The dying/resurrected god is a common motif in ANE religion, as per
http://atheism.about.com/od/ancientmytho...ng-God.htm
Whatever attributes later xtian writers ascribed to their particular godboy the genre would have been recognizable to anyone alive at the time. He was nothing new.
http://atheism.about.com/od/ancientmytho...ng-God.htm
Quote:The god Adonis is normally associated with Greek religion, but in fact Adonis is originally Lebanese: his worship is first found among the Phoenicians and Canaanites then only later imported into the Greek pantheon. Even after becoming Greek, though, Adonis always retained his basic Semitic characteristics - in particular, his role as a god who annually dies and is resurrected alongside the vegetation which comes back to life each spring.
Whatever attributes later xtian writers ascribed to their particular godboy the genre would have been recognizable to anyone alive at the time. He was nothing new.
