "mythicists" versus "historicists".


David Strauss and Bruno Bauer

Drews gives the most prominent place to David Strauss, who reduced all the
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
events of the New Testament stories to the role of myths; and to
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 ...
, the first professional scholar who ''denied the historicity of Jesus'', argued the ''priority of Mark'' as ''inventor of the Gospel story'' and the ''fiction of Jesus's existence'', rejected all of Paul's epistles as ''non genuine'', and emphasized the input of Greco-Roman ideas (especially the ''
Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
'' of
Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...
) in the New Testament documents. Both Strauss and Bauer were forced to abandon University life at a young age.


The five major Jesus Deniers who influenced Drews's ''Christ Myth''

Among those Jesus deniers, Arthur Drews was especially influenced by the following thinkers: * The German
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 ...
(1809–1882),"Bruno Bauer", by Douglas Moddach, 2009, ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)''
/ref> the original pioneer of the denial of Jesus Historicity. See whol

dedicated to Bruno Bauer, in Albert Schweitzer's ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' (1906). * The German Albert Kalthoff (1850–1906): ::- ''Die Entstehung des Christentums – Neue Beiträge zum Christusproblem,'' (1904), transl. ''The Rise of Christianity'' (1907); ::- ''Was wissen wir von Jesus? Eine Abrechnung mit
Wilhelm Bousset Wilhelm Bousset (3 September 1865, Lübeck – 8 March 1920, Gießen) was a German theologian and New Testament scholar. He was of Huguenot ancestry and a native of Lübeck. His most influential work was ''Kyrios Christos'', an attempt to explain ...
'' (1904) 'What do We Know of Jesus? A Settlement with Wilhelm Bousset'' ::- ''Modernes Christentum'' (1906) 'Modern Christendom'' * The American
William Benjamin Smith William Benjamin Smith (October 26, 1850 – August 6, 1934) was a professor of mathematics at Tulane University, best known as a proponent of the Christ myth theory. Biography In a series of books, beginning with ''Ecce Deus: The Pre-Christian ...
(1850–1934), fluent in English and German, and close to Kalthoff: ::- ''The Pre-Christian Jesus, Studies of Origins of Primitive Christianity'' (1906/1911); ::- ''Ecce Deus: Studies Of Primitive Christianity'', Introd. Paul Wilhelm Schmiedel (1912). * The Scot
J. M. Robertson John Mackinnon Robertson (14 November 1856 – 5 January 1933) was a prolific Scottish journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Member of Parliament for Tyneside (UK Parliament constituency), Tyneside ...
(1856–1933): ::- ''Christianity and Mythology'' (1900–10); ::- ''A Short History of Christianity'' (1902); ::- ''Pagan Christs – Studies in Comparative Hierology'' (1903–1911). * The Englishman
Thomas Whittaker Thomas or Tom Whittaker may refer to: *Thomas Bartlett Whitaker (born 1979), American criminal, former Texas Death Row inmate *Thomas Whittaker (martyr) (1614–1646), English Roman Catholic priest *Thomas Whittaker (metaphysician) (1856–1935), E ...
(1856–1935): ''The Origins of Christianity'' (1904), declaring Jesus a myth.


