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{{short description|American Christ myth theorist (1960–2015)}}
'''Acharya S''' is the ] of '''D. Murdock'''. A proponent of the ], she has authored two books and operates a website called . Her contention is that all religion is founded in earlier myth and that the characters depicted in Christianity are the result of the plagiarizing of those myths to unify the ]. Aspects of her work are controversial and disputed by some scholars and lay public.
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Dorothy Milne Murdock
| image = DM Murdock.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Publicity photo of Murdock
| pseudonym = Acharya S
| birth_date = {{start date|1960|03|27|}}
| birth_place = ], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|12|25|1960|03|27|}}
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| alma_mater = ]
| period =
| subject = ]
| notableworks = ''The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold'' (1999), ''Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver'' (2014)
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active = 1995–2014
| website = {{URL|http://truthbeknown.com/}}
}}


'''Dorothy Milne Murdock'''<ref>{{cite book |title=The Masks of Christ |first1=Lynn |last1=Picknett |first2=Clive |last2=Prince |year=2008 |page= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4165-9446-8 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics |first=Mark W. |last=Foreman |editor1-first=Paul |editor1-last=Copan |editor2-first=William Lane |editor2-last=Craig |chapter=Challenging the ''Zeitgeist'' Movie: Parallelomania on Steroids |publisher=B&H Publishing |location=Nashville, Tennessee |year=2012 |name-list-style=amp |isbn=978-1-4336-7220-0 |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://campus.lakeforest.edu/academics/greece/Partic-OtherSchools.html|title=Participants-Other Schools|website=campus.lakeforest.edu|access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref> (March 27, 1960&nbsp;– December 25, 2015),<ref name="CourantObit">{{cite news |title=Dorothy Murdock |date=January 24, 2016 |newspaper=] |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hartfordcourant/obituary.aspx?pid=177367841 |access-date=March 27, 2016}}</ref> better known by her ] '''Acharya S''' and '''D. M. Murdock''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://truthbeknown.com/author.htm |title=Who is Acharya S? |author=Murdock, D. M. |website=Truth Be Known |access-date=January 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202505/http://truthbeknown.com/author.htm |archive-date=May 11, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="priceforeword">{{cite book |first=Robert M. |last=Price |author-link=Robert M. Price |chapter=Foreword |title=Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ |editor-first=D.M. |editor-last=Murdock |publisher=Stellar House |location=Seattle |year=2011 |orig-year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9799631-0-0 |pages=v–vii}}</ref> was an American writer supporting the ], which asserts that ] never existed as a historical person, but was rather a mingling of various pre-Christian myths, ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |first=Clinton |last=Bennett |author-link=Clinton Bennett |title=In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images |location=London |publisher=] |year=2001 |isbn=0-8264-4916-6 |page=208}}</ref>
==Books==
In 1999, Acharya published ''The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold''. The book is based on development and expansion of an essay from her website, ''''. ''Christ Conspiracy'' argues the concept of ] as myth, and states that the Christ story is a fabrication based on earlier ] mythology.


She wrote and operated a website focused on history, religion and spirituality, and ]. She asserted the pre-Christian civilizations understood their myths as allegorical, but Christians obliterated evidence by destroying or suppressing literature after they attained control of the ], leading to widespread ] in the ], ensuring the mythical origins of Jesus's story was hidden. She argued the ] canon, as well as its important figures, were based on Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other cultures' ]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truthbeknown.com/christ.htm |title=The Christ Conspiracy&nbsp;– Home |access-date=September 11, 2009 |archive-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511221356/http://truthbeknown.com/christ.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Her theories are not accepted by mainstream historians, ], and archaeologists, however have been promoted by scholars such as ], a fellow of the ], and prominently featured in the 2005 documentary '']''.
A follow-up book, ''Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled'', was published in 2004. In ''Suns of God'', she comments on the ] story of the life of ], as well as the life of ] (Siddhartha Gautama). She claims parallels to the life of Jesus, presenting this as evidence that the story of Jesus was written based on existing stories, and not the life of a real man. ''Suns of God'' also seeks to address some of the criticisms leveled at ''Christ Conspiracy''.


