Tom Sawyer

Wait, so the woman who had a kid with her brother is being held up by someone as an example of virginal purity?

I'm thinking that the people who compared Isis to Mary didn't really know a whole lot about Egyptian religion.

outhouse

Exactly

Quote mining at its finest! to try and make connections that are not really there.

If the foundation of these myths were in fact Egyptian, it would be obvious, one would not have to do mental gymnastics to play "connect the dot's".

The NT was influenced by the OT for the majority of the NT mythology, and that is not to say that the NT was not influenced partially by Hellenistic mythology and other mythology that was in that geographic location.

The major mistake being made is "slight of hand" trading the word "influence" for "historical foundation"

Tom Sawyer

Ya, while the NT ripped off pretty much every religion around, that doesn't mean that every part of it is paralleled in other religions. There's many similarities between Jesus and Horus and Mary and Isis happened to be their mothers, but that's about where the similarities between the latter two ends.

outhouse

Some of my favorite scholars claim this is why the movement was so successful.

Its ability to evolve forward and absorb the ever changing beliefs and mythology in these Hellenistic communities.

Tom Sawyer

Ya, Christianity has a habit of doing that. I remember reading once about how it co-opted a bunch of druidic symbolism and tradition when it first moved into England, only to drop most of them over the ensuing centuries once it had established a firm foothold there.

It's also probably why there are so many successful sects of it. There's a core set of beliefs, but then those can work with any number of secondary beliefs without much trouble.

Underseer

Why is that even an issue? Due to a translation issue, we're not even sure if Mary is supposed to have been a virgin. The word that generally gets translated to "virgin" now most likely meant "young woman".

Toto

Two of the gospels state or imply that Mary became pregnant while still a virgin, based on a prophecy taken from the Hebrew Scriptures. It is this part of Isaiah which contains the word "almah" that meant "young woman" in Hebrew but was mistranslated as "virgin."

But, yes, it is an issue. Books have been written on the question, scholarly articles, and Christians who recite the Nicene creed swear to god that they believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. Acharya S seems to think it is a major point that other gods were born of "virgins" or of women who could be described as virgins.

If you read more of what Acharya S has written, it appears that she is trying to elevate the virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, to the status of a universal archetype symbolizing the female creation of the world. The problem with this is that virginity was not especially prized or viewed as a symbol of purity for most of human history.

Jeffrey Gibson

And by "virgin" here is the author thinking in terms of a "virgin intacta" or just maiden, woman of marriageable age?

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Gibson

I take it that you have read little or nothing of Rodney Starks work on the issue of why Christianity was "successful".

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Gibson

It did? Could you document this please?

And what works on the NT and its development (not to mention on the "other religions around") have you read which has led you to your conclusion? What informs your claim?

Jeffrey