School of comparative history of religions

Space is dedicated to the major advocates of the ''School of (Comparative) History of Religions'', flourishing in
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 ...
(''Die Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'') and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. German orientalist Peter Jensen, an expert on Semitic Languages and Babylonian literature, in ''Das Gilgamesch-Epos in der Weltliteratur'', (Part I, 1906 & Part II, 1928) 'The Epic of Gilgamesh in World Literature'' had analyzed the ''
Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh ...
'', and found parallels in all later
ANE Ane or ane may refer to: * Āne, a village in Latvia * Ane, Netherlands, a village in Overijssel, Netherlands, also ** Battle of Ane (1227), a battle fought near the village * -ane, a suffix in organic chemistry, or specifically ** Alkanes, which ...
myths, including the Hebrew Tanakh, Moses and Isaiah, thus impacting on the authenticity of the Christian Gospels and destroyed the unique character of the Jesus story.
Alfred Jeremias Alfred Karl Gabriel Jeremias (24 February 1864 in Chemnitz, Kingdom of Saxony – 11 January 1935) was a German pastor, Assyriology, Assyriologist and an expert on the religions of the ancient Near East. Life In 1891 he published the first Ger ...
(1864–1935), another expert in
ANE Ane or ane may refer to: * Āne, a village in Latvia * Ane, Netherlands, a village in Overijssel, Netherlands, also ** Battle of Ane (1227), a battle fought near the village * -ane, a suffix in organic chemistry, or specifically ** Alkanes, which ...
languages and mythology, had published ''The Epic of Gilgamesh'' (1891) and advocated ''
panbabylonism Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the Middle East and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being ba ...
'', the thesis that sees the Ancient Hebrew stories directly derived from Babylonian mythology. The English summary (by Klaus Schilling) of ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus'' describes Jeremias's views:
eremias ''Eremias'' is a genus of lizards in the family Lacertidae, the wall lizards. They are native to Asia and southeastern Europe, where they live in desert and steppe regions.Rastegar-Pouyani N, Rastegar-Pouyani E (2001)"A new species of ''Eremi ...
only admitted Chaldean origin of early Judaism, but couldn't deny that there was some sort of impact from old Babylon in the New Testament. The Babylonian-Chaldean worldview is about the most astralmythical and astrological worldview found in history of cultures; the terms 'astrological' and 'Chaldean' were used synonymously by many authors since Hellenic times. In this sense Jeremias continued the works of Volney and Dupuis... The Christian calendar tells the story of the astral redeemer king, the 12 apostles are akin to the zodiac, and the 4 Gospels are akin to the cardinal points of the world.


The Dutch Radical School

Drews was closely connected to what was called the school of Dutch “
Radical Criticism Radical criticism is a movement around the late 19th century that, typically, denied authentic authorship of the Pauline epistles. This went beyond the higher criticism of the Tübingen school which (with the exception of Bruno Bauer) held that ...
”, which not only denied the existence of Jesus Christ, the authenticity of Paul's epistles,Hermann Detering, "The Dutch Radical Approach to the Pauline Epistles", 1996
/ref>
The full German text ''Die Paulusbriefe in der Holländischen Radikalkritik'', 1992, 531 p. (''The Pauline Epistles in the Dutch Radical School'') not accessible online. Th
Table of Contents
indicates a detailed examination of each member of the Dutch School. The extensiv
Introduction, p. 1-17
is accessible.
and also the very historicity of Paul. Drews reviews the inputs from the key scholars: *
Allard Pierson Allard Pierson (8 April 1831 – 27 May 1896) was a Dutch theologian, historian, and art historian. He was a leading proponent of radical criticism in the Netherlands. Life Pierson's father was a merchant in Amsterdam, his mother an author of piet ...
(1831–1896): ''De Bergrede en andere synoptische Fragmenten'' (1878) 'The Sermon on the Mount and other Synoptic Fragments'' was epoch-making. It proved that the ''
Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...
