Referencing this book provides an opportunity to link to various posts about comparisons between Jesus and various characters:
Jesus & Muhammad
Jesus & Buddha (this was a corroboration piece posted on AiD)
The following are provided by Marcus of the very informative blog What Had Happen′ Was…:
Jesus & Attis
Jesus & Dionysus
Jesus & Krishna
Jesus & Quetzalcoatl
Jesus & Xolotl
Jesus & Apollonius of Tyana
Jesus & Scipio Africanus
Jesus & Pythia-the Oracle at Delphi
Jesus & Titus Vespatian
Iliad & Bible
Also see:
Kyle Butt (you may recall that he debated Dan Barker), Reviewing Tom Harpur’s The Pagan Christ
Eric Lyons, Mythology and the Bible
JP Holding, The Christ Myth
Ronald Nash, Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions
Hank Hanegraaff, Is Jesus Myth? Answering More Prime Time Fallacies
Rational Christianity, Is the story of Jesus' life based on pagan myths?
Jonathan Sarfati, Was Christianity plagiarized from pagan myths?
Patrick Zukeran, Pagan Connection: Did Christianity Borrow From the Mystery Religions?
C.S. Lewis wrote:
A man who has spent his youth and manhood in the minute study of New Testament texts and of other people's studies of them, whose literary experience of those texts lacks any standard of comparison such as can only grow from a wide and deep and genial experience of literature in general, is, I should think, very likely to miss the obvious thing about them.
If he tells me that something in a Gospel is legend or romance, I want to know how many legends and romances he has read, how well his palate is trained in detecting them by the flavour; not how many years he has spend on that Gospel…I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this…[1]
The following is from Amazon.com
Product Description
The Bible Among the Myths is a sometimes controversial, always engaging corrective to a growing rejection in Western society of the revelation found within the Old Testament regarding a transcendent God who breaks into time and space and reveals himself in and through human activity.
From the Back Cover
Sixty years ago, most biblical scholars maintained that Israel’s religion was unique—that it stood in marked contrast to the faiths of its ancient Near Eastern neighbors. Nowadays, it is widely argued that Israel’s religion mirrors that of other West Semitic societies. What accounts for this radical change, and what are its implications for our understanding of the Old Testament?
Dr. John N. Oswalt says the root of this new attitude lies in Western society’s hostility to the idea of revelation, which presupposes a reality that transcends the world of the senses, asserting the existence of a realm humans cannot control. While not advocating a “the Bible says it, and I believe it, and that settles it” point of view, Oswalt asserts convincingly that while other ancient literatures all see reality in essentially the same terms, the Bible differs radically on all the main points.
The Bible Among the Myths supplies a necessary corrective to those who reject the Old Testament’s testimony about a transcendent God who breaks into time and space and reveals himself in and through human activity.
About the Author
Dr. John N. Oswalt (PhD, Brandeis University) is Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including the two-volume commentary on Isaiah in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series and Called to be Holy: A Biblical Perspective.
[1] C.S. Lewis, “Originally entitled 'Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism', Lewis read this essay at Westcott House, Cambridge, on 11 May 1959. Published under that title in Christian Reflections (1981), it is now in Fern-seed and Elephants (1998).”—from Orthodox Web
This essay is copyrighted by Mariano of the “Atheism is Dead” blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com.
It may be republished in part or in its entirety on websites, blogs, or any print media for whatever purpose—in agreement or in order to criticize it—only as long as the following conditions are met:
1) Give credit to “Mariano of the ‘Atheism is Dead’ blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com”
2) Inform me as to which essay is being reproduced and where it is being reproduced via the comments section at this link
If I was trying to build a new, exciting religion to replace all others, I would do my best to make it seem as unique and unusual as possible, while still tapping into the same general assumptions (like the existence of a supernatural world) that everybody around me accepted.
ReplyDeleteAt Jesus' time there was a plethora of cults and religious movements, many iconoclastic vis-a-vis the Jewish establishment. Probability tells us that at least one would become really popular in a society of heathen simpletons.
Mariano:
ReplyDeleteYou are nothing but a religious con artist straight from the Dark ages. Atheism is not dead it is Christianity that is dead. I will prove it!
The Bible is filled with horrible verses and examples of lack of morality these can be check at my website. WWW.SCIENCECLUBOFLONGISLAND.COM
Why are you lying to all the people? You are not discrediting the Evil Bible website, any fool could look these verses up and see that they are all there! Are you delusional? You claim you discredit all these sites, it is you who are discredited! You do not understand Science, you are clueless when it comes to History and you are a certified liar when it comes to the Bible!
Why should anyone listen to you? Atheism is not dead, it is Christianity that is dead! The Bible has been thrown out of Public Schools, never to show its ugly face.
Evolution is taught in Public Schools as the origin of man and life. Intelligent Design has been debunked, disgraced and discredited. And you have the balls to say that Atheism is dead! It is Christianity that is dead. It is about time the people knew that Christ never fulfilled his promise to return in the lifetime of his apostles as he promised. That makes Christ the asshole a fraud, Christianity the biggest hoax in humanity and you a certified fool!
Let us all look at these beautiful verses in the Bible:
Eat Human Feces!
"And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that
cometh out of man, in their sight. And the LORD said, Even thus shall the
children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will
drive them." (Ezekiel 4:12-13).
Eating Shit and Drinking Piss
"But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to
thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the
wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?" (II
Kings 18:27)You must now follow your God's orders and eat shit and drink piss!
Eating your children when you are hungry!
"And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman
said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son
tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the
next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son...." (II
Kings 6:28-29).
When are you going to start eating your children?
Expose Her Breasts!
"Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy
skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the
kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make the
vile, and will set thee as gazingstock." (Nahum 3:5-6). Is your wife going to act like a slut and expose her breasts?
Farting
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts
for Kirharesh. (Isaiah 16:11) Are you going to fart to please your lord?
Since you want to be a tough guy and pick on the Atheists let us show you how tough we can be.
The Science Club of Long Island Inc. Publicly challenges you to prove the existance of God!
At stake one million dollars.
Let us see how tough you really are?!
January 30, 2010 6:10 PM