Dave31

Here's an updated excerpt to the newly updated article titled,

The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ
http://www.stellarhousepublishing.co...ristianity.pdf

It's a free 30 page e-book. And, it's actually an excerpt from a new upcoming book titled, The Christ Myth Anthology, which is from what I understand, essentially a type of 2nd edition to her original Christ Conspiracy from 1999. It discusses a number of religions and myths.

Forum thread
http://www.freethoughtnation.com/for...t=2946&start=0

The Origins of Christianity - Free ebook!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeZq6...eature=channel

Barefoot Bree

Thanks for the heads up!

But this belongs in BC&H, not Comparative. Off you go.

GakuseiDon

In the ebook, Acharya S writes:

"The Jesus story evidently incorporated elements from the tales of other deities recorded in a widespread area, such as many of the following world saviors and "sons of God," most or all of whom predate the Christian myth, and a number of whom were "crucified," executed or suffered otherwise, among other similarities to the gospel story."

She then gives a list of gods, including the following:

* The Mikado of the Shintos [Japan]
* Quetzalcoatl of Mexico

It seems unlikely to me that the Jesus story incorporated elements from the tales of deities from Japan and Mexico.

I know that Acharya was in concurrence with the "ancient advanced civilization" theory ("Atlantis") that would allow for one or more centralized civilizations to have spread throughout the world during a very remote period in protohistory, thus taking with it its myths and rituals, which would then mutate into the various forms found around the globe.

Is Acharya still in concurrence with the "Atlantis" theory? If not, how did the Jesus story incorporate elements from Quetzalcoatl of Mexico?

ApostateAbe

It is great that Acharya S put her material online. Thank you, Acharya S, and thank you Dave31.

That list of gods on pages 8 and 9, that GakuseiDon mentioned--there are 26 of them, and only 5 of them have footnotes. Whenever a scholar makes a claim that is not common knowledge, it is responsible to provide a citation, which means Acharya S should have had a superscript for all 26 of those names, especially "Quetzalcoatl of Mexico." She thinks that "The Jesus story evidently incorporated elements from the tales of other deities," including, apparently, Quetzalcoatl. The consensus seems to be that saying Quetzalcoatl is a source of the Jesus story is a major facepalm. It wouldn't be so bad if she provided evidence, because, yeah, maybe some Aztecs sailed across the Atlantic and explored the Mediterranean or something. Obviously, the problem is that she doesn't provide any details at all. Dave31, you know Acharya S personally. Does she really think that elements from Quetzalcoatl were incorporated into the story of Jesus? If she meant something else, then she really should have said something else.

But, OK, she does provide a citation for "Bali of Afghanistan." The footnote says, "Apparently, this god is a manifestation of the Hindu deity Balarama. (See Perry, 17.)"

And the line in the bibliography for Perry says, "Perry, John T., Sixteen Saviours or One? The Gospels Not Brahamanic, P.G. Thomson, 1879."

Yet another facepalm. How is this source relevant for evidence of the point that "Bali" is a manifestation of "Balarama," or that either of those gods is a source for the Jesus myth?

Luckily, the text of the book, Sixteen Saviours or One? The Gospels Not Brahamanic is provided online here, so I looked up page 17. I find the sentence, "Wittoba, an incarnation of Vishnu, is the same as Chrishna. Bali is another of the divinities with which, under various names later Brahmanism has swarmed."

And that is where the trail ends. No citation is provided for that, so no evidence that "Bali" is a manifestation of "Balarama," who isn't mentioned until page 28 (without connection to Bali), and certainly no evidence that either of them is a source of the Jesus myth.

Jeffrey Gibson

So what are you telling us? That AS misrepresents the scholars she appeals to as a buttress of her claims as saying or supporting things they did not say and do not support? That she does not ordinarily use modern scholarly works and/or that she tends to misread what is said by those scholars whose works she uses and cites?

Jeffrey

ApostateAbe

No, no, God, no!

Jeffrey Gibson

I'm glad to hear it! Otherwise you'd have Dave31 telling you how you are engaged in an irrational and inexplicable hate campaign against AS and that the only reason you have written what you have written is that you can't stand to see a woman showing what a brilliant and astute scholar she is! It has nothing to do with the observable fact that the source she quoted says nothing that in any way resembles what she said that source said.

Jeffrey

Toto

I think (based on the last thread on this subject) that the basis of astrotheology is the idea that all religions derive from the worship of the sun and the observation of the constellations in the sky. So there is no need for actual contact between Japan, Mexico, and the ancient near east, if they are all observing the same sky.

I can see some problems with this theory, but it is not quite as far fetched as assuming some contact between these ancient civilizations.

ApostateAbe

OK, at first I thought that, "The Jesus story evidently incorporated elements from the tales of other deities..." means that, "The Jesus story evidently incorporated elements from the tales of other deities..." Her words seem to draw a picture that is different from her intended meaning if she were not a complete retard, and she isn't, and so I suggest that she either edit her words or include a flow chart. Right now, it seems like she is saying:

Quetzalcoatl ---> Jesus

When she should be saying:

Quetzalcoatl <--- Sky ---> Jesus

Toto

That sentence is not clearly worded. Read ahead to p 19 where she says: The problem is that I don't know if all cultures see the same zodiac signs in the sky (I suspect that they don't.) In particular, do all cultures see the virgin/Virgo figure in the sky?