In Investigator #128 Brian De Krester provided his 3rd part on the Brief History of Religion. In that article he repeated his assertion that Christianity copied pagan religions. He listed 22 “crucified saviours” who preceded Christ. As usual, Brian does not provide any evidence or references to support his claim, so should we believe him? His list dates from 3,000 BC (Osiris). Crucifixion probably originated with the Persians during the reign of Darius (550 to 485 BC). He is recorded to have crucified 3,000 Babylonian captives in 519 BC (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1993, Vol.3, p.762). Brian’s list includes at least 17 crucified saviours that preceded the origin of crucifixion. So most of his list is complete hogwash. I am not going to critique all of his claims. The onus is on Brian to provide the evidence. However, I will cite some examples. 1) Number 1 was Osiris. Osiris was not crucified. Osiris’ brother Seth envied his power and popularity and killed him by luring him into a coffin, which he sealed with lead. 2) Number 17 was Quexalcote from Mexico. Give us a break, Brian. How could the NT writers copy something from Mexico? Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. The NT writers wouldn’t have known that Mexico existed. Surely in this case Brian has shot himself in the foot. This example merely demonstrates that a similarity does not necessarily mean that any copying has occurred. 3) Number 22 was Appolonius. Brian didn’t give a date. It is likely that Appolonius was born after Jesus. Most biographical information about Appolonius is derived from Philostratus who wrote his biography about 150 years after the 1st NT writings, so who copied who? Anyway, Appolonius was not crucified. He disappeared from the courtroom. I believe I have given enough examples to show that it would be an understatement to say that Brian’s assertions are unreliable. Most religions address the basic problems of our existence, which are evil, suffering and death. Thus it is not surprising that religions have some common elements. The solution to evil must entail some form of judgement. Death must be overcome by some form of afterlife. This, combined with the fact that there is an enormous volume of ancient religious literature, means that it is quite easy to find similarities without there being any causal connection. The copycat thesis was popular among sceptical theologians during the 1920s. During this period Rudolph Bultmann and C.H. Dodd each compiled lists of 300 parallels between pagan religions and the Christ story. The problem was that they only had 8% overlap. What this demonstrated was that the selection of parallels is highly subjective. It is more the product of a vivid imagination. The huge number of claimed “dead ringer” parallels is in itself a cause for suspicion. For example, Brian claimed Jesus is a copy of Krishna, but Laurie Eddie claimed Jesus is a copy of Mithra (Issue #87, also without any evidence). Mithra and Krishna are different. Who is right, if either? “Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree” (Mark 14:56). It is very easy to construct historical parallels that look convincing on the surface, but in fact have no causal link. For example, the following table lists similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Abraham Lincoln John F Kennedy Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946 Abraham Lincoln won his presidential election in 1860 John F Kennedy’s won his presidential election in 1960 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on “Friday” & was shot in the head John F Kennedy’s was also assassinated on “Friday” & was shot in the head Lincoln’s assassin was “John Wilkes Booth” and he had a 3 word name with 15 letters John F Kennedy’s alleged assassin was “Lee Harvey Oswald” with 3 words and 15 letters John Wilkes Booth was shot and killed before being indicted or tried Lee Harvey Oswald was also shot and killed before he could be indicted or tried Abraham Lincoln was shot in the “Ford’s Theatre” John F Kennedy’s was shot in a car made by “Ford Motors” Abraham Lincoln’s wife was with him when he was shot John F Kennedy’s wife was also with him at the time he was shot Abraham Lincoln successor was by Vice-President Johnson (Andrew Johnson) John F Kennedy’s successor was also named Vice-President Johnson (Lyndon B. Johnson) Andrew Johnson was born on Thursday December 29 1808 Lyndon B Johnson was born on Thursday August 27 1908 Abraham Lincoln’s son (Edward Barker Lincoln 1850) died while he served in the White House John F Kennedy’s newborn son (Patrick Bouvier Kennedy 1963) died while he served in the White House If you believe there is a causal link between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy, then I feel sorry for you. Rather, this example illustrates how easy it is to construct dodgy parallels. The notion that the New Testament writers copied pagan religions to construct the story of Jesus Christ is psychologically implausible. Apart from Luke, the New Testament writers were pious Jews (and Luke was probably a “God fearer”). The Jews despised the idolatry of pagan religions and opposed any form of syncretism. In addition, the New Testament writers were too preoccupied with integrating the Christ story with the Old Testament to be bothered with copying pagan religions. In fact sceptical theologians no longer pursue the pagan copycat theory and have gone in a different direction. While conservative theologians assert that Jesus is the fulfilment of the OT, sceptical theologians, such as Bishop “Jack” Spong, assert that the Christ story was contrived to fit the OT prophecies. One post-modern critique of Christianity is against its uniqueness. After all, “Don’t most religions teach the same sort of things?” However, the similarities are peripheral and break down on closer examination, just as, “All Asians look the same”, unless of course you are an Asian. Christianity is unique in a number of ways, such as: 1) The Jewish faith, on which Christianity is based, was the first major instance of monotheism. All of the examples that Brian provided were from polytheistic religions. 2) Christianity is based on falsifiable claims about historical events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus was not crucified, killed and then raised to life, then Christianity is stripped of all meaning. By contrast, all other major religions propose a system of beliefs or way of life that is not dependent on historical claims. I encourage readers to read the original source material for other religions and compare them with the New Testament. There is actually no comparison. Most of these alternate religions have died out because they are actually quite bizarre, whereas the story of Jesus of Nazareth is still coherent in our modern world. By the way, I am still fascinated by Brian’s “Institute for Research into Religions”. I can’t find anything about it on the web. Brian, does it have more than one member? Kevin Rogers
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 13:21:22 +0000
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