The Jesus Mysteries: Was The Original Jesus A Pagan God? [Paperback]

Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy demonstrate clearly and unambiguously that much of Christian belief and practice, rather than being (as the Church has always claimed) a vast contrast with the Pagan ideas of Greece and the Middle East 2,000 years ago, actually draws on those traditions. It's not just virgin births that were two-a-penny in pre- Christian religions, but baptism, communion, and the very concept of a dying and rising God–man. December 25th was the birthday of Mithras long before Jesus came along. Other gods turned water into wine, stilled stormy waters, healed the sick and raised the dead. Even the teachings of Jesus on love, moral purity, humility and poverty were not wholly original; while Christian beliefs on heaven and hell (and the Catholic Church's purgatory) owe far more to Paganism than they do to the Judaism from which Christianity grew.

All of this, to a greater or lesser extent, has been known for decades; much of it, for example, can be found in a 1920s book called Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning. Where Freke and Gandy develop their theory, though, is more contentious. They conclude that the Christian religion was actually designed as another version of the Pagan religion, that Jesus was simply another variant on Osiris, Dionysius, Mithras and other earlier gods, invented for the Jewish people. This controversial thesis will be dismissed by many readers, but the meticulous footnoting of sources, both ancient and modern, will cause others to wonder if this book ought to be taken more seriously than many recent rewritings of history. --David V. Barrett --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

‘Rarely have the roots of Christianity been disentangled to such disturbing effect. I shall never be able to read the gospels in the same way again.’
ROGER BOULTON, presenter of Radio 4’s The Sunday Programme

‘A provocative, exciting and challenging book.’
The Rt Revd JOHN SHELBY SPONG, Bishop of Newark

This groundbreaking book looks at one of the greatest cover-ups in history and dares to think the unthinkable about Christianity – that it was in fact a Jewish Mystery School modelled on the ancient Pagan Mysteries.

The myth of Dionysus bears startling resemblances to the the story of Jesus Christ. It compares with the biblical story in the following ways:
• Dionysus is God made flesh and is hailed as the ‘Saviour of Mankind’ and the ‘Son of God’
• His father is God and and his mother is a mortal virgin who afterwards becomes worshipped as the ‘Mother of God’
• He is born in a cowshed
• He drives out demons, turns water into wine and and raises people from the dead
• He rides triumphantly into town while people wave palms to honour him

The date revered by the first Christians as Jesus’ birthday was originally that of Dionysus, also the three day Spring Festival of Dionysus celebrating his death and resurrection coincides with the Christian festival of Easter. The last Supper and the Eucharist are also parallel Dionysian rites.
This is not common knowledge as the story was a closely guarded secret of the Pagan mysteries. Secondly the evidence of Christianity’s pagan roots were systematically covered up the Roman Church.

• What if Thousands of years before Christianity Pagans had also worshipped a Son of God?
• What if this Pagan saviour was also born of a virgin on the 25th of December before three Shepherds, turned water into wine, died and resurrected at Easter, and offered his body and blood as a Holy Communion?
• What if these Pagan myths had been rewritten as the gospel of Jesus Christ?
• What if there were absolutely no evidence for the existence of an historical Jesus?
• What if the earliest Christians knew that the Jesus story was a myth?
• What if the truth has been kept from us by the greatest cover-up in history?

Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book will change everything you ever thought you ever thought you knew about Christianity.

'Book of the Year'
FIONA PITT-KEIGHLEY, 'Daily Telegraph'

Peter Gandy is a classical scholar with a particular interest in ancient Western spiritual traditions. He is currently studying for an MA in classical civilization at London University. He has been researching this subject intensively for over 5 years. He is the author of ‘The Complete Guide to World Mysticism’ and ‘Hermetica’.
Tim Freke is an authority on world spirituality. His books include: The Illustrated World Scriptures, Tao Te Ching and Principles of Native American Spirituality. He worked with Alan Aeira on the famous documentary on the Kogi people of Colombia.