Wikipedia Trail: From Krishna to the Historicity of Jesus
Krishna
I used Epified - The Krishna Story this week for my reading assignment, and was rather surprised to note some of the similarities between Krishna's birth and childhood and that of the story of Jesus. This prompted me to do a little digging to figure out who today worships Krishna, and what the differences were between the two men.
Vaishnavism
As Krishna is the avatar of Vishnu, those who worship him are referred to as Vaishnavas, and believe in numerous human incarnations, including Rama, Govinda, and Jagannath alongside Krishna. The parallels in Krishna's life to that of the biblical story of Jesus brought me to Kersey Graves' book, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, boasting of no less than 346 parallels between the life of Jesus and Krishna.
The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors
Messiah-types from Egypt, India, Nepal, Syria, Persia, and Rome are just a few of the locations. The biggest takeaway from this book (without reading it, mind you) is that ultimately the mythologies of the Jews and the Greeks are fundamentally similar, which then raises the question of what is historically accurate?
Historicity of Jesus
There are several facts supplied here, and the literature, archaeological studies, and locations referenced all agree that Jesus in fact was born, did exist, and was crucified, leaving behind disciples who were then persecuted. There was a nifty little blurb talking about the history of the Christ myth theory, which argues that his entire existence was fabricated, but that has fallen out of fashion these days. Still, lots of food for thought.
I used Epified - The Krishna Story this week for my reading assignment, and was rather surprised to note some of the similarities between Krishna's birth and childhood and that of the story of Jesus. This prompted me to do a little digging to figure out who today worships Krishna, and what the differences were between the two men.
Vaishnavism
As Krishna is the avatar of Vishnu, those who worship him are referred to as Vaishnavas, and believe in numerous human incarnations, including Rama, Govinda, and Jagannath alongside Krishna. The parallels in Krishna's life to that of the biblical story of Jesus brought me to Kersey Graves' book, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, boasting of no less than 346 parallels between the life of Jesus and Krishna.
The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors
Messiah-types from Egypt, India, Nepal, Syria, Persia, and Rome are just a few of the locations. The biggest takeaway from this book (without reading it, mind you) is that ultimately the mythologies of the Jews and the Greeks are fundamentally similar, which then raises the question of what is historically accurate?
Historicity of Jesus
There are several facts supplied here, and the literature, archaeological studies, and locations referenced all agree that Jesus in fact was born, did exist, and was crucified, leaving behind disciples who were then persecuted. There was a nifty little blurb talking about the history of the Christ myth theory, which argues that his entire existence was fabricated, but that has fallen out of fashion these days. Still, lots of food for thought.
Composite Jesus
"In the 21st century, the third quest for the historical Jesus witnessed a fragmentation of the scholarly portraits of Jesus."
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
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