The Problem With Finding Egyptian Parallels to Christianity

There is an attraction about ancient Egypt for many people. I know that visiting Egypt and seeing the pyramids and tombs is on my bucket list.

There is something very mysterious about ancient Egypt and so it is natural that Jesus Mythicists to look there for parallels. They claim to find those parallels, suggesting that we could read their stories and see Jesus on every page.

But there is a big problem.

What do we mean by Egyptian religion? From what period? Do people realize how wide a range of history we are talking about?

Let me put things in perspective. The pyramids were already about 1200 years old when Tutankhamen was pharaoh. There was even more time than that between Tutankhamen and the birth of Jesus. And Plutarch, the Greek writer, whose account of Isis and Osiris that many rely on, was later than Jesus. Check out this timeline.

So what Mythicists do is take one part from a tomb inscription, one part from an Egyptian text and another from a Greek writer, combine it and find a supposed parallel.

When you have about 3000 years of history, a wide range of ethnic groups and languages, we would expect you could piece together pretty much anything you would want.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t look for parallels. But proper procedure would be to compare with one text, from a one place and time period. Ignoring cultural and chronological contexts is not the way to go.