Classic Works of Apologetics - Copycat Myth-takesClassic Works of Apologetics Online
Copycat Myth-takes
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." -- 2 Peter 1:16
What do you tell someone who believes Christianity is itself a myth, or is based upon other religions, or that Jesus Christ never existed? The answers can be found in the following essays.
Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry
(Fl. 21st century)
American apologetics online ministry. Read about ABR: here.
Canadian author, speaker, teacher and blogger. He has M.Div, M.Th and MA degrees from McMaster Divinity College and is a D.Min student at Acadia Divinity College. He is the director of Hope's Reason Ministries. Read about Bedard here. "One of my main areas of research is the Jesus myth theory. What is the Jesus myth? This is a theory that argues that the historical Jesus never existed and that the Jesus of the Gospels is based on pagan myths. The purpose of this page is to provide links to resources dealing with the Jesus myth." This page lists primary sources detailing the myths.
Biblical scholar. Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary. Read about Bock here.
WORKS
Video presentation. Who is Jesus? Passion City Church, DC. Posted online 2022.
Video presentation. Jesus and Osiris: Was the Virgin Birth Copied from Myth? Mary Jo Sharp and Darrell Bock Posted online December 22, 2020. In this Table Podcast clip, Dr. Darrell Bock and Mary Jo Sharp discuss about the birth narrative of Osiris, comparing and contrasting this story with the Virgin Birth of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospel accounts. Could the story of Jesus' virginal conception be related to the an Egyptian myth?
Boyd, Gregory A.
(Born 1957)
American theologian and author. Boyd is Senior Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Note: Boyd is not a "Christian nation" advocate. Read about Boyd here.
Christian CADRE (Colligation of Apologetics Debate Research and Evangelism)
(Fl. 21st century)
Christian apologetics online ministry. Website here.
WORKS
The Historical Jesus. Abstract: "The theory that Jesus did not exist as a historical figure is often referred to as the Jesus Myth. Though dead as a serious academic position, the notion that Jesus did not exist is advanced by skeptics through their various publishing arms and on the internet. Others have argued that though some sort of founding historical figure is possible, the miracles attributed to him must be legendary developments. As a result, one the CADRE's priorities is to educate readers about the overwhelming evidence of Jesus' historicity. On this page are links to articles and books dealing with the question of the historicity of Jesus."
Closson, Don
(Fl. 21st Century)
Director of Administration and Research Associate at the Center of Church Based Training. Read about Closson here.
A presentation on Thursday, April 10th, 2014. Dr William Lane Craig speaks on the "Objective Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus" at Yale University.
Video presentation. What About Pagan Myths of Dying and Rising Gods? Published on Feb 1, 2016. Abstract: The week following Easter in 2015, Dr Craig flew to Dallas, Texas, where he spoke in a downtown bar for the Bible and Beer Consortium. This ministry holds outreach events in this large, dark Dallas bar on a regular basis. Apparently, the bar is only too happy to do so because of the large crowds the events attract. There were several hundred who came out to hear Dr Craig give a talk on the resurrection of Jesus as an event of history. It was a delightful time defending the heart of the Gospel, and Dr Craig really liked the way the BBC is taking the Gospel to where the people really are.
Investigating the Similarities between Jesus and pagan figures. Posted January 15, 2011. "In this section, we will investigate the alleged similarities between Jesus and other deities which leave critics speculating aspects of Jesus' life were borrowed from other figures of antiquity. After examining the actual texts of the religions in question most similarities will be found to not even exist but to have been fabricated by authors who prey upon the reader's ignorance of foreign religions."
Eddy, Paul Rhodes
(Fl. 21st century)
Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies at Bethel University (St. Paul). He holds the B.A. in Biblical & Theological Studies (Bethel University), the M.A. in Theological Studies (Bethel Theological Seminary), and the PhD in Theology (Marquette University). His primary research interests include methodological issues in historical Jesus studies, John Hick and religious pluralism, and Christology and the Atonement. He also serves as Teaching Pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN. Read about Eddy here.
