Well the basic idea behind the book is that the Stories attributed to Jesus predate Jesus and have existed in Mythological form in Egypt and other ancient "Mystery Cults" of the Greeks. He looks mostly at the Myths of Horus and shows how the "Miracles" said to have been performed by Jesus were also performed, almost exactly, by Horus. He compares the birth and death narratives of Jesus, Horus, Buddha and Zoroaster and shows how they are parallel each other.

Through out the book he talks a lot about the Symbolism in the Bible and how it has been taken as being literal fact- something never intended. His major sources are the researchers/writers Alvin Boyd Kuhn and Gerald Massey and Godfrey Higgins who were experts on Mythology, Religion and Ancient Egypt. (I haven't read any of their works)

His final conclusion it what has made the book controversial. He concludes that there was no Jesus at all. That he is just a retelling of other Mythological Gods and there is more evidence to prove Jesus was just made up to bring a modern feel to ancient Myth, then to prove that there was a man who in someway embodied the archetype created by Horus [and Moses].

I personally found that conclusion a little hard to swallow. Though I do not believe in the literal Jesus as the Bible says, I do believe there had to be a person whose life and ideas embodied the archetype and after his death, be it crucifixion or other, was mythified by attributing these myths already in the collective consciousness of the Culture to his life. I just don't see how a NEW myth could be created out of thin air, there needed to be a catalyst to set in motion, a person who the ideals could be attached too, whether they were actually his or not.

I found the book, Born of a Woman, by John Spong to be the most helpful in the forming of that opinion. In that book he talks in great deal about a style of Writing done by Jewish clerics called Midrash, where they did essentially what I mention. They took a story, the story of Jesus as the prime example, and as they wrote out his story they added to it pieces of information and ideas that already exist. The reason, Spong, suggests there's so much allusion back to the prophets of the Old Testament, isn't because Jesus actually fulfilled they prophecies but because the scribes would have known the prophecies and refitted Jesus' story to match.

My favourite example of this is in the Gospels. In Matthew, after Jesus is born the family flees to Egypt to escape Herod, and then return from Egypt when the threat is gone. This parallels Moses flight from Egypt and fulfills a prophecy; from Isaiah (I think) saying the Messiah will come from Egypt, or something like that. The writer of Matthew would have known that and as he was appealing the story to Jewish converts making Jesus the modern Moses would have helped his cause.

The family doesn't go to Egypt in Luke, they go to the Temple and then home. There's some more prophecies fulfilled there too, but I don't remember them. I really enjoyed that book. If you’re interested in ripping a part the literalism of the bible and looking at the symbolism, Born of a Woman is a good one. It’s only the Birth narratives though, but that’s enough to set you’re mind reeling. Another good one is the Last Week, by Marcus Borg. Again it rips to shreds the literalism of the Last Week of Jesus’ life. Both look at the symbolism behind these stories and what they mean, whether literal or not. Neither are trying to destroy or rip apart Christianity, just these literal ideas some have. In fact, for me they’re made Christianity easier to swallow, since so many of the symbols I now see parallel symbolism in other religions.

After reading the Last Week I can see the Horned God and Pagan stories of the Wheel of the year as being parallel to Jesus’ story. Dying for the people, dying for the land and being reborn for the people, for the land. Without the qualifiers am I speaking of Jesus? Or the Sun God?

Yup a reposting of a discussion from my tribes. I just like to share.