'' is a post-70 product, a ''collection of aphorisms of Jewish wisdom'' placed into the mouth of the semi-god Jesus. Non-Christian witnesses are worthless, especially Tacitus. The ''Galatians epistle is not genuine'' (contrary to F.C. Baur and Tübingen School). Non-historicity of Jesus is affirmed. Pierson is recognized as the founder of the Dutch Radical School. * Abraham Dirk Loman (1823–1897): ''Quaestiones Paulinae'' (1882–6) 'Questions on the Paulinae''contends that not only Galatians, but ''all of Paul's Epistles are 2nd-century forgeries'' (following Bruno Bauer). No evidence of the Paulinae before Marcion, the epistles are Gnostic treatises. ''Jesus is a 2nd-century fiction''. "Some" Jesus may have existed, but buried and ''lost in the dark''. The Jesus of Christianity is an ideal symbol, a non-historical construction. * Samuel Adrianus Naber (1828–1913): Christianity mixed Jewish and Roman-Hellenic thoughts. ''Greek myths have been fused with Isaiah''. Naber also supports the non-historicity of Jesus. * Willem Christiaan van Manen (1842–1905): ''Paulus'' (1890–96). Agrees with Loman and Rudolf Steck that none of the epistles is genuine. ''Acts'' are ''dependent on Flavius Josephus'' and date from ca. 125–150. As an exception in the Dutch Radical School, does accept the historicity of Jesus."Willem C. Van Manen & the Dutch Radicals", in ''Radikalkritik''
Willem C. van Manen, "Paul & Paulinism", ca. 1900 Willem C. van Manen, Epistle to the Romans, ca. 1900See also ''An Outline of Van Manen's Analysis of Pauline Literature'' in Thomas Whittaker's ''The Origins of Christianity'', (1904–1933). Includes reviews of Acts, Romans, and 1 & 2 Corinthians * Rudolf Steck (1842–1924): a Swiss scholar, an ally of the Dutch. In ''Der Galaterbrief nach seiner Echtheit untersucht nebst kritischen Bemerkungen zu den Paulinischen Hauptbriefen'' (1888) 'Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Galatians Epistle, and Critical Remarks on the Chief Paulines'' he branded ''all the Pauline epistles as fakes'', and supported Pierson and Naber. *
G.J.P.J. Bolland Gerardus Johannes Petrus Josephus Bolland (9 June 1854, Groningen (city), Groningen – 11 February 1922, Leiden), also known as G.J.P.J. Bolland, was a Dutch Autodidacticism, autodidact, linguist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and lecturer. An e ...
(1854–1922): ''De Evangelische Jozua'' (1907) 'The Gospel of Joshua''continued Bauer's concepts about Philo and his Logos, the Caesars, and earlier Jewish Gnosticism. Christianity is the result of ''syncretism between Hellenized Jews and Judeophile Greeks in Alexandria after 70'', with "Chrestos" (the good) becoming "Christus", i.e., Jesus. ''The original Jerusalem mother community is mere fiction''. Bolland also maintains the non-historicity of Jesus. * G. A. van den Bergh van Eysinga (1874–1957): the last of the line to hold a professorship. His important writings came after 1926. Van Eysinga endorses the view that the epistles of Clement and
Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, ''Ignátios Antiokheías''; died c. 108/140 AD), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (, ''Ignátios ho Theophóros'', lit. "the God-bearing"), was an early Christian writer ...
are ''not genuine''. There is no evidence of the Paulinae before Marcion, ''all produced by the Marcion circle''. Paul does ''not sound Jewish'', (in opposition to Harnack). Paul's epistles are full of incongruities. There's no evidence of the existence of Jesus the Messiah.
In 1930, van Eysinga dedicated an article to Arthur Drews, "Does Jesus Live, or Has He Only Lived? A Study of the Doctrine of Historicity", commenting on Drews's 1926 book ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present''
Van Eysinga expressed his conviction that the Jesus movement had started as a mystery cult in his article ''Das Christentum als MysterienReligion'' (1950, "Christianity as a Mystery Cult"). The attention to Drews and the Dutch School was revived by
Hermann Detering Hermann Detering (1953 – October 2018) was a Berlin pastor sceptical of Paul's authorship of the Pauline epistles, in line with radical criticism. He identified Paul with Simon Magus, the Samaritan sorcerer who opposed Peter. Simon Magus as Paul ...
and his Website,
Radikalkritik
' in German and English.


