Comparative Religions?

[Shredr]

Does anyone have a good source -- either website or book -- which compares the iconic Christian stories (Jesus dying and rising from the dead, etc.) with other religious and cultural myths? The subject was touched on in THE DAVINCI CODE, I'm looking for a more elaborate study.

Thanks.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Ok, here is one

http://www.comparativereligion.com/

There are more sites and books that might be of interest as well: http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[pippin]

2. Book edited by Dan Burstein

Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind the Da Vinci Code
"Dan Burstein’s Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code sorts out fact, informed speculation, and fiction, by presenting the views of the experts—archeologists, theologians, art historians, philosophers and scientists—many of whose works Brown himself relied upon in developing his intriguing tale."

Contributors to the anthology include:


DIANE APOSTOLOS-CAPPADONA,MICHAEL BAIGENT, ESTHER DE BOER, DAVID DOWNIE , BETSY EBLE, BART EHRMAN, TIMOTHY FREKE ,PETER GANDY ,DEIRDRE GOOD, SUSAN HASKINS, KATHERINE L. JANSEN, KAREN KING, RICHARD LEIGH, HENRY LINCOLN, JAMES MARTIN, S.J., RICHARD MCBRIEN, LAURA MILLER, SHERWIN B. NULAND, ELAINE PAGELS, LYNN PICKNETT,CLIVE PRINCE, JAMES ROBINSON, SIMON SINGH, MARGARET STARBIRD, DAVID VAN BIEMA, KENNETH WOODWARD



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593150229/qid=1090695285/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-4936412-9951310

[truhavoc]

3. With respect to portions of genesis I would recommend reading gilgamesh

of course!

[Mari333]

4. The best book you can get is this one

Barbara Walker, authour
Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
Women's Encyclopedia of Symbols and Sacred Objects..
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006250925X/102-8548061-9522536?v=glance

"Amazon.com
This fascinating, scholarly hodgepodge spotlights the feminist underpinnings of myth, religion, and culture. Before being lionized as zaftig Norse angels who guided strong warriors to Valhalla, Valkyries may have offered rebirth through cannibalization. "Little Red Riding Hood" was based on Diana, goddess of the hunt. Marriage was once considered a sin, not a sacred union: St. Bernard once proclaimed "it was easier for a man to bring the dead back to life than to live with a woman without endangering his soul." A few of the other topics expounded upon are the Milky Way, Cinderella, the moon, and males giving birth. While some of the references put a cranky feminist spin on words that might in context have different meaning--St. Paul's oft-quoted "better to marry than to burn," for example--much in this vast tome will dazzle dabblers and intellectuals alike. "

also
Goddesses and Gods of Neolithic Europe by Maritas Gimbutas

also anything by Joseph Campbell

the first 2 books I mentioned, will BLOW YOUR MIND.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I have that book. It's brilliant.

[Mari333]

7. Yes, it is...pretty much says it all

Walker spent 20 years of her life on it. It was and still is THE eye opener book, imho, on womens mythology....................... and I cant wait til the Da Vinci code is made into a movie. I think the Walker book is THE perfect book to read after the Da Vinci Code (which I just finished last week)
I read Walker's books a few years ago. wow.
=)

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I've got to add it to my reading list on my site.

[scarletwoman]

6. I have nothing specific, but any open-minded student of world mythology

can point out many similarities between the Jesus mythos and various "virgin birth/dying god" themes that run throughout various cultural mythological/metaphysical traditions -- all of them predating the so-called "Christian Era".

I haven't read the DaVinci Code, so I have no knowledge of what sort of references it may contain. But an even cursory study of Carl Jung will introduce the extremely useful (imho, of course) concept of archetypes, which certainly has the potential for deepening one's understanding of the universality of certain themes in mythological constructs.

Shamanic themes of death and journeys to the "underworld" are also relevant, and provide several analogies to the Jesus mythos. In some schools of thought, shamanism -- due to its ubiquitous nature of appearing in similar form throughout many disparate world cultures -- may represent a remnant of the very earliest human perception of metaphysics.

The Cross itself is an archetypal representation of the shamanic journey from the earth plane to both the underworld and the overworld -- the vertical line -- with the axis of the horizontal arms with the vertical representing the physical plane/earth.

My own view is that the Jesus mythos drew directly from the many rich streams of mythological and metaphorical traditions already well-established in that particular geographical local at that particular time in history.

Look to the near-Eastern mythologies of Adonis/Tammuz and the Egyptian mythologies of Isis/Osiris/Horus for at least a few tantalizing clues...

sw