The Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy [Hardcover]

Burton Mack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

This book traces Burton Mack's intellectual evolution, from a creative analyst of ancient texts, to a scholar searching for the motives and interests of Jesus's followers who composed those texts, and for the social logic of "the Christian myths" they created. Mack rejects depictions of Jesus that have emerged from the quest for the "historical Jesus"--peasant teacher, revolutionary leader, mystical visionary or miracle-working prophet--on the grounds that they are based on a priori assumptions about Jesus, and are therefore contradictory. In addition, he argues, these portrayals are untrue to the many images of Jesus produced by the early Christians. Using systematic analysis, Mack seeks to describe and understand the cultural and anthropological influences on the conception and adoption of Christian myths and rituals.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is Mack at his best--thoughtful and sometimes brilliant; articulate and sometimes eloquent; persuasive and sometimes provocative and disturbing. The agenda and focus of the Christian Origins project that this book announces and begins to model are compelling. This study of Christian myth-making has the potential to help a new generation and demographic of New Testament and Early Christianity scholars make sustained creative connections to other fields and discourses. For those who have long needed encouragement to leave behind the 'merely' theological-historical antiquarianist orientation of New Testament studies, Mack's book should be considered a welcome beacon and roadmap, signalling one dramatic way outward."--Vincent L. Wimbush

"Mack lucidly presents a complex argument to scholars and general readers alike. Moreover, his care in outlining his project opens a window on the research process. Some may find Mack's critique unsettling, but being unsettling in the study of religion 'may finally be worthwhile.'"--Booklist

"Must Read"--Today's Books

"His book reminds the church that the New Testament is a book one needs to learn how to read, and that the extravagant claims of Christianity are not honoured when accompanied by cultural imperialism. And faith in the person of Jesus is a precarious and astonishing gift - not a self-evident truth to be read off the page of the Gospels."
--Church Times 11/10/02


"This is a well researched and documented study of Christian origins....this is a book that theological libraries should have."
--Catholic Library World, 7/02

About the Author

Burton L. Mack, Emeritus Professor of Early Christianity at the Claremont School of Theology, is the author of A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins; The Lost Gospel: Q and Christian Origins; and Who Wrote the New Testament: The Making of the Christian Myth.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Continuum; First Edition edition (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826413552
• ISBN-13: 978-0826413550
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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117 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique approach by a gifted scholar., February 11, 2002

By 

reason (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy (Hardcover)

Burton Mack, who also authored "Who Wrote The New Testament", has attempted neither to find the historical Jesus nor to reinterpret the new testament based on any newly found exegetical clues. Instead Mack has taken on, in this latest work, the daunting task of explaining the social structure of the world in which the new testament was written and how it affected and influenced its writers. Accordingly, Mack takes into account the general influence of the disruption to society by the rise of the Greek and Roman empires, and specifically the influence of the destruction of the Jewish Temple State. These factors, Mack asserts, led to a social need to invent an entirely new theology that could compete in the pagan Roman world of late antiquity, and at the same time accrue to itself the extensive history of the Jews and their religion. It was a daring enterprise that would in time embrace nearly all of europe and the americas, and would, starting with Constantine's endorsement, systematically bury any competing theologies or theosophies where it resided.

Using modern anthropological and social psychology insights as a backdrop, along with his own extensive professional knowledge of the new testament, Mack succeeds in devising a very credible explanation of a mythology that was capable of raising an obscure Jewish sect into a world-changing power and, as Mack points out, that power is still very much in evidence when one considers the popularity of such phenomena as creationism
in modern day america. To that I would add the remarkable staying power of fundamentalism in the face of modern biblical scholarship

If you enjoy reading painstakingly detailed and extemely well researched books about biblical origins, Burton Mack's "The Christian Myth" will be hard for you to put down.

79 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The process of myth making, February 28, 2005

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy (Hardcover)

In a serious examination of the dominant mythology in our society, Mack warns his readers at the outset that they face three serious challenges. First, the notion that one source accounts entirely for Christian origins must be dismissed. Second, a new theory of religion, one based on social situations must be launched. This theory must take into account the conditions in which Christian origins emerged. Third, and most difficult to address, is the need to contemplate the "two millennium sweep of Christianity and into the 21st century". This triplet means shedding the self-reflexive approach that has dominated biblical scholarship for 1700 years. We need, he says, to understand the process of social formation and myth making that underlay the foundation of building a church. Scholars must abandon the "notions of divine intervention miracle" which is such a significant source of how Christians view the world. Instead, the same academic rigour shown in investigations of other mythologies must be applied to the Christian one.

A major element long omitted from Christian origins scholarship is the upheavals Eastern Mediterranean society endured. The Jews, never victorious in wars and subjected to incessant invasions and exiles, were amenable to a healer's voice. Jesus, who probably lived, became the focus of scattered and disparate groups of "students" recording, discussing and distributing his teachings. Essential to understanding Christian origins are the documents known as the "Q" teachings. These may have survived for a time as a collection, but incorporated into the Synoptic Gospels in various ways. Fundamental in this process, Mack proposes, is the redefinition of society found in these writings. The redefinition uses four devices to accomplish its goal. He calls them the "Building Blocks of a Monocratic Mythology".

The one god. Since single ancestral gods are almost a human universal, the transformation of one of these into one, absolute and uncompromising, deity was a major innovation. While the Jews had adopted, and sometimes cast aside, a variety of deities in their history, the writers of the Synoptic gospels declared such indulgent practices unacceptable. Now, using the figure of Jesus as an instrument to lever a local concept into a global one - a new, absolute divinity acting as a canopy over all people. This approach set off the expansion of intolerance unfinished today. Mack declares this monocratic method "audacious" in scope.

