The Mysteries of Mithras: The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World

I decided to purchase this book as I'm currently writing a research paper on the relationship between Christianity and the mystery religions. I was hoping this book might shed some light on the relationship between Christianity and Mithraism while I was severely disappointed. I will outline some of the problems with this book below.1. Trying to connect Paul with MithraismAn old effort going back to the 19th century history of religions school. Also a favorite tactic of Muslim apologists who let their ideological bias let them examine the data. This view has been discredited for many years but nevertheless it is being resurrected here. Sadly, some of the "connections" he tries to show linking Paul with Mithraic thought appear to be highly speculative and wishful thinking. Nabarz tried to connect Paul's image of the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-17 with the notion that Paul was "growing up in a city of spiritual warriors of Mithras". He tries to explain that, "This attitude is far away from the nonviolent teaching of Christ in both a spiritual and physical sense". While I'm no theologian, I'm a history student this seems like a highly strained and speculative interpretation of Pauline thought. Paul explains in Ephesians 6:10-17 that the armor is symbolic of resisting evil. Earlier in this same epistle he speaks of "walking in the way of love" (Ephesians 5:1-2). I find it rather strange that Nabarz would try to paint Paul as a preacher of a violent ideology.2. More Nonsense about Paul and Ignorance about Oral HistoryThe author also spends a little bit of time regurgitating old arguments that "scholars" that believe Christ was mythical have advanced. Paul never knew Jesus and he receieved his revelations from a vision. Yes, this is true but he also neglects the 1 Cor 15 creed which is dated very early and Paul says he receieved from the early believers. The author seems to think , "The only original Apostles he met were Peter and James. His meeting with them only lasted fifteen days, and occurred after three years of preaching!" is some sort of trump card. Failing to mention the incident in Gal 2:11-14. Paul openly admits to critizcing a major figure in early Christianity for his own hypocrisy. Something he wouldn't want to do if he was trying to cloak Mithraic ideas into Christianity. Also these were two of the biggest figures in early Christianity. He fails to mention the significance of oral tradition and history in 1st century Palestine and the allusions of Jesus in Paul's letters along with his reference to the Lord's supper. Many of these allusions in Paul's letters are close in content to Q the document used by Matthew and Luke. While it is usually thought that Paul preached a very high view of Jesus evidence for this is scarce. While he may have disagreed with Peter and James they did agree on a lot of things about the new faith. The claim that Paul departed from the teachings of Jesus and incorporated Mithraic ideas is bogus, absurd and is not accepted by historians for good reasons.3. False parallelsI'm sure many of us are tired of hearing that the birthdate of December 25th as a birthdate is proof that Jesus was copied from pagan deities. This has been addressed many times, it is not stated in the Gospels when Jesus was born but claiming this is a parallel is nonsense. It is also claimed that Mithras was born of a virgin. Manfred Clauss and others have explained that Mithras was born from a rock. This is hardly similar to the virgin birth of Christ. Also a huge dependence on Franz Cumont and James Frazer and their outdated ideas would be like someone citing F.C Bauer and pretending his works are still important today. Important works in their own time but not taken seriously today.

Well-written historical book. The author writes clearly and succinctly. He offers copious footnotes and references. I found it very useful in understanding the historical roots of Mithraism and its influence on not just Christianity, but other religions as well. I was not, however, interested in learning the Mithraic liturgy and religious practices so I stopped reading around page 105.

Service prompt & item as described. Will use again it the best review to give!

This was a very informative book about faith of Mithras. The faith of Mithras is one the religion which may have influence on Zoroastrian faith, and the Zoroastrian doctrines may influenced Judaism, Christianity, as well as, Islam.This author began to explore and explain the meaning behind ritual of Mithraism, and how those ritual were incorporated in Sufism, and Christianity. The faith of Mithraism also had impact on Iran's ancient calendar.The author stated one interesting idea that why Iranian women in a Muslim state had a higher position compare to other Muslim nation? It was because Iranian believed in Anahita, saint Fatimeh and there color was green which is in Iran's flag. Iran and Italy shared same color on flag because they share same faith which was Mithra.Take a moment, read the book from author's window, and enjoy it.

A very good book but it needs more. Perhaps go more into depth about the ancient Iranian god Mihr. I could not get enough. It still fills a gap in this really interesting topic so for that thank you Payam Nabarz.

If you think you know all about how the Christian religion got started, read this. Well written and eye opening.

I read this book during my quest for the source of religious beliefs, as in Christianity. There are many traditions in Mithraism that mirror Xianity, if it is not the source of; for example the holidays like December 25 and Easter come from the birthday of Mithra. Mithra was the son of God, born as a human to help us out here. Plus he's a very cool guy. I am not conveying this correctly, you have to read the book. Something very interesting: Mithra comes from the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia, or Iran if you will. Apparently the Jews got many ideas from there when they were in Babylon, as slaves. Think about it.

This book offers an excellent introduction into the modern resurgence of this religion and its practices.Scholastically however, it is found wanting by not relating the body of work to the title. If one is looking for the relationship between Mithraism and Christianity evidence will not be found here. There is reference to many parallels and similarities but this is not evidence that Mithraism shaped Christianity.

I bought this book to get a better understanding of the history of the Mithra cult in the Persian empire as well as in the Roman, the similarities, the influence from the Iranian Mithra on the Roman and the implications on Christianity. I was deeply disappointed by the content of this book, which is definitely not a scientific/ historical, but rather an esoteric book about the initiations rites around ‚Neo-Mithraism' and a lot of personal interpretations by the author, sometimes with references to websites and in rare occasions to proper scientific books. There is a big mismatch between the title and the content of this book. Not a recommendation!

good read

excellent book,well researched

Good

Exceptionally interesting book especially about why the Roman Empire actually fell! Can easily be taken on holiday as a fact finding book.