Jesus Puzzle: Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Critiqued:

“Most of our sources come from the period of the second century CE or later”-Earl Doherty

Doherty wrote: “Other mysteries were also very ancient. The cult of the god Dionysus (Roman Bacchus, god of wine and of fertility generally) was originally conducted by women and involved notorious orgiastic rites. These included a cultic meal at which raw meat and wine were consumed-the body and blood (power) of the god. The myth of Dionysus tells of his murder and resurrection and of his birth to a virgin goddess in a cave. Underlying the Dionysian myth was the concept that divine forces resided in both the natural world and humans, which gave promise of an afterlife” (TJP:113).

It is a shame that Doherty did not provide a note informing the reader about the source of this information.
Each of the points mentioned above will be addressed individually.
In response to Doherty’s statement that “these included a cultic meal at which raw meat and wine were consumed-the body and blood (power) of the god”:

“Nowhere in all the sources does the idea appear that the devout partook of the flesh of the god for their own benefit. To be sure, we do hear of initiates who, in mentioning the rites of consecration through which they became “bakkoi” (Greek), also name the ‘meal of raw flesh.’ There is nothing, however, in the sources which suggest that the body of the god is meant here. Consequently Wilamowitz, too, with his respect for the Greek sources, ridicules this presumptuous hypothesis: ‘That they [the frenzied women] thought they were eating the god or divine food is only a modern assumption. They also suckle fawns” (DMAC:132).

Doherty wrote: “The myth of Dionysus tells of his murder and resurrection…” (TJP:113). and later Doherty wrote: “…this being a later Dionysos who has since been resurrected by Zeus” (TJP:114).

New Testament scholar Everett Ferguson wrote: “Neither Dionysus nor the initiates were thought of as rising from the dead. Rather, the mysteries removed anxiety about death by depicting life in the other world as a Dionysus revel” (BOEC:248).
Walter Burkert wrote: “There is a dimension of death in all of the mystery initiations, but the concept of rebirth or resurrection of either gods or mystai is anything but explicit” (AMC:75).

Doherty continued: “….and of his birth to a virgin goddess in a cave” (TJP:113).

Dionysus’ birth cannot be considered to be a genuine account of a birth to a virgin goddess.
Walter Burkert wrote the following: “The birth (of Dionysus) myth, which was localized in Thebes, belongs in the same complex. Here once again normality is turned into its opposite: Zeus loves Semele, the daughter of Kadmoas-and consumes her with his thunderbolt; the rescued child completes its period of gestation in Zeus’ thigh, a male womb, and is born a second time from the thigh. Hermes carries the divine infant to the nymphs or maenads in a mysterious, far-off place called Nysa where Dionysus grows up, later to return filled with divine power” (GR:165).

Doherty wrote: “Another prominent cult was that of the Great Mother Cybele from Asia Minor. She later acquired a lover, Attis, whom myth castrated to explain the practice of the priests of Cybele who in fits of ecstasy rendered themselves eunuchs. Much interpretation has gone into the public rites of Attis and Cybele, celebrated in a spring festival spread over many days. Reminiscent of the Christian Passion week, the death of Attis was mourned on one day, followed by an interim period of fasting and self-punishment. (Compare the Christian Lent.) Then came a ceremony which some used to interpret as symbolizing the resurrection of Attis; more recent opinion denies any concept of physical resurrection on the part of the god” (TJP:114).

Earl Doherty is correct in that more recent opinion denies any concept of physical resurrection of Attis.
Walter Burkert wrote: “There is no evidence for a resurrection of Attis; even Osiris remains with the dead; and if Peresphone returns to this world every year, a joyous event for gods and men, the initiates do not follow her” (AMC:75).

Doherty continued: “Whatever the mythical details, later Christian commentators show that the rites did symbolize a sharing in some kind of triumph of the deity. The Christian Firmicus of the fourth century CE is much quoted for his preservation of the Attis cult’s formula: ‘Be consoled, O initiates, for the god is delivered; therefore we too shall have deliverance from our troubles.’ This may or may not have referred to resurrection” (TJP:114).

Doherty wrote: “The Persian light-god Mithras was originally regarded as a mediator between Ahura-Mazda (the Persian high god) and humanity, and he aided the ascent of the human soul to heaven after death. He was born on the 25 th of December, had a miraculous birth out of a rock (some say in a cave) at which shepherds offered worship, and was to raise the dead and judge mankind at the end of the world. He did not undergo any suffering and death, and his salvific act involved the slaying of a bull, whose blood and marrow gave rise to the earth’s bounty of food and drink. Mithraism, with its baptism and cultic meal, was a major competitor to Christianity among the mysteries during the second and third centuries CE” (TJP:115).

The key phrase from the quote above is: “…during the second and third centuries CE.”

Doherty wrote: “We cannot say with any certainty that Paul and the early Christians formulated their doctrine with an eye on the mysteries…” (TJP:116).

Doherty is absolutely correct, regarding this point. Elsewhere in The Jesus Puzzle Doherty wrote: “Most of our sources come from the period of the second century CE or later” (TJP:115).

New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman sums up the entire issue about the Mystery Religions very well: “Recent scholarship, however, has been less inclined to call Christianity a mystery cult, or to claim that it simply borrowed its characteristic ideas and practices from previously existing religions. In part this is because we do not know very much about what happened during the mystery rituals, especially in the period when Christianity began. For example, did they typically partake of a meal, commemorating the death of their savior god? We simply don’t know” (TNT:34).