GakuseiDon

You know, the infamous Archayra S also said this - except she was serious!

SLD

Indeed, but the two points I'm making here are reliable, even if other aspects of the article aren't. Cicero really did discuss the Eucharist and early Christian apologists did blame the devil for the similarities between pre-Christian mystery cults and Christianity.

SLD

CX

This has been discussed here several times. Dig around in the archives and you can probably find a few threads. Ultimately most of this is rubbish. Very often, at least on the internet, mithraism gets conflated with the cult of Sol Inviciti, Roman mithraism is conflated with the Persian demi god Mitras (who did not have his own cult but was a familiar of Ahura-Mazda) and so on. Most of the connections made are tenuous or outright fabricated at best. I'd recommend some offline research to get the whole story. Franz Cumont's work on Mithraism is still a classic in the field (though a bit outdated). If you have any specific questions feel free to post them here, but a lengthy exposition of Mithraism and it's relation to Xianity has been done before so I, for one, am not inclined to do it again.

Toto

The Mysteries of Mithra by Cumont is online

Gawen

That's the great thing about archives. And it's a good thing about oldtimers, such as yourself that can point us newbies in the right direction. I realise that most of this stuff has been hashed over and over for years, but much of it is new for many of us. I tip my hat to you veteran posters.

CX

I'll try to find the thread I'm thinking of.

rlogan

I too thank the "Vets" here. This is an amazing site. I appreciate that you demonstrate patience with us.

Compare it to the best the fundies have to offer - such as TWEB. "Nanny nanny poo-poo; stick your head in doo-doo". it's like a grade school.

There is a quite valid larger point here about Xianity co-opting existing traditions that is tarnished via improper/sloppy citation of sources. Sol Invicti vs. Mithraism, for example.

I think that larger point is the spirit of the OP. The question asked is why would they do this. The answer is to maximize the marketing potential of their brand.

Gawen

What prompted me to start this thread (some of which is in the op post) just seemed to coincidental, so I had to ask. I knew there would be others out here that would know. Knowing that Xtianity borrowed from various sources, is there anything original within the religion? I've been trying to find as many 'borrowed' early sources within the xtian religion and seperate them from completely original Xtian ideas. I'd like to leave out the obvious catholic references and stay between the years 50-300ce.

As far as Mithraism is concerned, there seems to be debate on what came first. Xtianity borrowed from Mithraism...or Mithraism borrowed from Xtianity. I can't see an earlier established religion/cult (Mithraism) borrowing from a smaller new cult (Xtianity). The numbers of people involved in the smaller cult would not have mattered, especially when the Roman army worshiped Mithra (amongst others). It would make sense for the fledgling Xtian cult to 'borrow' from EVERYTHING it could to make converts and grow. Of course, that's not to say that Mithra followers and any other belief system would not have borrowed from Xtianity at a later date to do the same.

The time frame is important. I wonder if there's a comprehensive report/book/study on the (early Xtian era) religions/cults that were already established AND what Xtianity seemed to have borrowed.