Zimyatin

I'm currently reading a book on Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox (it's quite good, btw) and a floresent light bulb when off in my head. What, if any, influence did the myth created around Alexander have on christianity and more to the point Jesus?

From my limited reading I think that it was Alexander who claimed to rule through god (Zeus). And possible Alexander was the son of god, a demi-god. As well, because the myth of Alexander was so prevelant during antiquity, could it have influenced what the Jews believed to be their military messiah?

If I'm talking nonsense let me know.

The Lost Number

In a way you are somewhat wrong, and in a way you are on the right track.

You're somewhat wrong, I suppose, in assuming that Alexander the Great specifically influenced Christian legendary development. History shows the real Jesus probably believed himself to at least be a divinely appointed being if some sort, if not the Son of God. Therefore Alex's influence on the evolution of Christianity probably just didn't enter into the equation, as it was one of the core beliefs made by Jesus himself. Even if Jesus never existed, simply pinning his claim of divinity in spite of appearing human down on one specific historical figure is baseless, basically, since there were so many others to copy from. Which leads to the second point...

You are, however, on the right track in assuming that legends of Demigods in general influenced Christianity. It did so for Jesus himself. Whether or not there is a god, the idea of him using semi-divine human beings to spread his message is pretty ridiculous. It's a man made idea that was around and popular thousands of years before Christ. So, one is only rational in assuming a completely man-made creation like Christianity ripped this idea off, just like a modern novel about a murder mystery basically ripped the concept off of countless previous ones that existed long before it.

Answerer

It is a funny thing to note that the koran actually claimed that Alexander is a muslim, haha.

Thor Q. Mada

How is that possible??

ML

Boro Nut

Well, basically, you claim that Alexander was a Muslim and there you go. You've done it! Simple when you know how.

Boro Nut

Answerer

Thats why I laugh.

Wizardry

It's the Islamic way of getting around the "how can God send you to hell for not believing in The One True Religion(TM) if you've never even heard of it?". Muslims claim that in times before the revelation to Muhammed and in places far away from Arabia, Allah has sent messangers to all civilizations and all time periods with knowledge of the nature of Allah (an abstract, non-anthropic, monotheistic deity). Since all "Muslim" actually means is "one who submits to the will of God", they can claim people who never heard of Muhammed as Muslims.

Plato and Aristotle developed a philosopical monotheism, so they would be the Greek carriers of Islam. I suppose this is where they get the "Alexander the Great was a Muslim" stuff.

Short version: You know how Paul said in Romans that nobody has an excuse for not believing in God because creation provides enough evidence that everybody should be able to figure it out? Muslims do the same thing, just differently.

Thor Q. Mada

Good trick. That's why this Pakistani (Dr Shaikh I believe) is in jail for blasphemy because he said that obviously the prophets parents were not Muslim.