I have a theory that the reason Christianity is so succesful is its ability to absorb aspects of pre-existing beliefs. The basic Christian myth of Jesus's life appears to have been stolen from Judaism, Mithraism, the cult of Osiris and even Hinudism. The teachings attributed to Jesus seem to be largely those of the contemporary Judaic Essene cult. They are not so much a general moral code as a survival guide for a people under imperial rule, which was the situation for the Essenes at the time, of course. Christianity also later incorporated various European Pagan beliefs, particularly in its festivals.
I am struggling to think of anything that is uniquely Christian that differentiates from pre-existing beliefs.
Just a few more similarities from Greek mythology ...
Virgin Birth: Danae mother of Perseus (Zeus, shower of gold); Semele mother of Dionysius (Zeus, bolt of lightning); Alcmene mother of Heracles (Zeus disguised as husband Amphitryon, who had not consumated the marriage).
Dying God: Dionysus (killed more than once by killers hired by Hera).
Resurrection: Dionysus; Persephone;.
Ascent to Heaven: Heracles; Hyacinth; Asclepius (also man made God).
You should see Indian Christianity. A brown-skinned, sari-clad Mary is paraded through the streets like the gods of Hinduism, whilst merchants hawk all kinds of tat just like they do for Hindu gods. The gaudiness of Catholicism is perfect for former Hindus.I have a theory that the reason Christianity is so succesful is its ability to absorb aspects of pre-existing beliefs.
Hinduism does kind of the opposite- incorporating newcomers. Thus buddha, who denied the Vedas and proclaimed himself to all intents and purposes atheist, becomes an avatar of Vishnu. Jesus takes his place alongside Ganesh and Krishna in the family shrine. New and conflicting ideas (there was a totally atheist branch of Hinduism once) get embraced, processed and spat out as mainstream monolithic Hinduism. I kind of love it.
I think you are quite correct with the assertion that Christianity has little original thought, but in my opinion you have omitted the biggest influence.
The Christian church is based on the idea of the Trinity of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Of these, only the Son seems to be a Christian idea.
God the Father is not a novelty; the Greeks always referred to Zeus as Zeus Pater, hence the Roman name Jupiter. The father figure is nothing new.
The Holy Ghost is an interesting concept, and in my opinion has been hijacked from the Stoics. Stoics believed that Zeus was an expression of Rational Thought, and that the world started purely as pure thought, developed into a complicated world and finally dissolved back into pure Zeus again. This cycle was repeated indefinitely. All the other Gods were just different manifestations of Zeus.
Expressed so, it all sounds a bit trite, but the actual system they worked out has an endearing logic to it. Because Rational Thought was the ultimate force in the universe, man (and some women) all had some share in this divine substance, and a special connection with the god.
With this Stoic system already established, the first verse of the Gospel according John starts to make sense. The normal translation is In the beginning was the word which makes no sense. The Greek, however, used the word LOGOS, which has a variety of meanings, including Rational Thought. If you translate correctly, this reads exactly as if it were a Stoic text. The misleading translation is probably intentional, to distance Christianity from Stoicism. However you read it, this basic concept of Christianity is essentially Stoic.
I thought that the afterlife was Christianity's USP.
The Jewish religion doesn't seem to have one, Classical religion had the underworld / Hades (not a place of punishment, but not particularly well-defined). The gambol-about-on-the-clouds-with-angels or burn-for-eternity-where-the-worm-dieth-not seems to be a uniquely Christian proposition (later incorporated into Islam, when the Arabs got jealous).
Some other religions have an afterlife according to this fascinating link - http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm It's like a price comparison site for religions! I love it! Reincarnation seems to be big. Asatru sounds good.
Last edited by Mulder; 27th December 2007 at 04:21 PM.
Yeah, sorry -- I should have said "of the competing religions in the Classical World".
Also, the most repulsive aspect of Xtianity -- Original Sin -- seems to be largely its own.
Original sin - one of St Paul's inventions. St Paul was, of course, the real founder of Christianity. Should be called Paulianity really.
Not quite true, because heroes got to go to the Blessed Islands, identifed as the Canaries. Menelaus, Helen, Achilles and Socrates are there. (I can vouch for Socrates, because I saw him at a car-boot sale in a village in the south of Tenerife last year - honest.)Originally Posted by Spetznatz
Robert Graves is interesting on this topic. I have not enough knowledge to judge what he says and he is certainly not mainstream. But he does cover a lot of instances of the christian myth in earlier manifestations. In addition to those already mentioned he point up the similarities with Baldur and Osiris, for example
Graves relates the trinity to the triple goddess also.
I could not judge his evidence nor make sense of parts of the White Goddess but it surely is an interesting read
He's not mainstream, it's true, and he has his (rather unacademic) fixations, but in terms of this question, he's reliable enough.
And another thing ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7495006.stm
Two important aspects that, IMHO, led to the widespread acceptance of Christianity:
1. Many religions are closed groups - they don't want you to convert. Christianity, on the other hand, specifically sets out to convert unbelievers to the Jesus Fan Club.
2. Although there were many messiah gods, virgin births, resurrections and crucified saviours before Jesus - Christians claim that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus occured in a real place you can actually go to. You can't go and visit Hades or Valhalla; and by the time it was feasible to climb Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods had already moved to some otherworldly plain that just happened to have the same name.
More or less uniquely, you can go to Bethlehem and point at the floor and say '(the son of) God was born here'.
I'm no expert in Islam, but aren't there places you can visit where specific events happened, like Medina and Mecca? And, unlike Jesus, isn't there reasonable historic evidence that Muhammed actually existed?
Absolutely. And Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity. So maybe the same trick worked for them?
Also, Mohammed was a man. Much like Moses, he spoke with God but he wasn't God. A muslim can go to Mecca and say 'Mohammed was born here', or they can go to Medina and say 'Mohammed died here'. But there is nowhere they can go to say 'God lived here'.
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