[BretLudwig]

Reflections on the Christ Myth

by Revilo P. Oliver

Professor of the Classics, Retired; University of Illinois, Urbana

[This booklet and its addendum were previously published, in part, in
Liberty Bell magazine. -- K.A.S.]

CHAPTER ONE:
THE CHRIST MYTH





"CHRISTIANITY IS A FUSION of two myths. The Jesus myth requires no
explication. It is clear that the stories collected in the "New Testament"
are versions of a folk-tale formed, like the legend of Robin Hood, by the
accretion around a central figure of episodes in the careers of a number
of minor figures. The Jesus of that legend was a composite formed from
tales about Jesus ben Ananias (1), Jesus ben Pandera (2), the agitator,
whose name may have been Jesus, who led a party of his followers into
Jerusalem during the celebration of the Passover and was well received by
the populace, but soon suppressed, and Judas the Gaulanite (3). And it is
possible, of course, that there was an otherwise forgotten Jesus who also
tried to start a Jewish revolt against civilized rule and paid the
penalty. The composite Jesus was, of course, a would-be christ and
interested only in his own barbarous people. The stories in the "New
Testament" have been embellished by Christians, and that is what is
remarkable.




(1. The obvious source of at least the "prophecy" about the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. We cannot be certain about the
doctrine for which the Sanhedrin tried to persuade the Roman governor to
consent to his crucifixion, but after the governor released him, he became
a prophet of disaster until he was appropriately killed by a Roman missile
during the siege of Jerusalem in 59-60.)

(2. The probable source of at least part of the story about a
crucifixion and resurrection. The tradition about him, which was known to
Celsus before the year 180, probably had an historical basis in the career
of a Jewish goës who won, and then lost, the favor of Queen Alexandra
Helene (Salome), the widow of Alexander Jannaeus, c. 70 B.C.)

(3. See Josephus Antiquitates, XVII, 4; XX, 102.)




The Christ myth is puzzling, an historical problem that is still unsolved.
Indeed, if considered a priori as an historical phenomenon, it is
astounding. The Jesus of the composite legend was a would-be christ, who
anticipates the basic doctrine of the Talmud, that Jews are a unique form
of life, vastly superior to all other peoples, who, at best, if totally
submissive to Gods People, may aspire to the status of dogs. He boasts
that he brings not peace, but a sword, so he probably wanted to rouse the
Jews scattered throughout the world as well as those in Palestine to start
slaughtering the civilized peoples, as did his successors in the great
Jewish Conspiracy of 117. Yet this implacable enemy of the Aryans was
transformed by the Christ myth into a god that Aryans worshipped!

The Jews, naturally and, from their standpoint, reasonably, hate all
Aryans, but they feel a specially intense hatred for Aryans who are so
intelligent and manly that they resent being herded and fleeced by their
Jewish shepherds and refuse to believe in the enormous racial superiority
that entitles Jews to own the entire planet. When the Germans tried to
have a country of their own, international Jewry sent against Germany
their stupid British hounds and eventually their rabid American mastiffs,
who obediently and foully murdered the German leaders to prove to the
world that resistance to Gods People is an unforgivable sin that is
punished by torture and death. That we all know.

Now, if, in the coming century, say by the year 2100, the Jews begin to
venerate Hermann Goering or Alfred Rosenberg or Julius Streicher as their
divinely inspired Saviour and worship him as a Son of God and an
incarnation of their Yahweh, that would be astounding, wouldnt it? Yes,
but not more incredible than the transformation of a Jewish christ into a
Saviour of Aryans and a god.

It is to solve this historical paradox that Nicholas Carter has written
his new book, The Christ Myth (4). Mr. Carter will be remembered for his
excellent book, The Late Great Book, the Bible (5) in which he reached and
enforced the conclusion that "the establishment of Christianity in the West
represents one of the greatest tragedies that has ever befallen the human
race."



