Q. It appears that mythicists have not read Jonathan Z. Smith, and do not realize that there is no unambiguous evidence for the historical argument that ancients believed in dying and rising gods before the time of Jesus, and that therefore the story of Jesus is just a historicized version of that myth.   Why do you think this theory of dying and rising gods became so popular in the 20th century, and what caused its scholarly demise?  Was there new evidence that Smith and others unearthed, or just closer reasoning about the existing evidence?  

A.   Yes, for a long time it was widely thought that dying and rising gods were a constant staple of ancient pagan religions, so that when Christians claimed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, they were simply borrowing a common “motif” from pagan religions.   This view was first popularized by Sir James George Frazer at the beginning of the twentieth century….

FOR THE REST OF THIS RESPONSE, go to the Members Site.  If you don’t belong yet, JOIN!!