Crucifiction

I just read this article, and found it very interesting:

http://www.meta-religion.com/World_R...sumerian_l.htm

I'd like to know what you all think of it. I've also been looking up on Egyptian mythology, and there's quite a few simillarities there, too.

Intelligitimate

Maybe you'd like this, it's all about Egypt and Jesus:

http://www.theosophical.ca/MythicalChrist.htm

Celsus

If I had a dollar for every parallel proposed... Come on people, Google is not your friend when it comes to mythology and parallels. Get proper books, read proper scholarship.

Joel

Dean Anderson

Can you recommend any?

Does Kramer talk about Biblical parallels in his books on the Sumerians (which I must get around to buying...)?

Celsus

First, you'll want the originals. Possibly something like Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others or J.B. Pritchard's famous Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (usually refered to as ANET). After that, there are no easy books (unless you want more of the rubbish that pervades the Internet), but Mark S. Smith's The Early History of God is a good but difficult one. Most critical Hebrew Bible introductions will tell you about the basic parallels such as Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish with passages in Genesis. I didn't really buy any books specifically on parallels (in fact, it's a better idea not to go hunting for parallels first, but to familiarise yourself with the texts), so I don't have a great deal of suggestions. Also, much of the enthusiasm for parallel hunting has abated since.

I've just finished reading Walter Burkert's Ancient Mystery Cults which is a good start on the so-called mystery religions, and which I'll be summarising here. My next book will be Greek Myths and Mesopotamia by Charles Penglase, in which he warns about the difficulties in establishing a case for influence between two religious systems, particularly with rigorous and relevant criteria (practically everything from the 1970s and earlier on mythology is flawed for such reason). One I'm looking forward to is that Prometheus in the Pandora myth is equivalent to Enki in Babylonian texts.
Are you thinking of his History Begins At Sumer? I've only browsed it, but the standard parallels with respect to the Creation, Flood, etc. are definitely going to be in there. His problem is simply that he's outdated, and perhaps too enthusiastic. However, it is undeniable that these stories were central to much of the ancient world (every ANE civilisation of note seems to have a flood story, which Answers in Genesis is quick to point out, forgetting about Egypt, or not recognising that this myth is practically borrowed, distributed, and recopied as often as people went on long journeys). If you are looking for this older generation of scholarship relating specifically to mythology, S.H. Hooke's Middle Eastern Mythology is a better bet, but be warned about its date. Again, Hooke is outdated, but it's helpful to read him to understand the contexts and theories which are taken for granted or rebutted within modern scholarship.

Now the problem with the first site for example, is that it gives contextless parallels where the person is expected to swallow the story wholesale. But in fact, discovering and setting a case for a parallel is a much more difficult task than people imagine, and context is everything. As you'll note, nearly every website out there fails to establish the relevant contexts: Whose texts are we refering to? When were they written? How prevalent was this view? How much is preserved literally, and how much is reconstructed? What is the nature of syncretism? What were the differences (perhaps the most important question)? etc. Too often, the question of studying the societies on their own terms instead of being held up against the mirror of Judaeo-Christian religion is put aside in favour of efforts to score points against current belief systems.

Joel