In order to further the idea of restructuring society as a divine manifestation, the gospel narratives added the fictions of miracles and resurrection to the earlier "Q" teachings. By building on widely known stories of "kings' sons" performing prodigious feats, the gospel writers display their knowledge of their intended audiences. Nothing truly innovative was introduced beyond the idea that this god and his son were actually one. The one being the universal deity, however, placed it in a position of universal judge of all humanity. Mack finds the amalgamation and use of miracles as "proof" a "fantastic" stroke of creative writing.

As the various Jesus groups debated just what Jesus said, and what those sayings meant, they exchanged ideas among the neighbouring ones. These "schools of Jesus", which crossed the recognised cultural boundaries of the Near East, became "communities" of commonly-held views. Having moved "outside" their traditional allegiances, these communities generated a new "superstate". As the gospel narratives were circulated among its "citizens" a new social structure, which Mack labels "imperious" emerged within the Roman Imperium.

Finally, and to Mack clearly a major consideration, the bible narratives became the tool for completing the social restructuring. It became, he says, "an epic charter" by rewriting history while redefining society. The Jewish bible was transformed into a collection of forecasts of Jesus arrival. At the same time it condemned the Jews for not reading the signals. This allowed the Jesus movement to abandon its Jewish roots and embrace the Gentile community. The use of textual form granted credibility to this approach. Christian writers were then able to define history to suit their agenda. By declaring their history the only true one, they used this fiction as a bludgeon for conversion. Mack's assessment of this technique as "arrogant" is impossible to refute.

At this point, Mack narrows his audience to citizens of his own country. How does the myth building process of Christianity apply to people of the United States? He provides a brief swift summary of expressions of the bits of the Christian myth. This is followed by how it has been applied there. Tracing its roots is difficult, since the Enlightenment, not Christianity, is usually seen as the more significant influence. Mack contends the Enlightenment idea was "reconceptualised" by the North Americans, incorporating long-established traditions into the new communities from the outset. Thus, Christianity was considered an essential element in North American society as it expanded. Public policy is declared, whether or not the assertion is valid, as grounded in "Christian principles". Mack exposes the fallacies in that declaration, from the theft of the land from indigenous peoples through the hypocrisies of slavery to "manifest destiny". Mack concludes with the warning that the Christian call for conversion and obedience is invalid in today's "multiethnic, multicultural world". It's a caution that needs wide expression and acceptance. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Created in Man's Image, March 24, 2007

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The Spinozanator "Spinozanator" (Harlingen, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christian Myth: Origins, Logic, and Legacy (Paperback)

In Mack's view, religions are systems of myth and ritual that (1) create an world apart from reality, (2) exaggerate the figures and activities of those that occupy this imaginary world, (3) emphasize the power of these imaginary agents.

I was immediately reminded of Pascal Boyer's "Religion Explained:" Every religion has these common features: (1) A supernatural agent who takes a specific ontologic form (animal, tree, human, etc.) (2) There is something memorably different about this agent (the animal talks, the tree records conversations, the human is born of a virgin) which is an ontologic violation. (3) This agent knows strategic information and can use it for or against you.

I also like the definition from Scott Atran's "In Gods We Trust:" Religion is (1) a community's costly and hard-to-fake commitment (2) to a counterfactual and counterintuitive world of supernatural agent(s) (3) who master peoples' existential anxieties, such as death and deception (4) leading to ritualistic and rhythmic co-ordination of 1, 2, and 3; such as communion.

The usual Biblical scholar wants to approach Christian origins with the familiar understanding of the "Jesus Story," the tale of a Godly intervention on earth. Mack prefers a cultural anthropologist's approach: that the same critical analysis tools used in studying any other religion or socio-cultural phenomenon should be used on Christianity. The Christian apologist may pretend to begin this way, but somehow the Jesus story becomes "too exceptional" and is exempted from routine scrutiny.

Humans are essentially social. Creating semi-permanent networks and hierarchies of interaction is what people do. The developing culture is dynamic but fragile, requiring extensive and ongoing negotiations, becoming quite complex in the process. This is hard work, creates as many tensions as rewards, and is more than just a strategy for survival.

For centuries after Alexander the Great, throughout the Greco-Roman world, cultures were in disarray. The conquerors were tolerant to religions but brought in Greek culture, (frequently mercenary) Roman soldiers, collected taxes, and delivered swift justice. There was tumultuous social change at all levels of society. Many religious movements formed all over the region. Perhaps early Christians were so impressed with their investment in new social formation, they invented a mythology to justify their efforts. Why not? Almost all other societies have done so.

But the story grew to fantastic proportions - extravagant. Explanations and rationalizations eventually ended with a God so mysterious, mere humans were incapable of perceiving the wisdom behind the developing theology. The competitive factions were eventually forced to consolidate and even lifted the Old Testament from the Jews in the process. They explained, "It was really a story about Jesus in the first place, but the disobedient Jews refused to see it."

Can social theory really account for Christian origins? Apparently, yes. Mack has been working toward this socio-cultural theory with a group of seminar colleagues for several years. This book is a collection of earlier papers and lectures delivered within the scope of that seminar. Their goal: (1) a wide-angle lens view focused on the many ways people responded to the Greco-Roman Age (2) a theory of formation of early Christian religion derived from social theory.

I'll be looking for results from this seminar. Mack's is a unique perspective that I found fascinating.

Criticism: Long and unnecessarily complex sentences, but doable. Seems to be written with the fellow professional in mind. First five chapters better than the last three.