Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
The Jesus Myth Theory claims that Jesus never existed and that the narratives of the Gospels are based on pagan myths. In my recent book, Unmasking the Jesus Myth, I attempt to give practical advice on how to respond to the Jesus Myth. If you ever find yourself in conversation with a Jesus Mythicist, I … Read More “5 Questions to Ask Jesus Mythicists” »
If I have a specialty in apologetics, it is in responding to the Jesus Myth Theory. The JMT argues that there was no historical Jesus and the Jesus of the Gospels is based on pagan myths. My first major foray into the apologetics world was co-writing Unmasking the Pagan Christ. Since then, I have written … Read More “5 Reasons I Write About the Jesus Myth” »
John N. Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 204 pp. Pbk. There is no lack of books that argue that the Bible is no different from any other ancient mythology. From one perspective, there seems to be logic to such a theory. The Bible shares with ancient myths a belief in … Read More “Bible Among the Myths” »
I have heard atheists claim that disbelief in the God of the Bible is no different than the Christian’s disbelief in Zeus. Christians are just inconsistent in their atheism. Is disbelief in YHWH the same as disbelief in Zeus? Belief in God, contrary to what some claim, is not based on blind faith. There is … Read More “Why I Believe in YHWH Rather Than Zeus” »
If you have encountered the Jesus Myth Theory (JMT), you may be confused. They claim that the stories of pagan god-men are almost exactly the same as the story of Jesus. But when you read the Gospels and then read the myths, the connections are not so clear. I will attempt to help by translating … Read More “Translating the Jesus Myth For You” »
What is the Jesus myth theory? There are a number of variations of this concept. The version I originally came into contact with claimed that there was no historical Jesus and that the Jesus of the Gospels was just an updated version of other god-men such as Horus, Dionysus and Mithras. There are some who … Read More “Why Should We Care About the Jesus Myth?” »
Authors such as Tom Harpur, suggest that not only was Jesus based on already existing pagan god-men, but the early church was well aware of this. According to Harpur and others, it was only much later that the church forgot their mythic origins and mistakenly accepted the story of Jesus as historical. In responding to … Read More “Theophilus on Early Christian Attitudes Toward Mythology” »
One of my loves is studying ancient religions and mythologies. I have always found it fascinating. I have found it to also be helpful in my understanding of the Bible. As I study the Bible and as I study mythology, I become more and more convinced of the uniqueness of the biblical faith. I do … Read More “A God Without a Mythology” »
I recently read Marvin Meyer’s Ancient Mysteries. Meyer is better known for his work on Gnosticism. This work deals with ancient mystery cults. This is an important work. Very often authors will make radical claims about the influence of ancient mysteries on the composition of the Gospels. However, they rarely quote the actual texts but … Read More “Ancient Mysteries” »
I just finished reading Euripides play The Bacchae. This is a very important ancient writing as it is one of our best texts for understanding the Dionysus cult. This is of importance to me as Dionysus is one of the most frequent gods presented as an inspiration for the Jesus story by proponents of the … Read More “The Bacchae” »
I recently read a very good book by John N. Oswalt called The Bible Among the Myths. It is common to see claims that the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, is of the same genre as other ancient myths. This seems possible as the Old Testament is filled with supernatural events, fantastic details and various … Read More “The Bible Among the Myths” »
Samuel Angus’ Mystery Religions is an older but still interesting book on ancient mystery religions. One of the things that I like about this book is that it does not just describe the religions but attempts to give the cultural and religious trends that contributed either to the popularity or decline of a particular religion. … Read More “Mystery Religions” »
One of my interests is the claim that Jesus was not a historical figure but rather just another myth. Despite my interest, I must confess a certain level of frustration. In many ways it is a silly argument. We deal with this in a number of ways in our book, Unmasking the Pagan Christ. However, there … Read More “The Jesus Myth” »
