Arthur Drews

“ But all that they have said as yet against the possible derivation of the Christ-story from the pagan myths is so lame and biassed that it is difficult to keep patience in discussing such things with them. Take, for instance, the notion of a suffering and dying God. The Christ Myth has shown how familiar this idea was to Judaism from its own tradition—how the notion of a suffering king and just one, offering himself for the sins of his fellows, was based on a very ancient rite in the whole early world, which has left traces even in the Old Testament. ”

“ We hear strong, angry words and others full of tenderness and pity, which similarly break upon us suddenly and unexpectedly in seemingly indifferent passages. At other times lofty moral sentiments are pronounced, and these in turn have to retire behind the glamour of mystic words spoken at the last supper or after the resurrection and apocalyptic visions. ”

“ It is possible that The Christ Myth is wrong in its analysis of the gospel story into myths; but in that case its failure will only bring out more brilliantly the historical character of the gospels, so that, instead of scolding us, the believers in an historical Jesus ought to be grateful that we have relieved them of their thankless and uncongenial task. Our opponents complain that our procedure is actuated by the secret hope that there never was an historical Jesus. The truth is that it is their own exertions which are inspired by the opposite hope. ”

“ Hence on the theological side we find men contesting the obvious affinity of the Easter-story of the gospels with the myths and ceremonies of the Attis-Adonis-Osiris religion, saying that “there is no such thing” as a burial and resurrection in the myths of Attis and Adonis, and that the difference between the death of Jesus and that of his Asiatic kindred can only be explained by the “hard fact”—the famous theological bed-rock—of the death on the cross. ”

“ But as the aim is to represent a god in his superhuman splendour, no happier style could have been chosen. The god must not come too close to ourselves, otherwise he loses his altitude, yet not be too far from us, otherwise he would not have assumed human form for the redemption of sinners. The best course is to bring him out in some of his actions and situations with sudden and magical power, and then allow him to sink back again. Thus we get the transfiguration scene, the scene on Golgotha, the entry into Jerusalem, the arrest, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. ”

“ A man must be utterly devoid of psychology and be a worshipper of the letter to doubt that the idea must have had adherents among the Jews even in the days of Jesus merely because we have no direct evidence of it in writing. ”

“ Whether, for instance, the traditional number, “after three days,” in the account of the resurrection has been chosen on astral grounds, and is related to the three winter months from the shortest day, when the sun dies, to the vernal equinox, when it triumphs definitively over the winter, and so the months are condensed into three days in the myth, [11] or whether the moon has furnished the data for the three days and three nights, as it is invisible for that period, and, as so often happens in myths, the moon and the sun have been blended, we need not consider here. ”

“ The Mythical Character of the Gospels.—We have further to consider the resemblance of the figure of Jesus to the saviour-gods of pagan peoples, which theologians do not contest, and the resemblance of the Christian doctrine of redemption and details of the cult to those of the mystical cults in ancient times. [6] We can quite understand when the theologians, under the lead of Harnack, regard the relevant research in comparative religion with great distrust and concern, and that in this respect they warn us to proceed with extreme “prudence.” ”

“ Weiss, however, does not question that “the belief in a dead and risen Christ has, in general outline, considered from the point of view of the science of religion, a similar structure to these cult-myths, though the details are altogether different” (p. 39) . ”

“ It is true that the day of the vernal equinox is at least fourteen days before the Passover, which is celebrated at the full moon after the beginning of spring. I may recall, however, the very common combination of sun and moon-worship in myths. Niemojewski has proved that a moon-myth is at the base of Luke's astral system. ”

“ Why this method is less sound than the historical method followed by theologians, less “scientific”—in fact, no real method at all—is, in the circumstances, not very obvious. It is quite certain, and will be questioned by no one, that the gospels contain a large amount of legendary matter, and that a good deal in them is to be understood mystically or symbolically. It is not at all equally well established that they have an historical basis. ”

“ The ancient Babylonian idea of a divinity coming down from heaven and soiling himself with earthly material for the purpose of saving mankind was bound to imply suffering and death, especially among a people of strong religious feelings, surrounded by the suffering and dying gods of neighbouring peoples, in the close atmosphere and mysticism of sectarian life. ”

“ This, however, is not a scientific, but a religious or ecclesiastical, interest; and therefore all their talk about their “scientific procedure” and all their disdain of their opponents' methods are interested manoeuvres. ”