Over
the decades I have been researching the subject of the origins of
Christianity, as well as religion and mythology in general, I have come
across many astonishing facts which prompts a question. Did the
Founding Fathers study the case of Jesus Christ as a mythical figure?
There has long been the development of a history for what is called
"mythicism," which in this context specifically refers to the study of
various biblical characters, such as Jesus Christ, as mythical and not
historical figures. I was very surprised to learn that some of the most
famous early Americans may have considered Jesus Christ to have been a
myth. To wit:
"The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles...is a parody of the sun and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the Eastern world.... Every thing told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday..."
Thomas Paine, The Complete Religious and Theological Works of Thomas Paine (382)
"...the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
Thomas Jefferson, The Adams-Jefferson Letters (594)
It is a fascinating concept that some of the most famous early Americans may have considered Jesus Christ to have been a myth, but there are intriguing indications that it is true, at least in part or at certain times. In this regard appears the following astounding quote, which suggests that first and third American Presidents George Washington (1732-1799) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) were closet mythicists!
In Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country (290), an article entitled "Virginia, First and Last" states:
The English Church at an early day in the history of Virginia gained for itself general odium: it levied heavy taxes on all who did not attend the ministrations of the ingeniously dull men whom England sent to colonial pulpits; it persecuted and taxed dissent heavily; and, worst of all, it opposed the revolution bitterly and to the last. Washington himself would have incurred popular distrust had he occupied that pew in the Pohick church. The result was, that so soon as the independence was gained, the English Church sank away, and the State was overrun with all manner of orthodox dissenters. From these the leading men took refuge in scepticism. Washington even was glad to have Volney as his guest at Mount Vernon, and Jefferson occupied his Sundays at Montecello in writing letters to Paine (they are unpublished, I believe, but I have seen them), in favour of the probabilities that Christ and his twelve apostles were only personifications of the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac. If there was a believer among them all, I do not know his name.
The pertinent part of this eye-popping quote bears repeating:
"Washington even was glad to have Volney as his guest at Mount Vernon, and Jefferson occupied his Sundays at Montecello in writing letters to Paine..., in favour of the probabilities that Christ and his twelve apostles were only personifications of the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac."
The author of these revealing contentions refers to Count Volney, a famous French traveler, philosopher, writer and "Jesus mythicist" of the 18th to 19th centuries, as well as to the Anglo-American philosopher, writer and "Lost Founder" Thomas Paine (1737-1809). One must wonder if these important letters were left unpublished because they contained what might be perceived as "dangerous" information? Where are these purported letters? Do they exist, or have they been destroyed?
"The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles...is a parody of the sun and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the Eastern world.... Every thing told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday..."
Thomas Paine, The Complete Religious and Theological Works of Thomas Paine (382)
"...the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
Thomas Jefferson, The Adams-Jefferson Letters (594)
It is a fascinating concept that some of the most famous early Americans may have considered Jesus Christ to have been a myth, but there are intriguing indications that it is true, at least in part or at certain times. In this regard appears the following astounding quote, which suggests that first and third American Presidents George Washington (1732-1799) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) were closet mythicists!
In Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country (290), an article entitled "Virginia, First and Last" states:
The English Church at an early day in the history of Virginia gained for itself general odium: it levied heavy taxes on all who did not attend the ministrations of the ingeniously dull men whom England sent to colonial pulpits; it persecuted and taxed dissent heavily; and, worst of all, it opposed the revolution bitterly and to the last. Washington himself would have incurred popular distrust had he occupied that pew in the Pohick church. The result was, that so soon as the independence was gained, the English Church sank away, and the State was overrun with all manner of orthodox dissenters. From these the leading men took refuge in scepticism. Washington even was glad to have Volney as his guest at Mount Vernon, and Jefferson occupied his Sundays at Montecello in writing letters to Paine (they are unpublished, I believe, but I have seen them), in favour of the probabilities that Christ and his twelve apostles were only personifications of the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac. If there was a believer among them all, I do not know his name.
The pertinent part of this eye-popping quote bears repeating:
"Washington even was glad to have Volney as his guest at Mount Vernon, and Jefferson occupied his Sundays at Montecello in writing letters to Paine..., in favour of the probabilities that Christ and his twelve apostles were only personifications of the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac."
The author of these revealing contentions refers to Count Volney, a famous French traveler, philosopher, writer and "Jesus mythicist" of the 18th to 19th centuries, as well as to the Anglo-American philosopher, writer and "Lost Founder" Thomas Paine (1737-1809). One must wonder if these important letters were left unpublished because they contained what might be perceived as "dangerous" information? Where are these purported letters? Do they exist, or have they been destroyed?
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