Are there parallels to the Resurrections in other cultures?
Even in ancient times, critics of Christianity noticed some parallels between Christian beliefs and pre-Christian myths. In the late second century, a philosopher named Celsus charged, “The Christians have used the myths of Danae and the Melanippe, of the Auge and Antiope in fabricating this story of virgin birth.” The same philosopher compared the resurrection of Jesus to the mysterious disappearance and return of a well-known poet. In more recent times, sceptical scholars such as Marvin Meyer and Robert Price have claimed close connections between the resurrection of Jesus and the myths of dying and rising deities that marked many ancient myths and mystery cults. Here’s what these critics contend: The most marvelous claims in the Gospels—a miraculous birth, for example, as well as the idea of a deity who dies and rises again—are paralleled in religions that predate Christianity; therefore, early Christians must have fabricated these miracles based on their knowledge of other religions.
I admit there are some surface-level similarities between ancient myths and certain events in the Gospels. Long before the first century AD, the myths of Egyptian deities such as Osiris, Adonis, Attis, and Horus included tales of death and rebirth. So why should anyone see Jesus as being distinct from such deities? Could the New Testament stories of Jesus represent the fictive myth of an ancient mystery cult that’s outlived other mystery cults by nearly two millennia? Or is there something different about the accounts of Jesus’s time on earth?
When these claims are compared carefully with the New Testament Gospels, the distinction between Jesus and the supposed parallels becomes quite distinct, for at least three reasons:
(1) The parallels aren’t as parallel as the proponents claim.
(2) Many supposed parallels confuse affirmations in the New Testament Gospels with later Christian traditions.
(3) Even if some parallels exist, the sources of these parallels could be practices that are standard features of human cultures.
1. Are the Parallels Really Parallel?
When ancient texts and artifacts are analysed, the parallels are not as parallel as the sceptics claim. Despite widespread claims that gods like Horus were crucified and resurrected, no such story can be found in any pre-Christian depiction or description. For example, a monument illustrating the story of Horus does not depict him as crucified or resurrected, as some sceptics suggest. Instead, Horus was thought by the Egyptians to have been stung by a poisonous creature and revived by his mother and a moon god—a fate very different from crucifixion followed by resurrection. A close examination of the stories of other gods reveals similar gaps. The theme of dying and rising in other religions was an annual event, connected to the seasons. Unlike the metaphorical returns of dying-and-rising gods, the resurrection described by Christians was a one-time event that occurred at one specific point in the earth’s topography, with no relationship to seasonal changes or agricultural cycles.
According to some reconstructions of sources that depict the birth of a mystery cult deity called Mithras, Mithras was born from solid stone. A few sceptics have connected this birth to the birth of Jesus in a stable, since caves were sometimes used to shelter animals; some even referred to this birth of Mithras as a “virgin birth.” And yet, parallels of this sort are too vague and too dissimilar to support the claim that Christians borrowed their beliefs from pagans of previous generations. James Tabor, professor of early Christianity at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, doesn’t believe in the virginal conception of Jesus, and he denies that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet even he recognises how radically the birth of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels differs from any supposed parallels. According to Tabor,
When you read the accounts of Mary’s unsuspected pregnancy, what is particularly notable... is an underlying tone of realism that runs through the narratives. These seem to be real people, living in real times and places. In contrast, the birth stories in Greco-Roman literature have a decidedly legendary flavor. For example, in Plutarch’s account of the birth of Alexander the Great, his mother, Olympias, became pregnant from a snake; it was announced by a bolt of lightning that sealed her womb so that her husband, Philip, could not have sex with her. Granted, both Matthew and Luke include dreams and visions of angels but the core story itself—that of a man who discovers that his bride-to-be is pregnant and knows he is not the father—has a realistic and thoroughly human quality to it. The narrative, despite its miraculous elements, “rings true.”
2. Do the Supposed Parallels Appear in the New Testament or in Later Christian Literature?
Many supposed parallels confuse the New Testament Gospels' affirmations with later Christian traditions. For example, some claim that “Easter” comes from “Ishtar,” a Sumerian goddess who died and returned to life. In the first place, the word “Easter” seems more likely to have derived not from “Ishtar” but from an Indo-European root that has to do with “rising.” Far more important, the term “Easter” never appears in the text of Scripture, and Christians didn’t begin using the term to describe resurrection celebrations until many years after the Bible was written. As such, the origins of the word “Easter” have nothing to do with the historicity of any event in the New Testament.
3. Where Do Parallels Come From?
Even if some clear parallel did exist between the story of Jesus and previous religious expectations, this wouldn’t warrant the belief that the apostle Paul or the authors of the New Testament Gospels “borrowed” these tenets from other faiths. It might mean that God chose to reveal himself in ways that the people in that particular culture could comprehend. Although earlier religions may have twisted and distorted the human yearning for resurrection, these motifs are rooted in a God-given yearning for redemption through sacrifice that makes the world right and new. C. S. Lewis addressed this possibility with these words:
In the New Testament, the thing really happened. The Dying God really appears — as a historical Person, living in a definite place and time. . . . The old myth of the Dying God... comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens at a particular date, in a specific place, followed by definable historical consequences. We must not be nervous about “parallels” [in other religions]...: they ought to be there — it would be a stumbling block if they weren’t.
Timothy Paul Jones
