Herbert Cutner


Herbert Cutner was an English artist, etcher and freethought writer.

Biography

Cutner was born in Hull. He was educated at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. During World War I he served as a Private in the British Army. He was an etcher and his works can be found in the British Museum and at exhibitions. He was married to artist Effie Spring-Smith. Many of his etchings have been recorded in fine prints.
Cutner was a Jewish atheist and had praised the works of Robert Taylor. He has been described as a "freethought scholar".
He was a regular contributor to the Freethinker and known for debating controversial topics. Jim Herrick has written that Cutner was a "controversialist with somewhat right-wing views."
He was Vice-President of the Thomas Paine Society. He wrote the introduction to G. W. Foote's Defence of Free Speech, 1932.

Christ myth theory

Cutner was an advocate of the Christ myth theory and is best known for his book Jesus: God, Man, or Myth?, 1950. George H. Smith has described it as an "excellent defense of the mythicist thesis".
Cutner once debated Archibald Robertson on the historicity of Jesus at Essex Hall. Robertson later negatively reviewed Cutner's book in The Literary Guide and Rationalist Review. In response, he attacked Robertson's Origins of Christianity in the Truth Seeker.

Publications