Reviews of other historicity deniers

Drews gives credit to the two French pioneers,
Charles-François Dupuis Charles François Dupuis (26 October 174229 September 1809) was a French savant, a professor (from 1766) of rhetoric at the Collège de Lisieux, Paris, who studied for the law in his spare time and was received as ''avocat'' in 1770. He also ven ...
and
Comte de Volney ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...
, both imbued with an astral-mythical interpretation of Jesus and Christianity. Drews does mention the broad impact of
Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...
(1823–1892), with his immensely popular Romanticist ''Vie de Jesus'' (1863, ''Life of Jesus''), in implanting serious doubts among the bourgeoisie. But Drews is less impressed by Renan as a scholar than Schweitzer was, who had devoted a full chapter (13) to the French "theology historian", a space equal to that devoted to Bauer. The prevailing term then was ''radicalism'', and Drews lends special attention to the adherents of Radicalism in Germany, the US, France, and England, and to a few other scholars, now less well remembered, but who made an insightful contribution in their time. Drews includes in his survey: * Hermann Reimarus (1694–1768), a teacher of Oriental languages in Hamburg, and whom Schweitzer enshrined as the original German skeptic of the divinity of Jesus in his 1906 ''Quest of the Historical Jesus – From Reimarus to Wrede.'' * Edwin Johnson (1842–1901), and his ''Antiqua mater – A Study of Christian Origins'' (1887). An English radical theologian who identified the early Christians as the "Chrestiani", followers of a good ( Chrestus) God who had expropriated the myth of
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
"Eleutherios" ("Dionysos the Emancipator"), to produce a self-sacrificing Godman. Johnson denounced the twelve apostles as complete fabrication. * The Pole
Andrzej Niemojewski Andrzej Niemojewski (24 January 1864 – 3 November 1921) was a Polish social and political activist, poet, rationalist and writer of the Young Poland period. God Jesus Niemojewski was best known as a proponent of the Christ myth theory. He ...
(1864–1921, Warsaw), ''Gott Jesus im Lichte fremder und eigener Forschungen samt Darstellung der evangelischen Astralstoffe, Astralszenen, und Astralsysteme'', (1910), 'Research on the Gospels' astralmythic aspects of the Jesus God'' He continues the line of Volney and Dupuis, by looking for parallels in
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, ...
, but turns out to be "too confusing". *
Samuel Lublinski Samuel Lublinski (18 February 1868 - 26 December 1910) was a Berlin-based writer, literary historian, critic, and philosopher of religion. He was a pioneer of the socio-historical study of literary movements and a major contributor to the debates ...
(1868–1910), ''Die Entstehung des Christentums aus der antiken Kultur'', (1910), 'Origins of Christendom from the Ancient culture'' and ''Das werdende Dogma vom Leben Jesu'' (1910), 'The Dogmatic Emergence of the Life of Jesus'' who saw Christianity arising from Gnosticism, a product of late Judaism shaped by the Hellenistic and Oriental mystery cults, with Essenes and the Therapeuts as pioneering sects. * Hermann Raschke, (1887–1970) ''Die Werkstatt des Markusevangelisten'' (1924), 'The Workshop of the Evangelist Mark'' A Lutheran minister, he claims that the Ancients didn't share in our modern historical consciousness, and made no absolute separation between historicity and mythic description. ''Everything was understood magically and speculatively.'' He stresses that Bar Kochba is the only authentic Messiah identified in the 1st and 2nd centuries, with Rabbi Akiva the "false prophet" who endorsed him. Marcion's Evangelikon looks more like Mark than Luke, against Harnack (Eysinga). The Pauline Savior is the ''Gnostic Redeemer''. Scholars like Harnack religiously follow
Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
(assuming that only
incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
-in-the-flesh can guarantee Redemption for mankind). * Emilio Bossi (1870–1920) (''Jesus Christ Never Existed'', 1904). Bossi was a radical lawyer/journalist ("Milesbo" being his pen-name). Jesus is a ''concoction from
Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''
Paul-Louis Couchoud Paul-Louis Couchoud (; July 6, 1879 at Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019. ...
(1879–1959), ''The Enigma of Jesus'' (1924), with an introduction by James Frazer. This is only the first step in his exegesis, as his important works appeared after 1926. * Georg Brandes (1842–1927), an influential Danish critic, published late in life his ''Die Jesus Sage'' (1925), transl. ''The Jesus Myth''. Following Bruno Bauer, Brandes sees the order of NT writings as: Apocalypse of John, Paulinae, Gospels. Paul's Jesus is all celestial, and the Gospels are but an assemblage of
midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
bits. Greco-Roman stoicism is a far superior kind of ethics to Jesus's morality. With the Dane Georg Brandes, Drews ends his review in 1925, establishing the first historical list of the key radical/mythicists. This list has been brought up to date and expanded by later writers."A History of 'Jesus Denial' "— "Demolishing the Historicity of Jesus", in ''Jesus Never Existed'', by Kenneth Humphreys
/ref>


Drew's conclusions on denial of Jesus' historicity

In his final conclusions ("English summary" of the book, by Klaus Schilling), Drews emphasized that deniers (radicals, mythicists) ''do not form a movement'' (a so-called "denial party") trying to “unite” them against an entity called “Christianity”:
Drews describes the social consequences of a denial of historicity, and explains why so many theologians and secular researchers stick to historicity, though ''the ahistoricity of Jesus is scientifically as sure as'' that of Romulus and Remus, or the seven legendary kings of Rome. The consequences are generally underestimated.
It is quite understandable that the ''denial party'' is unique only in that point f the ''non-historicity'', ''Ahistorizität'' and otherwise offers ''a variety of diverging explanations'' ach denier has his own independent hypothesis The church has done everything for 2000 years to ''obscure and hide away the origins of Christianity'', so that there’s no way to get any further without speculative hypotheses.
It is obvious that no serious researcher could claim the historicity of Jesus, unless it were the savior of the dominating religion of the prevailing culture. So there’s ''nothing but Christian prejudice'' which keeps even secular researchers from admitting non-historicity... mphasis added/blockquote>


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present 1926 non-fiction books Works about the Christ myth theory Historicity of religious figures Historicity of the Bible