Resurrection in History

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And of course, resurrection motifs are legion in ancient pagan stories. The Christian belief in resurrection is definitely Jewish in origin, but when it came time to market these beliefs to the Gentiles, as Paul did, they found a ready-made audience long accustomed to stories of resurrected gods and heroes. Not only are Christians not special in holding such beliefs, but modern Christians seem loathe to admit that the founders of their creed had more in common with, and were better understood by, their pagan contemporaries than by their latter day followers. No matter how retrograde this or that modern believer might be in terms of scientific or historical knowledge, he/she is still a child -- perhaps an ungrateful child -- of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, and this fact presents a gulf of understanding between the 21st Century Christian and the people they celebrate and ape that cannot be overcome without a tremendous amount of scholarly achievement. Yet they presume to speak for these people. Gullible, superstitious, and presumptuous is no way to go through life.