- Feb 5, 2002
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For whatever reason the question of the similarity between the Gospels and other pagan myths strikes me as one of those perennial topics that has become tiresome for Christians to address when it comes to the story of Jesus. It is much like the question of why we no longer follow Old Testament dietary laws. Alas, in all charity, I grant the importance of both questions and I should always assume the question comes from a good place.
There is an underlying relativism one finds in the acknowledgment that one can find many elements throughout the stories of Jesus that look similar to pagan myths. It boils down to, “If the Jesus story looks a lot like [insert mythological hero], and we don’t believe that story to be true, then the Jesus story is just as ‘not true’.” Despite its sophomoric oversimplification, one can understand the rhetorical appeal. If Jesus looks like an Orpheus and goes into the underworld like an Orpheus, maybe he is, just, an Orpheus.
The initial response to this claim was to reassert the historicity of the Gospels. The Church’s approach, largely because of the Enlightenment’s movement toward empiricism and rationalism, was to beat the empiricists at their own game and show how the Gospels can check those boxes and prove its veracity. I am sympathetic to this and recognize the value in showing how truly true it is that Jesus said these things as recorded by Matthew, was worshiped as God as recorded by Paul or, most importantly, actually, really, for real rose from the dead as the entire New Testament attests.
Continued below.
www.dappledthings.org
There is an underlying relativism one finds in the acknowledgment that one can find many elements throughout the stories of Jesus that look similar to pagan myths. It boils down to, “If the Jesus story looks a lot like [insert mythological hero], and we don’t believe that story to be true, then the Jesus story is just as ‘not true’.” Despite its sophomoric oversimplification, one can understand the rhetorical appeal. If Jesus looks like an Orpheus and goes into the underworld like an Orpheus, maybe he is, just, an Orpheus.
The initial response to this claim was to reassert the historicity of the Gospels. The Church’s approach, largely because of the Enlightenment’s movement toward empiricism and rationalism, was to beat the empiricists at their own game and show how the Gospels can check those boxes and prove its veracity. I am sympathetic to this and recognize the value in showing how truly true it is that Jesus said these things as recorded by Matthew, was worshiped as God as recorded by Paul or, most importantly, actually, really, for real rose from the dead as the entire New Testament attests.
Continued below.
Seeds of truth — Dappled Things
Mike Schramm on the similarity of the Gospels and certain pagan myths.
www.dappledthings.org
