The truth about Jesus. Is he a myth?
The following work offers in book form the series of studies on the question of the historicity of Jesus, presented from time to time before the Independent Religious Society in Orchestra Hall. No effort has been made to change the manner of the spoken, into the more regular form of the written, word.
A PARABLE: I am today twenty-five hundred years old. I have been dead for nearly as many years. My place of birth was Athens; my grave was not far from those of Xenophon and Plato, within view of the white glory of Athens and the shimmering waters of the Aegean sea. After sleeping in my grave for many centuries I awoke suddenly — I cannot tell how nor why — and was transported by a force beyond my control to this new day and this new city. I arrived here at daybreak when the sky was still dull and drowsy. As I approached the city I heard bells ringing, and a little later I found the streets astir ^vith throngs of well-dressed people in family groups w^ending their way hither and thither* Evidently they were not going to w^ork, for they were accompanied by their children in their best clothes, and a pleasant expression was upon their faces.
This must be a day of the festival and wor-s ship, devoted to one of their gods/' I murmured to myself* Looking about me I saw a gentleman in a neat black dress, smiling, and his hand extended to me with great cordiality. He must have realized I was a stranger and wished to tender his hospitality to me. I accepted it gratefully. I clasped his hand. He pressed to mine. We gazed for a moment silently into each other's eyes. He understood my bewilderment amid my novel sur- roundings and offered to enlighten me. He explained to me the ringing of the bells and the meaning of the holiday crow^ds moving in the streets. It was Sunday — Sunday before Christmas, and the people were going to '*the House of God."
CONTENTS
PART I
A Parable 7
In Confidence 19
Is Jesus a Myth? 25
The Problem Stated 34
The Christian Documents 57
Virgin Births 69
The Origin of the Cross 'j^i
The silence of Contemporary Writers 85
The Story of Jesus a Religious Drama 93
The Jesus of Paul Not the Jesus of the
Gospels 118
Is Christianity Real? 138
PART II
Is the World Indebted to Christianity?. . . 156
Paganism and Christianity, or Ckristt/^.n-
ity Not Suited to Western Races 191
Is the World Indebted to Christianity?. . . 156
Paganism and Christianity, or Ckristt/^.n-
ity Not Suited to Western Races 191
PART III
Some Modern Opinions of Jesus 214
A Rhetorical Jesus 233
"We Owe Everything to Jesus" 241
A Liberal Jew Praises Jesus 252
Appendix — Replies to Clerical Critics 270
author. M.M. Mangasarian
: Publication Date:1909
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