Wilhelm Bousset

Bousset was a prominent figure in the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (history of religions school), a group that included scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931), Albert Eichhorn (1856–1926) and Hermann Gunkel (1862–1932).

In 1913, Wilhelm Bousset published his classic work Kyrios Christos analyzing the early emergence of Christ devotion in the first two centuries of Christianity.

Bousset, in coming to this conclusion, rejected evaluation of any sources outside the Synoptic Gospels, including the letters of Paul.

As I have stated already, Bousset sought to make the story of early Christ-devotion a simple tale of Hellenization, more specifically, the progressive paganization of a supposedly pure, primitive Christian faith.

[6] Furthermore, Bousset also relied on a distinction between "Palestinian" and "Hellenistic" for his studies on early Christology that, though was widely accepted in his day, has now been rejected by modern scholars as being simplistic.