With Gregory A. Boyd. Lord or Legend? Wipf & Stock Pub. October 1, 2010. 184 pp.
Esposito, Lenny
(Fl. 21st century)
President and founder of Come Reason Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization. Read about Esposito here.
WORKS
Did the Gospels Copy from Pagan Myths?. Posted October 16, 2012. Abstract: "Is the story of Jesus an old tale told often before He lived? Does that
impugn the truth value of the Gospel accounts? Richard Carrier and
others have claimed that the story of Jesus is simply a retelling of
older messiah myths, but see why this couldn't be true."
Horus vs Jesus. Published on October 16, 2012. Abstract: "The Zeitgeist movie makes the claim that the stories of Jesus are just copies of the ancient Egyptian dying and rising myth of Horus. The film lists several supposed similarities between the two stories in an attempt to prove that the Gospels were simply fabricated from pre-existing material. Here, Lenny compares the actual myth of Horus to the Gospel accounts and you can see how the claims of similarity quickly fades away."
New Testament scholar, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College of Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The author or editor of more than fifty books and hundreds of articles, Evans is a regular guest on many national media outlets, including NBC, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and BBC. He is an internationally distinguished authority and lecturer on the historical Jesus. Read more about Evans here.
WORKS
Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence. Westminster John Knox Press; Paperback edition edition (February 8, 2013) 208 pp.
Abstract: "In this provocative work, world-renowned scholar Craig A. Evans presents the most important archaeological discoveries that shed light on the world of Jesus of Nazareth. Evans challenges many sensational claims that have been proposed in recent books and peddled in the media by using archaeological findings to uncover the truth about several key pieces of Jesus' world."
Lutheran pastor in Illinois, creator of the online video series Lutheran Satire, a project intended to teach the orthodox Lutheran faith through the use of humor and (primarily) animation. Read more about Fiene here.
WORKS
Video presentation. Horus Ruins Christmas. The Lutheran Satire. Posted December 24, 2013.
Video presentation. Horus Ruins Christmas. The Lutheran Satire. Posted October 19, 2014.
Foreman, Mark W.
(Fl. 21st century)
Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Liberty University. Read more about Foreman here.
WORKS
Video presentation. Refuting Zeitgeist the Movie - Mark Foreman, PhD. Posted 2017. Abstract: "Are Ancient Myths, Like Osiris and Horus, the Foundation for Jesus' Life? The presentation is done by Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Liberty University, Dr. Mark Foreman. A soon to be published book where he has an in-depth chapter refuting Zeitgeist, is in this book: Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics"
"Seldom have recent scholars questioned or denied the historical existence of Jesus. Of the very few who have done so, G. A. Wells is probably the best known. In this article, I will outline and then respond to some of his major tenets.
"Before turning to this topic, I will first note that the vast majority of scholars, both conservative and liberal alike, generally disdain radical theses that question the very existence of Jesus. For example, theologian Rudolf Bultmann asserted, "By no means are we at the mercy of those who doubt or deny that Jesus ever lived." A[i].
"Historian Michael Grant termed the hypothesis that Jesus never lived an "extreme view." He charges that it transgresses the basics of historiography: "if we apply to the New Testament, as we should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned." Grant summarizes, after referring to Wells as an example: "modern critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory." These positions have been "annihilated" by the best scholars because the critics "have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary." A[ii] .
Hannam, James
(Fl. 21st century)
British author. "I am a historian of science specialising in the relationship between science and Christianity in the Medieval and Early Modern eras. I took my Masters (2003) from Birkbeck College, University of London and my PhD (2008) in the History and Philosophy of Science at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. My reviews and articles have been published in the academic journals British Journal of the History of Science, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliography Society, Science and Christian Belief and Perspectives on Science and Faith." Learn more about Hannam here.
Truth Be Told -- a parody of Acharya by an agnostic. This means we don't necessarily endorse all within.