(4. Available from Historical Review Press, PO Box 62, Uckfield,
Sussex, TN22 1ZY, UK. Please send SAE for details of price/availability of
this and other titles.)

(5. Available from Historical Review Press, as above.)




He persuasively finds the key to the paradoxical enigma in the effect of
Greek civilization on the barbarous Jews. It will be necessary, therefore,
to begin with the sixth century B.C. As we all know, Cyrus the Great, the
founder of the Persian Empire, showed great favor to the Jews, probably to
recompense their work in subverting the Babylonian Empire and betraying the
city of Babylon into his hands. The Jews so needed his protection that they
flattered him by calling him their christ (6), i.e., a being divinely sent
and inspired by Yah to save his people. Soon after 538 B.C., Cyrus
rewarded them (as the British were to do much later) by giving them
permission to take over for themselves a part of Palestine. Soon after
they were established in Jerusalem, a contingent of wealthy Jews from
Babylon undertook a drastic reformation of their tribal religion. They
eliminated their goddess and three other gods, and recognized Yah (or
Yau), a god they had taken over from the Canaanites, as the patron god
of their race. (7)



(6. A crucial text is quoted in Liberty Bell, September 1993, p. 6, n.
9.)

(7. Conclusive evidence about the earlier form of the Jews religion
is provided by documents from the Jewish colony at Elephantine, an island
in the Nile below the First Cataract, now submerged by the Aswan Dam. The
Jews of that colony believed themselves perfectly orthodox in worshiping
their five gods, including Yahs consort, €˜Anath. The documents were
edited and translated by A. E. Cowley of Magdalen College (Oxford) in his
fundamental book, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1923). For a learned but frantic and at times ludicrous
attempt to explain away the evidence, see Bezalel Porten, Archives from
Elephantine (University of California Press, 1968).)"

http://www.revilo-oliver.com/rpo/Reflections.html

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[Jenn[_3_]]

In article
outaudio.com,
"BretLudwig" wrote:

Reflections on the Christ Myth

by Revilo P. Oliver

Professor of the Classics, Retired; University of Illinois, Urbana

Hey Scott, was this guy still at UI when you were there? I know that
there's little chance of you normally having knowledge of that since the
Fighting Illini are such a large brood, but he regularly made very
controversial comments, so I thought that you might remember him from
the news or something.

[BretLudwig]

RPO retired Emeritus in 1977 and was effectively edited out of the
university's existence, despite the fact he was Oldfather's chosen heir
apparent.

The sheer lucidity and precision of his commentary on any number of
subjects is simply staggering. Someday he will be acknowledged as one of
the greats, but that won't be in my lifetime.

--
Message posted using http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/
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[Jenn[_3_]]

In article
outaudio.com,
"BretLudwig" wrote:

RPO retired Emeritus in 1977 and was effectively edited out of the
university's existence, despite the fact he was Oldfather's chosen heir
apparent.

The sheer lucidity and precision of his commentary on any number of
subjects is simply staggering. Someday he will be acknowledged as one of
the greats, but that won't be in my lifetime.

--
Message posted using http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/
More information at http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/faq.html

He was highly appreciated by Pierce and the Institute for Historical
Review though.

[George M. Middius[_4_]]

Woof? yipyipyip! grrrr!

Professor of the Classics, Retired; University of Illinois, Urbana

Hey Scott, was this guy still at UI when you were there?

No.

Are you sure, Scottie? You probably took a bite out of more preachers than
you can shake your tail at.

[Jenn[_3_]]

In article ,
"ScottW" wrote:

"Jenn" wrote in message
...
In article
outaudio.com,
"BretLudwig" wrote:

Reflections on the Christ Myth

by Revilo P. Oliver

Professor of the Classics, Retired; University of Illinois, Urbana

Hey Scott, was this guy still at UI when you were there?

No.

ScottW

Yeah, once I saw when he retired I knew.