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Summary

Recommended

Book Description:
"Rabbi or Messiah? Prophet or the Son of God? People have debated the identity of Jesus of Nazareth since the first century. But what if there was no Jesus? What if there was no Mary or Joseph, no twelve apostles? What if the story of Jesus was no more than a myth to convey spiritual truth? These claims have been around for hundreds of years and have become more prominent with well-known religion columnist Tom Harpur’s recent book, The Pagan Christ. Harpur claims that Jesus was not a historical figure, but was one version of an ancient myth that can be traced from ancient Egyptian religion to the Roman mystery cults. Stanley Porter and Stephen Bedard tackle this radical claim by looking at the roots of the "pagan Christ idea," examining the supposed pagan parallels and presenting the evidence for the historical Jesus. The authors demonstrate that the suggestion of pagan origins for the Gospel story is not based on historical or textual evidence, but rather on a desire to create a universalistic spirituality revolving around a "Cosmic Christ" within each person. A fair examination of both the mythological and biblical texts reveals that the traditional understanding of an actual historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth appearing two thousand years ago is indeed the only logical conclusion."

I give it only 2 thumbs rather than 3 because I wish it were LONGER. And some of you may balk at the price. Please don't. We need more books like this, so buy a few. Maybe don't rent a forklift as I said for Reinventing Jesus, but try to get at least a large wheelbarrow.

In this volume, two NT scholars give Tom "I Threw My Common Sense Away" Harpur the thrashing in print he's deserved since he exported the toxic waste titled The Pagan Christ from his pen. Porter and Bedard survey the positive evidence for the historical Christ and also briefly undermine the credibility of Harpur's fave sources, Kuhn and Massey. I wish they'd have done more on these guys, but having done a few numbers on them myself I can understand why they wouldn't want to. Too much of nut like Massey and Kuhn can make your stomach turn.

Porter is a name readers may recognize: I have used his work on rhetoric in the NT and also on Luke's census. These two authors produce quality, and you won't go wrong with them (even if much of the information will be familiar to readers of this site). The chapter on Egyptian religion is also helpful.

Buy it for two reasons: To counter Harpur's role as Nut in Chief, and to show your support for MORE stuff like this to be on the market.