author
Arthur Drews
1865–1935
A German philosopher and writer who stirred major debates about religion, myth, and the historical Jesus, he became one of the best-known voices of early 20th-century monist thought. His work brought academic philosophy into sharp public controversy.
1 Audiobook
The Christ Myth
by Arthur Drews
About the author
Born in Uetersen in 1865, Arthur Drews was a German philosopher, writer, and historian of religion. He taught philosophy and German literature at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe and became known as an important representative of German monism, a movement that tried to understand mind, nature, and culture as part of a single unified reality.
Drews is best remembered for challenging conventional Christian scholarship. His 1909 book The Christ Myth argued that Jesus should be understood primarily as a mythic and symbolic figure rather than as a clearly established historical person, a position that drew intense criticism and made him widely discussed far beyond university circles.
Alongside his religious writings, he published on philosophy, German idealism, and cultural history. He died in 1935, but his books remain part of the history of modern debates over religion, myth, and the boundaries between scholarship and belief.