Acharya S

Dorothy Milne Murdock[1][2][3] (March 27, 1960 – December 25, 2015),[4] better known by her pen names Acharya S and D. M. Murdock,[5][6] was an American author and proponent of the Christ myth theory.[7] She wrote books and operated a website named Truth Be Known. She claimed that Christianity is founded on earlier myths and the characters depicted in Christianity are based upon Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other myths.[8] Her theories have received negative commentaries from academic scholars.[9]

Life

Murdock was born to James Milne Murdock and Beatrice Murdock in Massachusetts and grew up in Avon, Connecticut.[4][10] She received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics, Greek Civilization, from Franklin and Marshall College, after which she spent a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece.[4][11] She died of breast cancer on December 25, 2015.[4][12]

Writing career

Murdock began her website, Truth Be Known, in 1995.[13]

In 1999, as Acharya S, she published her first book, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, arguing the concept of Jesus Christ as myth. She states the Christ story is a fabrication.[14]

Her 2007 book, Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ continues the theme of The Christ Conspiracy by expanding her theory questioning the historical validity of Jesus Christ alleging "early Christian history to be largely mythical, 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.[15]

Reception

In his book You Are Being Lied To, Russ Kick describes The Christ Conspiracy as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion."[16] In a book on American conspiracy theorists, Kenn Thomas calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity".[17]

In his book In Search of Jesus, Baptist comparative religion scholar Clinton Bennett describes her views as being similar to those of radical freethinker Robert Taylor (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and fellow Christ mythicist John M. Robertson, and American mythographer Joseph Campbell.[18] In an article for The Christian Century, 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.[19]

Acharya S was criticized by Joel McDurmon, in part for the premise that Jesus was based on ancient sun gods because of the modern English homophones son and sun.[20] Atheist activist and fellow 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.[21] Acharya S produced a rejoinder to Carrier's critique in which she describes the importance of the ancient Egyptian narratives of the birth of gods such as the one described at Luxor, the connections that existed between Egypt and the ancient Hebrew people and asks "[C]ould the creators of Christianity really have been oblivious to them?"[22] Theologian Robert M. Price, who is sympathetic to the Christ myth hypothesis, wrote a critical review of Murdock's first book.[9] However, he subsequently promoted her book Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled in The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts,[23] and wrote the foreword to Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ.[6]

In his book Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman discusses The Christ Conspiracy, which he calls "the breathless conspirator's dream". Ehrman says "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 generalizes that "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."[24] As a rebuttal of Ehrman's critiques, Price, Carrier, Murdock, and others, published the book Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth in 2013.[25]

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. ↑ Lake Forest College Program in Greece & Turkey 1981 Dorothy Milne Murdock
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Dorothy Murdock". Hartford Courant. January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Murdock, D. M. "Who is Acharya S?". Truth Be Known. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
  6. 1 2 Price, Robert M. (2011) [2007]. "Foreword". In Murdock, D.M. 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". Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  9. 1 2 Price, Robert M. (Summer 2001). "Aquarian Skeptic". Free Inquiry 21 (3): 66–67.
  10. ↑ ExChristian.net - Tribute to Mythicist D.M. Murdock, 1961-2015
  11. ↑ Acharya S. "What Are Acharya's Credentials?". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2008.
  12. ↑ Barker, N.W. (December 27, 2015). "December 27th update". GiveForward. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  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)
  15. ↑ "The Gospel According to Acharya S". Stellar House Publishing. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ Thomas, Kenn (2006). Parapolitics: Conspiracy in Contemporary America. Adventures Unlimited Press. pp. 15, 127. ISBN 1-931882-55-X.
  18. ↑ Bennett, Clinton (2001). In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 339. ISBN 0-8264-4916-6.
  19. ↑ McGrath, James F. (November 15, 2011). "Fringe View: The World of Jesus Mythicism". The Christian Century 128 (123). p. 12.
  20. ↑ McDurmon, Joel (2008). Zeitgeist: The Movie Exposed: Is Jesus an Astrological Myth?. Powder Springs, Georgia: American Vision. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0-915815-92-0.
  21. ↑ Carrier, Richard C. (2004). "Brunner's Gottkoenigs & the Nativity of Jesus: A Brief Communication". Frontline Apologetics. Archived from the original on January 23, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  22. ↑ Murdock, D.M. "The Nativity Scene of Amenhotep III at Luxor". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  23. ↑ p. 1179
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ Richard, Carrier (2013). Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist?. American Atheist Press. ISBN 978-1578840199.

External links

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