I’m hoping maybe someone can help me find an old article I read once about the various miracles in the Bible basically all having been “borrowed” from earlier religions. I can’t remember for sure what magazine it was in - it might have been Skeptical Inquirer, Reason, Free Inquiry…something like that.
It was a few years ago…I think at least 5. I want to say the author was a woman…but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. In the article she discussed a great deal of research she did into various miracles attributed to Jesus, like the miraculous birth, walking on water, feeding the multitudes with the one basket of bread and fish, so on and so forth. I remember specifically her discussing the miraculous birth as having been pretty common, citing a number of times that Zeus had divinely impregnated human women, and sometimes in the form of a snake. I also found fascinating the details behind where the trick with the bread & fish came from…although I can’t recall much about them now.
She did a wonderful job showing how each miracle pre-dated Christianity and was co-opted into the Bible rather than being a novel tale that appeared first as an act of Jesus.
But alas, I can’t recall enough about it to track the article down, and I really wish I could. I know that’s not a lot to go on, but if anyone has such recollections of what article that might have been and could point me in the right direction, I would be greatly appreciative!
That would be very difficult to google since there are so many articles about Jesus and myth. From your description, I’d say the author stretched the facts a little, but it is a contentious debate, so what do I know. One of my personal favorites on the topic is Skeptic magazines debunking of the Zeitgeist movie.
I found it, but it doesn’t address quite the same stuff you’re looking for
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-02-25/
I vaguely recall seeing an article with this idea, but I have no idea of where or when.
Occam