Download or read book The Jesus Mysteries written by Timothy Freke and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2001-12-18 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church and presents overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure. “Whether you conclude that this book is the most alarming heresy of the millennium or the mother of all revelations, The Jesus Mysteries deserves to be read.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery. A little more than a century ago, most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate—who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead—could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.
Download or read book Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth written by John G. Jackson and published by Echo Point+ORM. This book was released on 2018-12-17 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic resource that connects the cardinal doctrines of Christianity to their origins in the ancient civilizations that preceded the religion. In Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth, John G. Jackson sources the pagan origins of Christian doctrine with particular focus on the creation and atonement myths. Rooted in historical facts, Jackson’s claims are steeped in research and demonstrate how Christianity synthesizes the rituals, beliefs, and characteristics of savior gods from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Aztec, and Hindu origins. Initially published in 1941, this concise introduction remains an insightful contribution to comparative religion studies.
Download or read book Christian Mythology written by Philippe Walter and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals how Christian mythology has more to do with long-standing pagan traditions than the Bible • Explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion • Identifies pagan deities that were incorporated into each of the saints • Shows how all the major holidays in the Christian calendar are modeled on pagan rituals and myths, including Easter and Christmas In this extensive study of the Christian mythology that animated Europe in the Middle Ages, author Philippe Walter reveals how these stories and the holiday traditions connected with them are based on long-standing pagan rituals and myths and have very little connection to the Bible. The author explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion. Rather than tear down the pagan temples in Britain, Pope Gregory the Great advised Saint Augustine of Canterbury to add the pagan rituals into the mix of Christian practices and transform the pagan temples into churches. Instead of religious conversion, it was simply a matter of convincing the populace to include Jesus in their current religious practices. Providing extensive documentation, Walter shows which major calendar days of the Christian year are founded on pagan rituals and myths, including the high holidays of Easter and Christmas. Examining hagiographic accounts of the saints, he reveals the origin of these symbolic figures in the deities worshipped in pagan Europe for centuries. He also explores how the identities of saints and pagan figures became so intermingled that some saints were transformed into pagan incarnations, such as Mary Magdalene’s conversion into one of the Celtic Ladies of the Lake. In revealing the pagan roots of many Christian figures, stories, and rituals, Walter provides a new understanding of the evolution of religious belief.
Download or read book Shattering the Christ Myth written by James Patrick Holding and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2008-06 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How To Get Rid of Jesus: Prove He Didn't Exist! A popular question posed by Christians today asks, "WWJD?" - which stands for, "What Would Jesus Do?" For more and more Skeptics of Christianity, however, the answer to this question is, "JDNE" - which stands for, "Jesus did not exist!" In this volume, edited by prominent Internet apologist James Patrick Holding, a team of Christian authors provide a series of essays giving detailed answers to those who argue for the "Christ myth." Though rejected by mainstream scholars, this theory continues to grow in popularity among popular writers and Internet antagonists. The need for Christians to be ready to give an answer to it will only become more urgent. "Here's a clear and compelling rebuttal to fallacious claims that keep resurfacing in books and on the Internet. It's well-researched, expertly presented, and ultimately convincing." - Lee Strobel, author, The Case for the Real Jesus
Download or read book Christianity Before Christ written by John Jackson and published by Echo Point Books & Media, LLC. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Christianity Before Christ, comparative religion scholar John G Jackson explores ancient traditions from many societies, asserting that Christianity is the recasting of beliefs which are older and pervasive through many cultures.
Download or read book Unmasking the Pagan Christ written by Stanley E. Porter and published by Clements Publishing Group. This book was released on 2006 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rabbi or Messiah? Prophet or the Son of God? People have debated the identity of Jesus of Nazareth since the first century. But what if there was no Jesus? What if there was no Mary or Joseph, no twelve apostles? What if the story of Jesus was no more than a myth to convey spiritual truth? These claims have been around for hundreds of years and have become more prominent with well-known religion columnist Tom Harpur's recent book, The Pagan Christ. Harpur claims that Jesus was not a historical figure, but was one version of an ancient myth that can be traced from ancient Egyptian religion to the Roman mystery cults. Stanley Porter and Stephen Bedard tackle this radical claim by looking at the roots of the "pagan Christ idea," examining the supposed pagan parallels and presenting the evidence for the historical Jesus. The authors demonstrate that the suggestion of pagan origins for the Gospel story is not based on historical or textual evidence, but rather on a desire to create a universalistic spirituality revolving around a "Cosmic Christ" within each person. A fair examination of both the mythological and biblical texts reveal that the traditional understanding of an actual historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth appearing two thousand years ago is indeed the only logical conclusion. Stanley E. Porter is President and Dean, and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Porter has M.A. degrees from Claremont Graduate School and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and the Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on issues of concern in study of the New Testament, such as Jesus, Paul, the book of Acts, and John. He has a passion for education in the church, and preaches and teaches regularly. Stephen J. Bedard is the pastor of Woodford Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, Meaford, Ontario, Canada. He holds the M.Div. and M.Th. degrees from McMaster Divinity College, and is actively engaged in further graduate study. Bedard is an advocate of informed preaching and teaching, and is devoted to the ministry of the local church.
