A Quick Survey of Jesus Copycat Claims: Examining the Pagan Christ Myth

Through films such as Zeitgeist and books by such popular authors as Tom Harpur, D. M. Murdock, and the duo of Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, the thesis that Jesus never existed but was a copy of earlier pagan gods has entered mainstream popular thought. While not taken seriously by scholars, this bit of misinformation has become standard fare among conspiracy theorists and a source of confusion in the popular culture at large. In a series of books, Albert McIlhenny will give a thorough critique of the whole "copycat thesis" idea. In A Quick Survey of Jesus Copycat Claims: Examining the Pagan Christ Myth, the first book in the series, McIlhenny gives an outline of some of the most popular versions of these theories and a short explanation of some of their most obvious flaws. The treatment in this first book will be expanded upon in future books in the series when he treats each of the theories individually in detail.