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It has been commonly claimed that Jesus Christ never really existed as a historical person, and that many of the main tenets of the Christian faith were copied from pagan religions that pre-dated it. The idea first emerged within enlightenment circles during the nineteenth century, particularly in the writings of the late Kersey Graves, who claimed in his book The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors,that the motif of a dying and rising god originally came from various ancient religions and has been borrowed by Christians. More recently, the theory has regained prominence among “Christ-mythicist” circles, as can be seen by the recent surge of books such as Tom Harpur’s The Pagan Christ and documentaries such as Zeitgeist. The general attitude surrounding this “pagan Christ” theory is summed up by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, when they write:

Why should we consider the stories of Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, Mithras, and the other Pagan Mystery saviors as fables, yet come across essentially the same story told in a Jewish context and believe it to be the biography of a carpenter from Bethlehem? [1]

This has been the common sentiment raised by those who deny the historicity of the person of Jesus Christ and claim that His story has been copied from other sources that predate it. However, even though the idea that Jesus Christ doesn’t even exist has grown increasingly popular in recent decades, this hypothesis is not supported by the consensus of scholars, who confirm that Jesus Christ did indeed exist in history as a real person. New Testament professor Robert Van Hoorst has this to write about the Jesus-Mythicist position:

The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. Moreover, it has also consistently failed to convince many who for reasons of religious skepticism might have been expected to entertain it, from Voltaire to Bertrand Russell. Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted. [2]

This sentiment is shared by Richard Burridge and Graham Gould of King’s College London, who make this statement:

There are those who argue that Jesus is a figment of the Church’s imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that any more. [3]

Nevertheless, the Christ-as-myth hypothesis persists in skeptical circles. As evidence for this hypothesis, alleged parallels are put forth ranging from Mithras to the Egyptian god Osiris. Unfortunately, many of those who put forth these alleged parallels know little of the myths that they are speaking off. Tom Harpur proves as much when he claims:

Osiris was divine, yet in the myth he became a human who lived on the earth, ate, drank, and suffered a cruel death, then triumphed over death through help of the gods (Horus) and attained everlasting life. Budge adds, “But what Osiris did, they could do, and what the gods did for Osiris they must also do for them…. They like him would rise again and inherit life everlasting.” Horus was so closely associated with Osiris that at times they were virtually interchangeable. We are reminded at this point of the Jesus of John’s Gospel. He said “I and the Father are one”. [4]

The main problem is that the Egyptians didn’t believe in any sort of “incarnation.” The actual story is really a lot less edifying. Though variations of the story exist, the basic plot is the same: During a party, Osiris was tricked into lying down on a chest that was specially designed to fit him. At that point, the chest was nailed shut, trapping him in it. The chest floated in the Nile for a while until it found its way back to Egypt. Set then hacked the pieces of Osiris’ body into pieces (The actual number of the pieces varies between fourteen and sixteen).

Now, what happens next varies: Either Isis connected the body parts back together with wax[5], or they were buried, and Osiris descended into the underworld to become god of the dead.[6] In any case, the stories are completely different from that of Jesus, save for a few minor similarities, such as one spurious variation of the story where Osiris is called a “saviour of man.”[7]

The other common contender for Christ-parallel is Mithras, whose cult was one of Christianity’s early rivals prior to the legalization of Christianity during 313 A.D. He is said to have been born of a virgin in a cave, but this is incorrect. The common story behind Mithras’ origin was that he emerged fully grown out of a rock. He is said to have been born on December 25, which is quite irrelevant since according to Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, “The earliest date celebrated by Christians was January 6—in fact, it’s still celebrated by many churches in the east.”[8] December 25 did not become the official date of Christmas until 336 A.D., which is only about a year before the death of Constantine.

The cult of Mithras is also said to have practiced a form of baptism, but the alleged parallel is once again highly questionable. The Mithraic initiation ritual consisted of the initiate being bathed in the blood of a slain bull; hardly a parallel for baptism! The cult of Mithras is also said to have practiced a form of the last supper, but this is also spurious, once one considers the fact that the Christian sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is derived from the Jewish Passover meal. In Mithraism and Christianity, Professor Gary Lease from the University of Munich writes:

Nothing in any of the sources we have leads to a viable theory that the origin of the Christian meal is to be found in Mithraism, nor for that matter may one derive the Mithraic meal from the Christian. [9]

In fact, Prof. Lease pretty much puts the nail in the coffin for the theory that Christianity borrowed from Mithraism. Elsewhere in his book, he states:

After almost 100 years of unremitting labor, the conclusion appears inescapable that neither Mithraism nor Christianity proved to be an obvious and direct influence upon the other in the development and demise or survival of either religion. Their beliefs and practices are well accounted for by their most obvious origins and there is no need to explain one in terms of the other. [10]

Aside from these two main contenders for pagan christs, various others alleged parallels have been proposed, such as Zoroaster (who isn’t even a god, but a prophet, and has very little in common with Jesus) and Adonis (a demigod who was torn apart by a wild boar and became the lover of Persephone in the underworld). Suffice to say, none of these alleged parallel savior-figures stand up when put under scrutiny. Swedish scholar T.N.D. Mettinger admits as much when he states in his book The Riddle of Resurrection that the nearly universal consensus of modern scholars is that there were no dying or rising gods that preceded Christianity, and that all such figures came after the first century. [11]

Thus, we see that Christianity’s unique claims stand, and allegations of plagiarism from pagan mystery religions are completely and utterly unfounded. Those who make such accusations would do well to do further research on ancient history before they repeat these spurious and questionable allegations.

End Notes
1. Freke, Timothy and Peter Gandy. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus” a Pagan God? New York: Three Rivers, 1999. p. 9.
2. Van Hoorst, Robert E. Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000. p. 16.
3. Burridge, Richard and Graham Gould. Jesus Now and Then. Wm. B: Eerdmans, 2004.
4. Harpur, Tom. The Pagan Christ. 2004. p. 68
5. Egyptian Mythology: Osiris’ Story. 2008. (http://hubpages.com/hub/Egyptian-Mythology-Osiris).
6. Loy, Jim. The Story of Osiris. 2002. (http://www.jimloy.com/egypt/osiris.htm).
7. Ibid.
8. Yamauchi, Edward. The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. p. 171
9. Lease, Gary. Mithraism and Christianity: Borrowings and Transformations. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1980. p. 1324.
10. Ibid, p. 1316.
11. Mettinger, Tryggve N.D. The Riddle of Resurrection: “Dying and Rising Gods” in the Ancient Near East. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001.