Summary review of Who Was Jesus?: This is a kinder, gentler Acharya but she's still using the same poor arguments found in her other books. Much is made over (usually single) quotes of people like Witherington, but she tenaciously avoids their arguments and scholarship. Adds nothing new and not already refuted on this site.
The Best Evidence for Jesus [Kindle Edition]. Ebook. October 14, 2014. 98 pp. Abstract: Did Jesus exist? If so, what is the best evidence that he existed? In this update to material in his earlier book Shattering the Christ Myth, Christian apologist James Patrick Holding takes a closer look at the best evidence for a historical Jesus, as well as the "best" arguments used to argue against a historical Jesus.
Video presentation. TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian? Introduction. Posted August 23, 2013. The opening of a 7-part series on the fundy atheist and Jesus-myther "TruthSurge," and his series, "Jesus: Hebrew Human or Mythical Messiah?" Our series title is, "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?"
Video presentation. TruthSurge Gets High on Context. Published on August 25, 2013. Part 2 in our series, "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?" This time we have a look at one of the chief arguments of Jesus-mythers, which is that the New Testament epistles don't mention certain details about Jesus' life (such as him living in Nazareth). Mythers take this as a sign that Jesus didn't exist on earth -- but it actually means something else. Links for more info:
http://www.tektonics.org/doherty/doherty20lb.php
http://tektonticker.blogspot.com/2012/09/neil-gidfrey-high-on-context.php
http://tektonticker.blogspot.com/2012/06/neil-godfreys-high-context-bungle.php
http://youtu.be/WhWhHUNIjc8
Video presentation. Rulers of This Ageses (TruthSurge and 1 Cor. 2:8). Published on August 26, 2013. In Part 3 of our series, "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?" we look at how Jesus-mythers reinterpret 1 Cor. 2:8 (which says the "rulers of this age" crucified Jesus) from being a reference to the historical crucifixion to a case of Jesus being killed by spirit beings.
Video presentation. The Last Truthbender (TruthSurge and 1 Thess. 2:15-16) . Published on August 27, 2013. Part 4 of the series, "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?" This time we have a look at how Jesus-mythers handle 1 Thess. 2:15-16.
Video presentation. TruthSurge Digses a Hole. Published on August 29, 2013. In Part 6 of "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?" we check out a collection of his arguments, including the claim that references to Jesus' "coming" indicate that he never lived on earth.
Video presentation. TruthSurgeses Sssspeed Round. Published on August 30, 2013. We close out the series, "TruthSurge: Mighty Mythicist or Hack Historian?" with a "sssspeed round" of mixed objections.
Video presentation. Acharya S and Dhorpatan Get Krishna Krushed!. Published on Nov 16, 2012. After a long hiatus, World YouTube Wrestling (WYTW) RAW! returns with a match on the subject of alleged parallels between the lives of Jesus, and the Hindu deity Krishna.
On one side: Copycat claimants Acharya S and Dhorpatan; on the other side, RomanMissalExegete and Dr. Annabelle Martser.
I got the "copycat" claims from Acharya's "Christ Conspiracy" and Dhorpatan's vid, "The Jesus Christ fairy tale was copied from other fairy tales!" The responses from Dr. Bryant are recorded by Mike Licona in his article here.
Video presentation. The Mithra Buster. Uploaded on September 2, 2010. Back in the Roman era, Mithraism was perhaps Christianity's leading competitor for the hearts and minds of others. Today Mithraism is religiously a non-factor, but it still "competes" with Christianity, in another way: It is a leading candidate for the "pagan copycat" thesis crowd as a supposed source for Christianity.
Our walking papers are laid out for us by over a dozen things that Jesus supposedly has in common with Mithras and, by extension, Christianity allegedly borrowed to create the Jesus character.
In not one instance has a convincing case been made that Christianity borrowed anything from Mithraism. The evidence is either too late, not in line with the conclusions of modern Mithraic scholars, or just plain not there.
