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EVOLUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN RESURRECTION ACCOUNT
Responding to secular theories
PremiseThe whole idea of dying-and-rising gods is intuitive
There exists many ancient pagan religions with resurrection myths/ritualsChristianity’s resurrection account is an adapted reiteration of these pagan myths and rituals
James Frazer’s “The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion” (1890)
In the line of Frazer…
Samuel Noah Kramer World’s leading Sumerian historian
Jonathan Z. SmithProlific author on Hellenistic religions
MithraA widespread
mystery religion of the Roman Empire•Persian sun-god•Virgin-born on Dec. 25th
•Gathered around Easter time to eat a ritualistic meal, involving bread and wine•“Baptism” re-enacted annually in bull’s blood
Christmas
Easter
Attis
Vegetation god(dess) of death
& resurrection•Self-castrated b/c of lover Cybele (Earth Mother)•Killed by boar•3 days later, rises from the dead•Death and resurrection ritual re-enacted every spring (March 22-25)
TammuzSumerian mythological
god(also known as
Damuzi)•Gone into the Nether World along with many other deities in cities•Becomes the “substitute” for Innana (goddess of procreation and fertility), indirectly saving earth•Rises again•His death and resurrection celebrated through ritualistic re-enactment
Christ-myth?
Discussion
Read Osiris Myth
What is the general “feel”?
Response
History vs. Myth
Communion vs.
Reenactment
“The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens – at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences.” – Lewis “God in the Dock”
History vs. Myth
His
tory
• Lack of metaphorical language
• Own insistence on historicity
• Intersection with historical events and places
Myth
• Obvious use of metaphorical language
• Avoidance of claims on historicity
• Hero construct meant to symbolize a “greater reality”
Cycles of Nature
AgricultureFertility
Astrology
Communion vs. Reenactment
Reenact
me nt• Annual
ritualistic rites meant to re-invigorate the cycles of nature
• “Rebirth” as a repeated event in circular history
Com
munio n• No hint of
purpose of re-invigorating nature
• Resurrection as a singular event in a linear history
Other hintsJudeo-
Christian’s absolute
disdain for nature cults
Severe hostility toward
Christianity in the Roman
Empire
Unparalleled spread of
Christianity
HOWEVER,Since the time of Frazer…“Whereas in the beginning of last century
scholars tended to postulate an archaic pattern of ‘dying and rising deities’ such as Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Attis (among whom the more adventurous also included the death and resurrection of Christ), more recent scholars have reversed the pattern, claiming that the pagan cults adapted themselves to Christianity.” -- Bremmer, The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife, 2002
MithraA widespread mystery religion of the Roman
Empire
• Persian sun-god• Virgin-born on Dec. 25th
• Gathered around Easter time to eat a ritualistic meal, involving bread and wine
• “Baptism” re-enacted annually in bull’s blood
Discovery of Mithraic Documents
Parallel rituals were developed Post-Christianity (150-200 A.D.)
AttisVegetation god(dess) of death &
resurrection
• Self-castrated b/c of lover Cybele (Earth Mother)
• Killed by boar• 3 days later, rises from the
dead• Death and resurrection ritual re-
enacted every spring (March 22-25)
Further documentary studies reveal…
2nd century: body not corrupted4th century: resurrection story
TammuzSumerian mythological god
(also known as Damuzi)
• Gone into the Nether World along with many other deities in cities
• Becomes the “substitute” for Innana (goddess of procreation and fertility), indirectly saving earth
• Rises again• His death and resurrection celebrated
through ritualistic re-enactment
Tammuz tablet found in 1951 that pre-date Christianity…
Tammuz simply killed, no resurrection story
Other evidence
2nd Century
• Pagan magicians start to claim power to resurrect body
3rd Century
• Stories circulate regarding bodily resurrections
Responses• “Analogies do not
yield genealogies”
Jonathan Smith
• “If the Protestants from the beginning of last century attempted, against all evidence, to isolate early Christianity from its environment, Smith now tries, again against all evidence, to isolate pagan cults from their Christian environment.”Jan Bremmer
Conclusion•Historical person vs. symbolic archetype•Singular event vs. phenomenological cycles in nature
Resurrection vs. Re-invigoration
•Not a reiteration of the same message
Impact on the Roman Empire
•Presupposition of order reversed
Recent scholarship
Conclusion
?