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Jesus Potter Harry Christ: The Astonishing Relationship Between Two Of The World's Most Popular Literary Characters: A Historical Investigation I (2011)

by Derek S. Murphy(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0615430937 (ISBN13: 9780615430935)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Holy Blasphemy

review 1: This is certainly not an introductory text to Christian mythicism, nor an easy read. This is in part due to the large number of similar gods that preceded Jesus, as well as the difficulty in tracing aspects of Jesus back to these earlier gods. And in many ways I think the title is unfortunate; while the author makes a compelling case that Jesus is no more real than Harry Potter, the somewhat silly title doesn't really do justice to this well-researched tome. And sadly I don't think many Christians will feel compelled to read this book and do their own research; the ideophobic characteristic of some early Christians that led them to believe Jesus was a real person is only magnified in 21st century Christianity. Murphy's case that Jesus never existed is, as I said before, ve... morery strong, with arguments from reason, examples from earlier dying and rising gods, and background from a historical period that churned out these savior figures until one of them rose up (figuratively) and crushed the rest. Murphy concludes by comparing Jesus as a god to Harry Potter (guess which is better) and suggests that perhaps we are ready to move on to a newer concept of spirituality. It's good to see research like this being done, but I'm afraid the presentation and arcane nature of ancient religions will be a turn off to many potential readers (not to mention a premise that won't sit well with most people).
review 2: This book provided an informative history of how religion developed based on astronomy and astrology, as well as an inventive comparison between the literary lives of Jesus Christ and Harry Potter. The latter chapters dealt with Christian and pagan history. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and came away with much more knowledge than I had when I started reading it. I would recommend this book to those interested in history of religion and those who enjoy literary analysis. less

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