==Life==
==Claims about Christianity==
Murdock was born to James Milne Murdock and Beatrice Murdock in ], and grew up in ].<ref name="CourantObit" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://new.exchristian.net/2016/01/tribute-to-mythicist-dm-murdock-1961.html|title=Tribute to Mythicist D.M. Murdock, 1961-2015|last=ExChristian.Net|date=January 10, 2016 |access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref> She received a ] degree in ] and Greek Civilization from ], then spent a year at the ], Greece.<ref name="CourantObit" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truthbeknown.com/credentials.html |title=What Are Acharya's Credentials? |author=Acharya S |access-date=July 1, 2008}}</ref> She had one son.


She died of liver cancer on December 25, 2015. She was known as "Dori" to her loved ones.<ref name="CourantObit" /><ref>{{cite web|last1=Barker |first1=N.W. |title=December 27th update |url=https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/lsn9/u/updates/138747 |publisher=GiveForward |access-date=December 31, 2015 |date=December 27, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107075320/https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/lsn9/u/updates/138747 |archive-date=January 7, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Barker|first1=N.W.|title=Acharya S/D.M. Murdock Memoriam|url=http://freethoughtnation.com/acharya-sd-m-murdock-memoriam/|publisher=Freethought Nation|access-date=March 12, 2017|date=January 16, 2016|archive-date=February 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222222620/http://freethoughtnation.com/acharya-sd-m-murdock-memoriam/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Acharya denies the ], describing the New Testament as a work of ] fiction with an historical setting. The story of Christ, she maintains, is actually a retelling of various ] myths, all of which represent "astro-theology" or the ]. She asserts that the pagans understood these stories to be myths but that Christians obliterated evidence to the contrary through the destruction and control of literature once they attained control of the Roman Empire.


==Writing career==
This purportedly led to widespread illiteracy in the ancient world and ensured that the mythical nature of Christ's story was hidden. Scholars of other sects continued to oppose the historicizing of a mythological figure. Where no evidence exists, Acharya claims that this is because the arguments were destroyed by Christians. However, Christians preserved these contentions, she states, through their own refutations.
Murdock began her website, ''Truth Be Known'', in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truthbeknown.com/ |title=Welcome to the world of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock! |website=Truth Be Known |access-date=December 26, 2015}}</ref> 1999, as Acharya S, she published her first book, ''The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold'', arguing the ] story is a fabrication.<ref name="cover">Adventure Unlimited Press, rear cover of Murdock (1999)</ref> Her 2007 book, ''Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ'' continues the theme of ''The Christ Conspiracy'' by expanding her theory questioning the ], alleging "early Christian history to be largely myth, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data." In 2009, she released ''Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection'' and ''The Gospel According to Acharya S''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Gospel According to Acharya S |url=http://stellarhousepublishing.com/gospel.html |publisher=Stellar House Publishing |access-date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716134319/http://stellarhousepublishing.com/gospel.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


Murdock also wrote refutations of ] theories, asserting they "may be prompted by the same type of motivation that produced the ], a chronicle largely consisting of the plagiarized myths of other cultures" re-fashioned as 'fact' concerning purported legend-based characterizations, and may be driven by the attempt to validate biblical myth as historical under a different 'interpretation'."<ref>{{cite news |last=Murdock |first=Dorothy Milne |date=6 January 2014 |title=Who are the Anunnaki? |website=Truth Be Known |url=http://www.truthbeknown.com/anunnaki.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=March 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919200912/http://www.truthbeknown.com/anunnaki.htm |archive-date=September 19, 2012}}</ref>
Acharya compares Jesus' history to that of other "saviour gods" such as ], ], ], ], ], and ]&mdash;claiming that the similarities result from a common source: the myth of the sun-god or ].


