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

?