countjulian

I'm intrigued. What was this influence, so powerful that it affected a cult supported by many Roman emperors? An influence from a rival cult that did not leave any archaeological remains of its worship sites from a time when they are plentiful for Mithraism?

countjulian

Well not much, beside the fact that these myths were well known by Hellenized people for centuries and the New Testament writers used them in the creation of their material. Kind of like Koine Greek: no evidence that the NT writers even knew Greek, except that it had been used by Hellenized people in the East since the time of Alexander and the NT writers used it themselves for the creation of their material.

John A. Broussard

The first material inscriptions linked to Mithraism are late 1st Century CE. And there's little evidence to indicate a clear link with Near East religious cults of that name. So the question comes up as to where the Roman Mithraists got the rituals you named.

Since believers undoubtedly shifted back and forth between cults back then, I can see no reason for thinking it was all one way--from Mithraism to Christianity.

Incidentally, there's a big spread just today in the news on a newly discovered, supposedly Christian Church in Jerusalem--1st Century CE.

As for powerful cults being immune to accretions, your own list shows that Christianity adopted pagan beliefs and rituals long, long after it had become the dominant western religion.

John A. Broussard

Didn't Athena spring fully-armed from Zeus brow?

Wouldn't that qualify as a virgin birth as well as being a major headache?

pretheism

Thanks folks.

I have found good sites on different topics:

Pagan Influence on Catholicism in general:

Christmas
Easter
All Souls Day
Epiphany
St. John the Baptist Day
The Vatican
Christmas tree
Virgin Mary
Immaculate Conception
Trinity
Catholic symbols
Jesus Christ
Saints

Though, it seems the main theme has shifted a tad bit since I may present scholarly resources on:

Slavery in the Bible
Racism in the Bible
Sexism in the Bible

My Catholic relatives are ignorant about the latter. It is not to deconvert them, it is just that sometimes they use the "good-amazing" bible to defend themselves regardless of the fact they haven't read it. :banghead:
I know if they only knew about the latter, their thoughts about it would change.

Well, another thread on my Catholic relatives, who are actually my parents is here .
So, wish me luck.
Hopefully everything will go well.

GakuseiDon

Which ones were used in the creation of the NT?

CJD

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but someone who has "done a bit of work on this [himself or herself]" and "put together a list" ought to know that it is anachronistic to attribute Mithraism as something foundational to Christianity. I'm intrigued too. If you haven't merely scraped the surface on this topic (as is common among Internet poetasters), how'd you miss it?

CJD

countjulian

Son of god dying in agony and ascending to heaven.

Son of god healing the sick, the blind, and the lame

Son of god being born of a virgin woman without physical sex

God dying, rising from his grave, judging the living and the dead for all time and granting eternal life and salvation to his (and her followers) followers

See above.

GakuseiDon

Let's start with this one.

Christ died in agony on the cross. Was the idea of crucifixion created in order to portray the son of god dying in agony, or was it created separately?

If it was created separately, then the agony part follows as a matter of course, so there is no reason to suppose influence.

If it wasn't created separately, where did the idea of crucifixion come from? And how can you show influence?

CJD

Gakusei, my advice is, don't waste your time. Poking holes in an already wispy list is not fulfilling, especially when this very same list will show up again six months down the road …