==Reception==
In ''"The Christ Conspiracy"'' she describes this theory, noting for instance the ] parallels between the story of Christ, and the story of the solar deity: ''"The sun 'dies' for three days at the winter solstice, to be born again or resurrected on December 25th"'', and ''"The sun enters into each sign of the zodiac at 30 ; hence, the 'Sun of God' begins his ministry at 'age' 30."''
Murdock's work received strong criticism from New Testament scholars and historians of early Christians. Agnostic ] scholar ] wrote in his '']'' that "all of Acharya's major points are in fact wrong" and her book "is filled with so many factual errors and outlandish assertions that it is hard to believe the author is serious". Taking her as representative of some other writers about the Christ myth theory, he continues "Mythicists of this ilk should not be surprised that their views are not taken seriously by real scholars, mentioned by experts in the field, or even read by them".<ref name="Ehrman2">{{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|title=Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2012|isbn=978-0-06-208994-6|location=New York|pages=20–24|oclc=808490374|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman}}</ref>

==Claims about other religions==

Acharya S is highly critical of certain aspects of ], in particular ]. She writes online about the possible creation of a ] ] which would impose the ]:

<blockquote>If the Hassidic Jewish Movement has its way, the so-called Noahide Laws would be followed to the letter, as would many others found in the "Old Testament," prescribing capital punishment for abortion, euthanasia and "sexual deviation" such as adultery and homosexuality. The punishment, in fact, for breaking any of the Noahide Laws is decapitation
.</blockquote>

In another online essay, she quotes allegations by conspiracy researcher Mae Brussell that the ] smuggled ] to ] "for future use when it would attempt to obtain ] and single world government.... The rumor was... that the Mormon Church had arranged to assist ] in bringing off ]." Her criticisms have also been directed against ] and ].

==Critiques: Pro and Con==

], historian and author and also a proponent of the view that the ] accounts are borrowed from pagan sources, wrote:

:"Acharya S has done a superb job in bringing together this rich panoply of ancient world mythology and culture, and presenting it in a comprehensive and compelling fashion."

], American feminist author, wrote:
:" is a well-crafted, thought-provoking work that belongs in the library of every thinking individual. It should be read by every person concerned about the moral, ethical, and spiritual aspects of our culture; it should be read particularly by those who profess belief in any of the numerous varieties of Christianity."

], the 1984 Libertarian Presidential Candidate and author of "Libertarianism in One Lesson," wrote an Amazon review of the follow-up book "Suns of God":
"In Suns of God, Acharya S has given us a deeply researched background of and explanation for the religions that dominate the world and that have dominated human thinking for thousands of years. I found it, not only illuminating, but uplifting. It gave me cause for hope that widespread knowledge of what religions have in common will cause humankind to pause and think twice when the next set of extremists calls for a holy war."


], an editor at "disinformation" wrote:

"The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999) is an explosive book which dares to scholarly analyze the Gospels' depiction of Jesus Christ with pre-existing religious rituals and mystery schools. Comparing Christ to Mithras, Heracles/Hercules, Dionysus, Krishna and Horus (The Younger), Acharya reveals the mythopoeic Cultural Scripts at the heart of the world's major monotheistic religions. What sets Acharya's research apart is her attention to detail and footnoting. The resulting book that has attracted praise from ], ] and ] amongst others."

], author of "You Are Being Lied To" wrote:

:"Acharya brings in secular history, church history, archaeology, theology, mythology, linguistics, and other disciplines to provide plenty of backing for her theses. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion.

:"Quote: Christian father Origen, called 'the most accomplished biblical scholar of the early church,' admitted the allegorical and esoteric nature of the Bible: 'The Scriptures were of little use to those who understood them literally, as they were written.'"

From ] EBTX review:

:"I suppose that some people will declare this to be a rant ... but it is most definitely not. I know what a rant is. I make them on occasions. This book is 99.7% scholarly and 0.3% rant, i.e. a few genuine rant paragraphs."

], a professor of Theology and another proponent of the Christ-myth hypothesis, is nevertheless critical of Acharya's writing:

Writing at second hand, she is too quick to state as bald-faced fact what turn out to be, once one chases down her sources, either wild speculations or complex inferences from a chain of complicated data open to many interpretations.

Acharya subsequently wrote a to Price's review.

In Kenneth Humphreys' extensive list of authors and books supporting the idea that ''Jesus Never Existed'' he includes:
:"D. Murdock (aka 'Acharya S') 1999, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold. 2004, Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled. Adds a astro-theological dimension to christ-myth demolition. Murdock identifies JC as a composite deity used to unify the Roman Empire. "

A number of ] have criticised Acharya's work. ] has presented a of ''Christ Conspiracy'', replacing an earlier essay titled , to which Acharya wrote a .

Apologist Mike Licona of the ] has also presented which was subsequently by Acharya, to which Licona wrote .

