The Jesus Mysteries : Was The "original Jesus" ... May 2026

: They followed up with Jesus and the Lost Goddess , which focuses on Christian mysticism and the "Aeon of Wisdom", and The Laughing Jesus .

: Freke and Gandy claim the Jesus story parallels myths of "Osiris-Dionysus"—god-men who were born of virgins, turned water into wine, and rose from the dead. The Jesus mysteries : was the "original Jesus" ...

While the book became a popular sensation, it is widely criticized or dismissed by mainstream academic historians. : They followed up with Jesus and the

The book by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy (published in 1999) presents a provocative "Jesus Mysteries Thesis". It argues that the Jesus of the New Testament was not a historical person but a mythical figure created by Jewish "Gnostics" who adapted ancient Pagan myths. Core Argument: The "Jesus Mysteries Thesis" The book by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy

: For a defense of the historical Jesus, retailers like Penguin Random House or Strand Book Store offer the book, while scholars like Bart Ehrman (in Did Jesus Exist? ) provide counter-arguments to the mythicist position.

The authors contend that early Christianity was essentially a Jewish adaptation of the ancient .

: The book suggests that "Literalist" Christians later took these allegories as historical facts and brutally suppressed the original Gnostic "True Christians". Critical Reception and Scholarship