A popular and growing belief is that the Christian Jesus is just a
copycat of pagan religious figures. This is the claim that the early
Christians merely "borrowed" from the pagan religions of the day.
Essentially, Christianity absorbed these other figures, mixed them
together, and created the person named Jesus.
In recent years, promoting this view has become big business. It has climbed the best-sellers list (The Pagan Christ) and has hit the big screen (The DaVinci Code). And on the surface, it sounds plausible. But is it true?
This view of Jesus emerged in the late 1800s, and was propelled by a book by Kersey Graves entitled, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors (1875). This book claimed that Jesus was not a real person but was instead a compilation of stories of other "deities or god-men saviors who had been crucified, and descended to and ascended from the underworld."
In recent years, promoting this view has become big business. It has climbed the best-sellers list (The Pagan Christ) and has hit the big screen (The DaVinci Code). And on the surface, it sounds plausible. But is it true?
This view of Jesus emerged in the late 1800s, and was propelled by a book by Kersey Graves entitled, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors (1875). This book claimed that Jesus was not a real person but was instead a compilation of stories of other "deities or god-men saviors who had been crucified, and descended to and ascended from the underworld."
