Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Compelling Essay on the Pagan Influences that helped form Christianity
And did Dr. King see our current interpretation of Jesus and his teachings as merely a passing stage of humanity's spiritual progress?
A Powerful Changemaker
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was perhaps the most important individual of the 20th Century, and his accomplishments on behalf of all mankind are likely still far beyond what we can fully comprehend.
Dr. King’s peaceful protests, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, were met with violent opposition by the white authorities of his day. But his dedication to a peaceful movement resulted in widespread public support for the ideas and goals he and his followers sought to advance.
Dr. King’s leadership of the civil rights movement “ultimately achieved victories with the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.” Dr. King was later able to expand “his focus and began speaking out against the Vietnam War and economic issues, calling for a bill of rights for all Americans.”1
A Well Trained Theologian
Dr. King was the pastor of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1954 to 1960, and this is where his activism for equality began. Prior to that King was a student at Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania.
After Crozer King went on to his graduate studies at Boston University where he was mentored by Howard Thurman, who had a deep influence on King. Thurman’s recounting of meetings with Gandhi would be the inspiration for King’s commitment to nonviolent protests, which proved so effective in winning public support for the Civil Rights cause.
As a trained and well educated Christian minister it would make sense that King would explore the history and influences that helped form the traditions of his faith. And he did just that in at least one essay, titled "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity" written in the winter of 1949-50.
King’s paper brings insight to the cultural factors that helped form and shape Christianity, many of which might be quite surprising to readers.
The Cult of Attis and Cybele
Dr King begins his study with the comparison between the Roman cult of Attis and Cybele, and Jesus and his mother Mary. He opens with background on Attis and Cybele:
Attis was the Good Shepherd, the son of Cybele, the Great Mother, who gave birth to him without union with mortal man, as in the story of the virgin Mary. According to the myth, Attis died, either slain by another or by his own hand. At the death of Attis, Cybele mourned vehemently until he arose to life again in the springtime. The central theme of the myth was the triumph of Attis over death, and the participant in the rites of the cult undoubtedly believed that his attachment to the victorious deity would insure a similar triumph in his life.
Dr. King goes on to share details celebrating the death and resurrection of Attis in the Spring of the year:
…at this same Attis festival on March 22nd, an effigy of the god was fastened to the trunk of a pine tree, Attis thus being “slain and hanged on a tree.” This effigy was later buried in a tomb. On March 24th, known as the Day of Blood, the High Priest, impersonating Attic, drew blood from him arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself. It is this fact that immediately brings to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “But Christ being come an High Priest … neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood … obtained eternal redemption for us.” Now to get back to the festival. That night the priests went back to the tomb and found it empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicing. During this great celebration a sacramental meal of some kind was taken, and initiates were baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be “born again.”
Dr. King then points out that the sanctuary in Rome where these ritual celebrations of Attis’s death and resurrection once took place stood in the same spot where the Christian church of St. Peter stands today.
Adonis
From here King moves on to Adonis, the mortal lover of the Aphrodite, who was killed and later raised from the dead and turned into a god.
Another popular religion which influenced the thought of early Christians was the worship of Adonis. As is commonly known Antioch was one of the earliest seats of Christianity. It was in this city that there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Adonis. This faith had always exerted its influence on Jewish thought, so much so that the prophet Ezekiel found it necessary to scold the women of Jerusalem for weeping for the dead Tammuz (Adonis) at the very gate of the temple. When we come to Christian thought the influence seems even greater, for even the place at Bethlehem selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus was none other than an early shrine of this pagan god—a fact that led many to confuse Adonis with Jesus Christ.
King goes on to share the resurrection and ascension story of Adonis:
It was believed that this god suffered a cruel death, after which he descended into hell, rose again, and then ascended into Heaven. Each following {year} there was a great festival in commemoration of his resurrection, and the very words, “The Lord is risen,” were probably used. The festival ended with the celebration of his ascension in the sight of his worshippers.
Other Pagan Influences on Christian Tradition
The essay then covers the influence of the Egyptian deities Osiris and Isis on early non-Biblical church traditions such as the Catholic elevation of Mary and the Feast of the Assumption. King then covers the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries and Mithraism on early Christianity.
The Religion of Tomorrow
Just as any religion or faith that arises in the next few decades or centuries will be influenced by the beliefs and culture of the period that births it, King lays out how this occurred within early Christianity.
He is not alone in this view, as any pastor who attended seminary will have had to study similar topics and write similar papers. It remains a puzzle though as to why this topic reaches so few congregations of those pastors. Likely because it would only take a few sermons of this sort to thin the pews for good, weakening the current low consciousness Christianity that dominates the West and opening a door for something new.
I believe Dr. King saw this outcome as a real possibility, as evidenced by the final lines of his essay:
The staggering question that now arises is, what will be the next stage of man’s religious progress? Is Christianity the crowning achievement in the development of religious thought or will there be another religion more advanced?
King is asking if our current interpretation of Jesus and his teachings is merely a passing stage of humanity's spiritual progress, leaving room for something better.
It’s a rhetorical question and anyone with a full grasp of history already knows the answer, as I’m certain King knew as well.
If you’d like to read Dr. King’s full essay, along with many of his other writings, check out The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I: Called to Serve.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Compelling Essay on the Pagan Influences that helped form Christianity
King was one of the main reasons I became an American Baptist back in the 1970’s. I admired his ability to incorporate other teachings into his ministry, gleaning the good wherever he found it. His intellectual honesty was a great challenge to all of us! Thank you for sharing his work with us!