Download or read book The Pagan Christ written by Tom Harpur and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative argument for a mystical, rather than historical, understanding of Jesus, leading to a radical rebirth of Christianity in our time. For forty years, scholar and religious commentator Tom Harpur has challenged church orthodoxy and guided thousands of readers on subjects as controversial as the true nature of Christ and life after death. Now, in his most radical and groundbreaking work, Harpur digs deep into the origins of Christianity. At a time of religious extremism, Tom Harpur reveals the virtue of a cosmic faith based on ancient truths that the modern church has renounced. His message is clear: Our blind faith in literalism is killing Christianity. Only with a return to an inclusive religion where Christ lives within each of us will we gain a true understanding of who we are and who we are intended to become. The Pagan Christ is a book of rare insight and power that will reilluminate the Bible and change the way we think about religion.
Download or read book The Truth about Jesus written by Mangasar Mugurditch Mangasarian and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions written by Thomas William Doane and published by . This book was released on 1882 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Truth Behind the Christ Myth written by Mark Amaru Pinkham and published by Adventures Unlimited Press. This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Return of the Serpents of Wisdom and Conversations With the Goddess author Pinkham tells us the Truth Behind the Christ Myth and presents radically new information regarding Jesus Christ and his ancient legend, includes: The legend of Jesus Christ is based on a much earlier Son of God myth from India, the legend of Murrugan, the Peacock Angel; The symbol of the Catholic Church is Murrugan's symbol, the peacock, a bird native to south-east Asia; Murrugan evolved into the Persian Mithras, and Mithras evolved into Jesus Christ Saint Paul came from Tarsus, the centre of Mithras worship in Asia Minor. He amalgamated the legend of the Persian Son of God onto Jesus' life story; The Three Wise Men were Magi priests from Persia who believed that Jesus was an incarnation of Mithras; While in India, Saint Thomas became a peacock before he died and merged with Murrugan, the Peacock Angel; The Emperor Constantine, the first 'Christian' Emperor of the Roman Empire, was a lifelong devotee of Mithras. He was baptised Christian on his deathbed; The myth of the One and Only Son of God originated with Murrugan and Mithras.
Download or read book The Christ Myth written by Arthur Drews and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-12-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1910, The Christ Myth drew violent criticism from theologians, the press, and the public. Eminent German philosopher Arthur Drews (1865-1935) reacts to the "romantic cult of Jesus," which, he says is undermining intellectual truthfulness. He exposes the Jesus of the gospels as a mythical character, arguing that no basis exists for seeking a historical figure behind the Christ myth. Through a comparative study of ancient religions, Drews shows that Christianity is a syncretism of various pagan and Jewish beliefs, and that a strong pre-Christian cult of Jesus as son of God and messiah existed. This is a valuable sourcebook for students of religion, and all those interested in examining the origins of Christianity.
Download or read book Drudgery Divine written by Jonathan Z. Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1990-09-18 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major theoretical and methodological statement on the history of religions, Jonathan Z. Smith shows how convert apologetic agendas can dictate the course of comparative religious studies. As his example, Smith reviews four centuries of scholarship comparing early Christianities with religions of late Antiquity (especially the so-called mystery cults) and shows how this scholarship has been based upon an underlying Protestant-Catholic polemic. The result is a devastating critique of traditional New Testament scholarship, a redescription of early Christianities as religious traditions amenable to comparison, and a milestone in Smith's controversial approach to comparative religious studies. "An important book, and certainly one of the most significant in the career of Jonathan Z. Smith, whom one may venture to call the greatest pathologist in the history of religions. As in many precedent cases, Smith follows a standard procedure: he carefully selects his victim, and then dissects with artistic finesse and unequaled acumen. The operation is always necessary, and a deconstructor of Smith's caliber is hard to find."—Ioan P. Coulianu, Journal of Religion
Download or read book The Jesus Puzzle written by Earl Doherty and published by . This book was released on 2005-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new presentation of the argument that no historical Jesus existed. A full and comprehensive survey of the question through an examination of the early Christian record, canonical and non-canonical, from Q to the Gospels, from the earliest Pauline epistles to the second century apologists, along with Jewish, Gnostic, and Greco-Roman documents of the time. The philosophy of the era, its religious expression in the pagan mystery cults, fascinating glimpses into the historical background of the period, an in-depth consideration of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, are only some of the additional topics covered in the book. A richly-detailed, highly lucid and entertaining account of how Christianity began without an historical Jesus of Nazareth, who came to life only on the pages of the Gospels. While based on the author's work for 'The Jesus Puzzle' website, the book is almost entirely an original writing, not a compilation of website articles. Like the website itself, the book has been styled for the general reader, though the scholarly community will find it of value as well.