See Mithra vs Jesus.
H. Wayne House is Distinguished Research Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies at Faith Evangelical Seminary in Tacoma, Washington and President of Christian Perspectives International. Read about House here. Website here.
North American academic and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. Read about Keener here and here.
WORKS
The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Reprint edition (April 13, 2012). 869 pp. Abstract: "The earliest substantive sources available for historical Jesus research are in the Gospels themselves; when interpreted in their early Jewish setting, their picture of Jesus is more coherent and plausible than are the competing theories offered by many modern scholars."
"Religion Without Dogma?". From God In The Dock:
If my religion is erroneous then occurrences of similar motifs in pagan stories are, of course, instances of the same, or a similar error. But if my religion is true, then these stories may well be a preparatio evangelica, a divine hinting in poetic and ritual form at the same central truth which was later focused and (so to speak) historicised in the Incarnation. To me, who first approached Christianity from a delighted interest in, and reverence for, the best pagan imagination, who loved Balder before Christ and Plato before St. Augustine, the anthropological argument against Christianity has never been formidable. On the contrary, I could not believe Christianity if I were forced to say that there were a thousand religions in the world of which 999 were pure nonsense and the thousandth (fortunately) true. My conversion, very largely, depended on recognizing Christianity as the completion, the actualization, the entelechy, of something that had never been wholly absent from the mind of man.
"Myth Became Fact". From God In The Dock:
The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens?at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle. . . . God is more than god, not less: Christ is more than Balder, not less. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about "parallels" and "pagan Christs": they ought to be there?it would be a stumbling block if they weren?t. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic?and is not the sky itself a myth?shall we refuse to be mythopathic? For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher.
Licona, Michael R. / Mike
(Born 1961)
Ph.D. in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria). Associate professor in theology at Houston Baptist University. Ministry: Risen Jesus. Read about Licona here.
American biblical scholar and textual critic, longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the American Bible Society and United Bible Societies. He was a scholar of Greek, New Testament, and New Testament textual criticism. Read about Metzger here.
"Wry, dry, rather sarcastic, eccentric, occasionally arrogant Irish-Australian atheist ..." Read about O'Neill here.
WORKS
Nailed: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed at All by David Fitzgerald. Posted May 28, 2011.
"The overwhelming majority of scholars, Christian, non-Christian, atheist, agnostic or Jewish, accept there was a Jewish preacher as the point of origin for the Jesus story simply because that makes the most sense of all the evidence. The contorted and contrived lengths that Fitzgerald and his ilk have to resort to shows exactly how hard it is to sustain the idea that no such historical preacher existed. Personally, as an atheist amateur historian myself, I would have no problem at all embracing the idea that no historical Jesus existed if someone could come up with an argument for this that did not depend at every turn on strained readings, ad hoc explanations, imagined textual interpolations and fanciful suppositions. While the Myther thesis is being sustained by junk pulp pseudo scholarship like Fitzgerald's worthless little book, it will remain a curiosity on the fringes of scholarship good for little more than amusement. This book is crap."
Software consultant with "an interest in manuscripts and the transmission of texts from antiquity and making such material available online." Read about Pearse and his works here.
Former atheist, now Assistant Professor at Houston Baptist University, on faculty with Summit Ministries, an author with Kregel Publications and B&H Publications, and has recently produced a new DVD Bible Study with LifeWay Resources. Read about Sharp here.
Video presentation. Jesus and Pagan Mythology. Posted online September 14, 2013. From "To Everyone an Answer: 10th Annual EPS Apologetics Conference"
Christ-Myth. International Society of Women in Apologetics.
Sorensen, Jon
(Fl. 21st Century)
Director of marketing for Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. Read about Sorensen here.
American Christian apologetic author, former atheist. Read about Strobel here. Website here.
WORKS
The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ. August 19, 2007.
