Dr Neville Buch
From Myth to Human Authorship: The Legacy of the “Life of Jesus” Tradition
Abstract
This essay traces the intellectual lineage and legacy of the “historical Jesus” quest, beginning with the revolutionary myth-theory of David Friedrich Strauss and its English dissemination by George Eliot. It explores how this German “higher criticism” reshaped Anglo-American religious and ethical traditions, moving from dogmatic literalism toward a “clerical Enlightenment” and, eventually, the radical non-realism of Don Cupitt and the Sea of Faith movement. Finally, it situates the work of Dr. Neville Buch within this trajectory, arguing that his models of Spiral Historiography and the Dynamic of Cognition (DoC) represent the contemporary fulfillment of this legacy. By treating “history as philosophy in practice,” Buch provides the diagnostic tools to overcome “Historical Forgetfulness” and restore Human Authorship over social and spiritual narratives.
https://www.academia.edu/165977055/George_Eliots_David_Strauss_and_the_Sea_of_Faith
Attached: George Eliot’s David Strauss and the Sea of Faith
Featured Image: Prof. Don Cupitt and Dr-Neville-Buch at the 2000-Melbourne-SoFiA-Conference.

Neville Buch
Latest posts by Neville Buch (see all)
- The Division of Labour Between Populist Enchantment and Scholarly Modern Theology: Truthfulness, Falsehood, and the Pathway to Communicative Comprehension – September 22, 2026
- Overcoming the Cynicism of Dismissal: Critical Thinking, and Contributory Economics – September 21, 2026
- Agency, Cultural Construction, and Synoptic Vision: On Matt Patterson’s Comprehensive Examination in Sociological Theory (2009) – September 20, 2026
