author
David Friedrich Strauss
1808–1874
A bold and deeply controversial thinker, he helped change how modern readers approached the Gospels by asking historical questions that many of his contemporaries considered shocking. Best known for The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, he became one of the key figures in 19th-century liberal Protestant thought.
1 Audiobook
The Life of Jesus Critically Examined (4th ed.)
by David Friedrich Strauss
About the author
Born in Ludwigsburg in 1808 and dying there in 1874, David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian, philosopher, and writer associated with liberal Protestantism. He is remembered above all for The Life of Jesus Critically Examined (1835–1836), a work that argued many Gospel narratives should be understood as myth shaped by the early Christian community rather than straightforward historical reporting.
That book made him famous across Europe and also made him intensely controversial. Strauss drew on contemporary philosophy and historical criticism in a way that challenged traditional Christian belief, and his work had a lasting effect on modern theology and on later discussions of the "historical Jesus."
Alongside theology, he also wrote biography, including a well-known study of Voltaire. Today he is often seen as one of the major 19th-century voices who pushed biblical scholarship toward a more historical and critical approach.