Download or read book Jesus Outside the New Testament written by Robert Van Voorst and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2000-04-13 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents evidence and information, aside from the Christian scriptures, on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Features excerpts in Roman correspondence and the early Christian writings known as the "New Testament Apocrypha.".
Download or read book Bible Review written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Jesus Never Lived written by Laurence Dalton and published by . This book was released on 2013-04-20 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jesus Never Lived! Volume 1 Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth"3rd Revised and Expanded Edition (Over 225 pages have been added to the previous edition)."Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth" explores the pagan origins of Christianity and shows that Jesus Christ never lived. This book is for doubting Christians, x-believers, atheists, agnostics, and those who are just plain curious about whether a man could walk on water! We have focused on the evidence of the Roman Empire in the first and early second centuries CE. Part 1 is a 170 page detailed analysis of the Gospel of Mark. It shows that the religious beliefs of Mark were derived from the pagan world. The Gospel is a pagan myth in Jewish dress, as Bruno Bauer pointed out more than 100 years ago.Our analysis deals with questions like:Why does Mark share anti-Jewish beliefs like those of the pagan historian, Tacitus?Why are the last words of Jesus dying on the cross: "Why have you (God) abandoned me?" (Why does Jesus feel he is dying a failure, that he has been abandoned by God?) Part 2 Who Created Jesus?Paul was a member of a mystery religion; otherwise, why is there a striking similarity between the religion of Paul and the pagan mystery religions which surrounded him? The 225 pages of Part 2 provide a detailed analysis which shows that the Paulinists (followers of Paul) created the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, or at least proto-Mark. The reader may wonder, if the followers of Paul created the Markan Jesus how do we deal with the following questions?Why does Paul's cosmic savior, the triumphant divine Christ, not appear in the Markan Gospel but rather Jesus, a human failure dying in despair on the cross? Why were Jesus and his disciples spiritually defective (Jesus's lack of faith of Jesus on the cross; Peter's three denials of Jesus)?Why does Paul know nothing about the historical Jesus Christ of Mark's Gospel? (Paul does not know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, performed miracles, taught people, was tried by Pilate, and died in Jerusalem, etc.)How was it that Paul's savior offered salvation to all (at least to non-Jews), whereas the mission of Mark's historical Jesus was only to Jews? Why does the human Jesus become semi-divine in the birth scenes in Matthew and Luke and totally divine in John's Gospel? "Jesus Never Lived! Volume 1 Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth" answers all of the questions listed above and more. The 400+ pages provide much evidence to show that Jesus is a pagan myth in Jewish dress. Jesus never existed.For more, see the Look Inside feature for the Table of Contents etc.Also, see:"Jesus Never Lived! Volume 2 Jesus and Plato on Hell" is a supplemental volume which examines the Pagan views on how one is saved and on the afterlife as found in Plato and the Stoic writings of Seneca. These pagan views are compared with the Christian views found in the Gospel of Mark and the letters of Paul. Our conclusion is that the Christian views on salvation and the nature of the afterlife were derived from the pagan world, thus providing more evidence for the mythical Jesus. Jesus Christ never lived. Jesus is a pagan myth. Christ is a literary fiction. "Jesus Never Lived! Volume 3 The Pagan Morals of Jesus Christ" provides supplementary evidence that Jesus is a pagan myth by showing that Christian ethics were derived from the pagan world, particularly from the Roman Stoics.
Download or read book The World s Sixteen Crucified Saviors written by Kersey Graves and published by Cosimo Classics. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Khrisna of India. Thammuz of Syria. Esus of the Celtic Druids. Mithra of Persia. Quexalcoati of Mexico. All were crucified gods, and all met their fates hundreds of years before Jesus appeared on the scene. In this foundational work of modern atheism, American spiritualist KERSEY GRAVES (1813-1883) breaks the Christ myth down into its component parts and ably demonstrates how the story of Jesus has its roots in the depths of antiquity. Here you'll read about the surprising prevalence throughout global folklore of: . the miraculous and immaculate conception of the gods . stars that point out the time and place of a savior's birth . angels, shepherds, and magi visiting an infant savior . the 25th of December as the universal birth date of gods . saviors who descend into Hell . and much more. This is essential reading for students of comparative mythology and modern freethinkers. Also available from Cosimo: Graves's The Biography of Satan and The Bible of Bible.