==Acharya's Views on Spirituality==

Someone asked Acharya on her discussion group about her views on
spirituality:
"Acharya, have you ever considered writing about YOUR spirituality? Laying it all on the line ... revealing your very soul? So you think that christianity is where it's NOT; well, where IS the action? What/who is god? Energy, force, power, intelligence, ... ?"

Acharya responded as follows:
***Thanks for the interest and query. I do believe my soul is revealed in bits and pieces at least throughout my writing. Possibly at this moment, the most concise writing in this regard is "The Gospel According to Acharya S," which can be found at:
***Briefly, I do not believe there is a single, male God in charge of the cosmos, but I do CHOOSE to experience an awe of creation whenever I can. For example, I walk through the woods, and the flora and fauna rejuvenates me. I climb a mountain, and the sight takes my breath away.
***Do I believe in an afterlife? I stay away from the term "believe," as it can be rather irrelevant. If I believed there was a Cosmic Porcupine, would my mere belief make it so? I HOPE there are afterlives of a wide variety, because the Christian heaven would be my hell, etc. I hope my mother and father are still alive somewhere "out there." Ditto with all lost loved ones.
***Do I have any concrete proof of such wishes? Of course not. Do I feel like there is something indestructible about us? Yes, I do, but its definition is capricious. It could merely be the molecules of our bodies. It could also be our experiences passed onto others. And, it could be something more "soulful."

==Life==


Emeritus Professor of New Testament Languages and Literature at the ] ] criticized her work for "her anti-Christian outlook, a lack of any proper sense of reality, failure to give adequate references, inability to interpret primary sources correctly, and dependence on inaccurate out-of-date secondary sources rather than primary evidence."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Casey|first1=Maurice|title=Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths?|date=2014|publisher=T&T Clark|isbn=978-0567447623|pages=288}}</ref>
Acharya S is ] in archaeology, history, mythology and languages. Her formal training includes a ] degree in ], Greek Civilization, from ]. She also attended the ] in Greece.


Baptist comparative religion scholar ] compares her views to those of radical freethinker ] (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and Christ-mythicist ], and American mythographer ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Clinton|title=In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images|publisher=]|year=2001|isbn=0-8264-4916-6|location=London|page=339|author-link=Clinton Bennett}}</ref> ] religion professor ] describes her viewpoint as one that "once had some currency among scholars" in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but was subsequently abandoned.<ref name="mcgrath2">{{cite news|last=McGrath|first=James F.|date=November 15, 2011|title=Fringe View: The World of Jesus Mythicism|volume=128|page=12|work=]|issue=123}}</ref>
She is a fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, a division of the ].


The book received mixed reviews among conspiracy theorists and supporters of the Christ myth theory. Writer ], in his book ''You Are Being Lied To'', describes ''The Christ Conspiracy'' as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion".<ref>{{cite book |first=Russ |last=Kick |author-link=Russ Kick |title=You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths |url=https://archive.org/details/You_Are_Being_Lied_To_-_The_Disinformation_Guide_to_Media_Distortion_Historical_ |location=New York |publisher=] |year=2001 |isbn=0-9664100-7-6 |page=}}</ref> Conspiracy theorist and publisher ] calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity".<ref>{{cite book |first=Kenn |last=Thomas |author-link=Kenn Thomas |title=Parapolitics: Conspiracy in Contemporary America |publisher=] |year=2006 |isbn=1-931882-55-X |pages=15, 127}}</ref>
While preserving her privacy, she been interviewed on a variety of radio stations. In an interview she said she came from a moderate Christian background. Though not traumatic or "Fundamentalist", she described it as "boring" and said she ceased attending church regularly at age 12.


Atheist activist and Christ mythicist ] criticized her use of the inscriptions at Luxor to make the claim that the story of Jesus' birth was inspired by the Luxor story of the birth of ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/Luxor_Inscription.html |title=Brunner's Gottkoenigs & the Nativity of Jesus: A Brief Communication |first=Richard C. |last=Carrier |author-link=Richard Carrier |year=2004 |publisher=Frontline Apologetics |access-date=December 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123093556/http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/Luxor_Inscription.html |archive-date=January 23, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Theologian and Christ-mythicist ] also criticized Murdock's first book,<ref name="Price 66–67">{{cite journal |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |title=Aquarian Skeptic |journal=] |date=Summer 2001 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=66–67 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-10515613_ITM}}</ref> while promoting her ''Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled'' in ''The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts'',<ref>p. 1179</ref> and writing the foreword to her ''Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ''.<ref name="priceforeword" />
Her inspiration for exploring the ] theory was reportedly Joseph Wheless's book ''Forgery in Christianity''. She then read other works, such as ]' '']'', and Barbara Walker's ''The Woman's Encyclopaedia of Myth and Secrets''.


