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Jesus, the Recycled Redeemer

4.1/5 ( ratings)

In 1906, Sir James Frazer published a work entitled The Golden Bough. In it he alleged that ancient mythical deities like Osiris of Egypt, Adonis of Syria, Attis of Asia Minor, and Tammuz of Mesopotamia were all dying and rising fertility gods. Frazer also suggested that the story of Jesus was just a recycled version of these pagan religions.

Now in the age of Google and the internet, the notion has gone viral that the Gospels are sophisticated plagiarisms, pilfering details from ancient myths and cobbling them together to fabricate the story of the dying and rising god/man from Nazareth.

In fact, while fielding questions from a capacity crowd of 1200 students at Purdue University earlier this year, I responded three times to some version of this challenge.

Are the details of these ancient myths accurate? Are there genuine parallels between the dying and rising gods of legend and the life of Jesus of Nazareth? Do the records of these ancient myths predate the time of Christ? Do details in myths before Christ prove that the same details in the Gospel accounts are fictions? Is Jesus just a copycat messiah?

These are the questions I examine in this month’s Solid Ground. As you read, you will discover three serious flaws in this challenge. The first two are debilitating. The final one is lethal. After seeing the evidence I offer, you will never be taken in again by the Jesus-the-recycled-redeemer shell game.

Language: English

Pages: 11

Format: ebook

Jesus, the Recycled Redeemer

4.1/5 ( ratings)

In 1906, Sir James Frazer published a work entitled The Golden Bough. In it he alleged that ancient mythical deities like Osiris of Egypt, Adonis of Syria, Attis of Asia Minor, and Tammuz of Mesopotamia were all dying and rising fertility gods. Frazer also suggested that the story of Jesus was just a recycled version of these pagan religions.

Now in the age of Google and the internet, the notion has gone viral that the Gospels are sophisticated plagiarisms, pilfering details from ancient myths and cobbling them together to fabricate the story of the dying and rising god/man from Nazareth.

In fact, while fielding questions from a capacity crowd of 1200 students at Purdue University earlier this year, I responded three times to some version of this challenge.

Are the details of these ancient myths accurate? Are there genuine parallels between the dying and rising gods of legend and the life of Jesus of Nazareth? Do the records of these ancient myths predate the time of Christ? Do details in myths before Christ prove that the same details in the Gospel accounts are fictions? Is Jesus just a copycat messiah?

These are the questions I examine in this month’s Solid Ground. As you read, you will discover three serious flaws in this challenge. The first two are debilitating. The final one is lethal. After seeing the evidence I offer, you will never be taken in again by the Jesus-the-recycled-redeemer shell game.

Language: English

Pages: 11

Format: ebook

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