 He was a controversial figure at the time; in 1835, he published "The Life of Jesus", which argued that the miracles of Jesus were nonfactual myths and that the Bible could not be literally interpreted as God's word, a view akin to heresy in orthodox circles.Alice's view was similar to Strauss's, and she believed that contemporary Victorian society was presenting God in a way that would be "unrecognisable to early Christians".Strauss also offered Alice an intellectual companionship that her husband was not equipped to provide, and he was regularly invited to the New Palace to read to Alice privately.