==External links== ==Publications==
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. (as Acharya S) |title=The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold |location=Kempton, Illinois |publisher=] |year=1999 |isbn=0-932813-74-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/christconspiracy00sach }}
==== Acharya S' web site====
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. (as Acharya S) |title=Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled |location=Kempton, Illinois |publisher=Adventures Unlimited Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-931882-31-2}}
*
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. |title=Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ |publisher=Stellar House Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9799631-0-0}}
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. |title=Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection |publisher=Stellar House Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-9799631-1-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. |title=The Gospel According to Acharya S |publisher=Stellar House Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-9799631-2-4}}
*{{cite book |last1=Murdock |first1=D.M. |last2=Joseph |first2=Peter |title=The Zeitgeist Sourcebook - Part 1: The Greatest Story Ever Told |year=2011 |url=http://www.stellarhousepublishing.com/zeitgeistsourcebook.pdf |access-date=February 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728010710/http://stellarhousepublishing.com/zeitgeistsourcebook.pdf |archive-date=July 28, 2019 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=D.M. |title=Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver |publisher=Stellar House Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-9799631-8-6}}


==== Interviews ==== ==See also==
* ]
*


==References==
*
{{reflist}}


== External links ==
*
<!-- Per ], choose one official website only -->
* {{Official website|http://www.truthbeknown.com/}}


{{Christ myth theory|state=expanded}}


{{Authority control}}
==== Reviews ====
*, see ]
*
*
* by Joan d'Arc
*
*
*


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Latest revision as of 09:24, 16 December 2024

American Christ myth theorist (1960–2015)

Dorothy Milne Murdock
Publicity photo of MurdockPublicity photo of Murdock
BornMarch 27, 1960 (1960-03-27)
Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedDecember 25, 2015(2015-12-25) (aged 55)
Pen nameAcharya S
Alma materFranklin & Marshall College
SubjectHistory of religions
Years active1995–2014
Notable worksThe Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (1999), Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver (2014)
Website
truthbeknown.com

Dorothy Milne Murdock (March 27, 1960 – December 25, 2015), better known by her pen names Acharya S and D. M. Murdock, was an American writer supporting the Christ myth theory, which asserts that Jesus never existed as a historical person, but was rather a mingling of various pre-Christian myths, solar deities and dying-and-rising deities.

She wrote and operated a website focused on history, religion and spirituality, and astro-theology. She asserted the pre-Christian civilizations understood their myths as allegorical, but Christians obliterated evidence by destroying or suppressing literature after they attained control of the Roman Empire, leading to widespread illiteracy in the ancient world, ensuring the mythical origins of Jesus's story was hidden. She argued the Christian canon, as well as its important figures, were based on Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other cultures' myths. Her theories are not accepted by mainstream historians, textual critics, and archaeologists, however have been promoted by scholars such as Robert M. Price, a fellow of the Jesus Project, and prominently featured in the 2005 documentary The God Who Wasn't There.

Life

Murdock was born to James Milne Murdock and Beatrice Murdock in Massachusetts, and grew up in Avon, Connecticut. She received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics and Greek Civilization from Franklin and Marshall College, then spent a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece. She had one son.

She died of liver cancer on December 25, 2015. She was known as "Dori" to her loved ones.

Writing career

Murdock began her website, Truth Be Known, in 1995. 1999, as Acharya S, she published her first book, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, arguing the Jesus story is a fabrication. Her 2007 book, Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ continues the theme of The Christ Conspiracy by expanding her theory questioning the historicity of Jesus, alleging "early Christian history to be largely myth, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data." In 2009, she released Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection and The Gospel According to Acharya S.