Review: Atheist-turned-Christian Strobel, with four Gold Medallions and other awards, focuses on rediscovering the real Jesus, whose identity and message have come under attack in recent years. He addresses six major challenges and claims: that a different Jesus is seen in ancient documents that seem as credible as the four canonical gospels; that tampering by the church has damaged the Bible's portrayal of Jesus; that new explanations refute Jesus' resurrection; that Christianity copied pagan religions regarding Jesus; that Jesus didn't fulfill messianic prophecies; and that contemporary people should be able to choose what to believe about Jesus. As with his previous books, Strobel attacks the issues as an investigative journalist, though one with a clear agenda. He searches out experts (including Craig A. Evans and Michael Licona) to refute each objection, offering readers top evangelical scholarship revealed in everyday language while challenging the claims of liberal writers like John Shelby Spong, Bart Ehrman and others. In the end, he says, none of these seemingly daunting challenges turned out to be close calls... they were systematically dismantled by scholars... with facts, logic and evidence. Evangelical readers will come away with deeper understanding of the various arguments about Jesus.
From Publishers Weekly, 2007.
Audio presentation. The Case for the Real Jesus. Extract from Chapter One. Uploaded April 27, 2012. Abstract: * Did the church suppress ancient non-biblical documents that paint a more accurate picture of Jesus than the four Gospels?
* Did the church distort the truth about Jesus by tampering with early New Testament texts?
* Do new insights and explanations finally disprove the resurrection?
* Have fresh arguments disqualified Jesus from being the Messiah?
* Did Christianity steal its core ideas from earlier mythology?
Tors, John
(Fl. 21st Century)
Director of Christian apologetics website, Truthinmydays.com. Website here.
Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at U.C. Berkeley, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Scholar of the history of religions, comparative religion, and cultural history (Ph.D., Princeton Univ.) Author of The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries (Oxford University Press, 1991). Read about Ulansey here.
WORKS
Mithraism: The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras. This essay is adapted from "Solving the Mithraic Mysteries," Biblical Archaeology Review, vol. 20, #5 [September/October 1994] pp. 40-53.
Evidence for Jesus and Parallel Pagan "Crucified Saviors" Examined. Completed Christmas 2007. This is a detailed response to the claim that there are many parallel pagan gods and "crucified saviors" that rival Christianity's founder Jesus Christ. All the pagan names linked above appear in a scrolling background graphic of the DVD The God Who Wasn't There produced by amateur filmmaker Brian Flemming.
Jesus Is A Myth, Just Like President Kennedy
If we're prepared to say Jesus is a myth just because he shares a few characteristics, we better be ready to say president John F. Kennedy was also a myth.
Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Mithras Mythology?
Is Jesus simply a retelling of the Mithras mythology? How similar is Mithras to Jesus upon close examination? Do these similarities invalidate the historicity of Jesus?
Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Osiris Mythology?
Is Jesus simply a retelling of the Osiris mythology? How similar is Osiris to Jesus upon close examination? Do these similarities invalidate the historicity of Jesus?
Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Horus Mythology?
Is Jesus simply a retelling of the Horus myth? How similar is Horus to Jesus upon close examination? Do these similarities invalidate the historicity of Jesus?
Jesus' Existence Was Confirmed By Others: Articles Related to How Jesus Was (and Is) Described by Non-Christians
Is There Any Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?
The ancient non-Christian interpretations (and critical commentaries) of the Gospel accounts serve to strengthen the core claims of the New Testament.
Who Is Jesus, According to Other Religions?
If you're interested in a quest for truth, it would be wise to start with the faith system best describing the man many other systems already acknowledge.
Jesus' Identity Was Accurately Preserved: Articles Related to the Accurate Transmission of the Story of Jesus
Testing the Gospels From John to Hippolytus
We can be confident we have an unaltered record of Jesus' life because it was faithfully cited and transmitted by those who had contact with the eyewitnesses
Jesus' Historicity Was Not Nullified By Non-Canonical Authors:
Articles Related to How Jesus Was Described By Non-Canonical Authors
Bible scholar, Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Read about Witherington here.