Murdock also wrote refutations of ancient astronauts theories, asserting they "may be prompted by the same type of motivation that produced the Bible, a chronicle largely consisting of the plagiarized myths of other cultures" re-fashioned as 'fact' concerning purported legend-based characterizations, and may be driven by the attempt to validate biblical myth as historical under a different 'interpretation'."

Reception

Murdock's work received strong criticism from New Testament scholars and historians of early Christians. Agnostic New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman wrote in his Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth that "all of Acharya's major points are in fact wrong" and her book "is filled with so many factual errors and outlandish assertions that it is hard to believe the author is serious". Taking her as representative of some other writers about the Christ myth theory, he continues "Mythicists of this ilk should not be surprised that their views are not taken seriously by real scholars, mentioned by experts in the field, or even read by them".

Emeritus Professor of New Testament Languages and Literature at the University of Nottingham Maurice Casey criticized her work for "her anti-Christian outlook, a lack of any proper sense of reality, failure to give adequate references, inability to interpret primary sources correctly, and dependence on inaccurate out-of-date secondary sources rather than primary evidence."

Baptist comparative religion scholar Clinton Bennett compares her views to those of radical freethinker Robert Taylor (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and Christ-mythicist John M. Robertson, and American mythographer Joseph Campbell. Butler University religion professor James F. McGrath describes her viewpoint as one that "once had some currency among scholars" in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but was subsequently abandoned.

The book received mixed reviews among conspiracy theorists and supporters of the Christ myth theory. Writer Russ Kick, in his book You Are Being Lied To, describes The Christ Conspiracy as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion". Conspiracy theorist and publisher Kenn Thomas calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity".

Atheist activist and Christ mythicist Richard Carrier criticized her use of the inscriptions at Luxor to make the claim that the story of Jesus' birth was inspired by the Luxor story of the birth of Horus. Theologian and Christ-mythicist Robert M. Price also criticized Murdock's first book, while promoting her Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled in The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts, and writing the foreword to her Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ.

Publications

See also

References

  1. Picknett, Lynn & Prince, Clive (2008). The Masks of Christ. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4165-9446-8.
  2. Foreman, Mark W. (2012). "Challenging the Zeitgeist Movie: Parallelomania on Steroids". In Copan, Paul & Craig, William Lane (eds.). Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4336-7220-0.
  3. "Participants-Other Schools". campus.lakeforest.edu. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
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  5. Murdock, D. M. "Who is Acharya S?". Truth Be Known. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
  6. ^ Price, Robert M. (2011) . "Foreword". In Murdock, D.M. (ed.). Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ. Seattle: Stellar House. pp. v–vii. ISBN 978-0-9799631-0-0.
  7. Bennett, Clinton (2001). In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 208. ISBN 0-8264-4916-6.
  8. "The Christ Conspiracy – Home". Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  9. ExChristian.Net (January 10, 2016). "Tribute to Mythicist D.M. Murdock, 1961-2015". Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  10. Acharya S. "What Are Acharya's Credentials?". Retrieved July 1, 2008.
  11. Barker, N.W. (December 27, 2015). "December 27th update". GiveForward. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
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  13. "Welcome to the world of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock!". Truth Be Known. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  14. Adventure Unlimited Press, rear cover of Murdock (1999)
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  16. Murdock, Dorothy Milne (January 6, 2014). "Who are the Anunnaki?". Truth Be Known. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  17. Ehrman, Bart D. (2012). Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 20–24. ISBN 978-0-06-208994-6. OCLC 808490374.
  18. Casey, Maurice (2014). Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths?. T&T Clark. p. 288. ISBN 978-0567447623.
  19. Bennett, Clinton (2001). In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 339. ISBN 0-8264-4916-6.
  20. McGrath, James F. (November 15, 2011). "Fringe View: The World of Jesus Mythicism". The Christian Century. Vol. 128, no. 123. p. 12.
  21. Kick, Russ (2001). You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. New York: The Disinformation Company. p. 272. ISBN 0-9664100-7-6.
  22. Thomas, Kenn (2006). Parapolitics: Conspiracy in Contemporary America. Adventures Unlimited Press. pp. 15, 127. ISBN 1-931882-55-X.
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  24. Price, Robert M. (Summer 2001). "Aquarian Skeptic". Free Inquiry. 21 (3): 66–67.
  25. p. 1179

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