Jesus and the Religion of the Sun
Is Jesus Connected to the World’s Oldest Religion?
There’s no escaping it. From the outset of Christianity, Jesus was often portrayed like a pagan sun god who died and rose again—just like the sun—even in the earliest Gospels.
This connects him to the ancient traditions of sun worship that saturated the world before Christ—like those found in Egypt, Persia, India, Greece, and Rome, and to the even older Religion of the Sun that lies at the root of them all.
But how did a Jewish peasant from Galilee become “the light of the world”? And importantly, did Jesus make this connection himself?
To answer these questions, we plunge into the world of historical Jesus scholarship to explore some of the most intriguing mysteries about Jesus, such as:
- Did Jesus really exist?
- What kind of Judaism did he follow—did he believe in the wrathful God of the Old Testament?
- Where was he during his “lost years”?
- Did he travel to India, Egypt, the Americas, or Britain?
- Was he an Essene? Was he an Eastern mystic?
- Was he an animal-loving vegetarian?
- What was his real message?
- Did he give secret teachings, and are these preserved in Gnostic texts?
- Is he an example of “Christ consciousness”?
- Were his miracles from divine power or magic?
- Were there secretive people helping him in his mission?
- Did he really die and resurrect? And if so, did he survive physically or spiritually?
- Is the Turin Shroud proof of Jesus’ resurrection?
Drawing on the latest in historical scholarship, the author reconstructs how the traditions of the Religion of the Sun did indeed weave their way into the very oldest records about Jesus and irreversibly impact Christianity, which preserves the memory of ancient “sun/son worship” up to this day. Through twist after turn, this inquiry leads to the unraveling of a thousands-year-old enigma.
An accessible and easy read for those wanting to explore the many spiritual mysteries about Jesus based on real historical evidence.
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Chapters
1. Introduction
2. Quest for the Historical Jesus
3. Born of God or a Roman Soldier?
4. Not One Judaism
5. Not One God
6. The Lost Years
7. The Essenes
8. The Nasaraeans and Mandaeans
9. John the Baptist
10. Vegetarian
11. Messiah
12. Son of … ?
- Son of God
- Son of Man
- Son of Light
- Son of Life
13. God’s Wisdom
- The Logos
- Jewish Wisdom
- Jesus the Wisdom Teacher
14. Secret Teaching
15. The Gnostics
16. Christ Consciousness
17. The Kingdom of God
18. Resurrection
19. The Men in White
20. Twice Born
21. Light Body
22. Turin Shroud
23. Travel Abroad?
- India
- Egypt
- The Americas
- Britain
- Conclusion
24. Healer and Exorcist
25. Magician
26. Dying and Rising Sun Gods
27. Solar Logos
28. Jesus and the Religion of the Sun
- No
- Yes
- Maybe
- The Tally
29. Conclusion
From the Book
“Many people think that you find out about Jesus by simply reading the Bible. However, the Bible is the book that was developed and adopted by just one type of Christianity among what had been many others. This type was proto-orthodox Christianity, which became the Christianity of the Roman state known as Nicene Christianity. This is the only type of Christianity that has continued since early times, and is the one which almost all denominations of Christianity today derive from. For those looking to understand Jesus from a certain theological perspective, reading the Bible to learn out about Jesus is fine. But to find out who Jesus was as a real living human being based on historical evidence is far more involved.
As so many researchers have noted, Jesus has historically been portrayed like the sun, and his life correlates with the annual path of the sun. He assumed characteristics of surrounding sun gods, and there are many practices and symbols in Christianity which are based on ancient sun worship. Popular notions abound that Jesus was some kind of yogi who learned the wisdom of India, an initiate of the Egyptian mysteries, and mystic who taught secret knowledge suppressed by the Church—notions that could connect Jesus to the Religion of the Sun’s ancient traditions. I’ve gone on a kind of personal quest to find out why this is, and importantly, whether any of it can be traced back to Jesus himself.”
~ Lara Atwood: Jesus and the Religion of the Sun
Topics Covered
- Did Jesus have a real father
- Did Jesus believe in the wrathful God of the Old Testament
- What kind of Judaism did he follow
- What is the origin of the Old Testament
- Jesus’s lost years
- Did Jesus travel to India, Egypt, Britain, or the Americas
- Was Jesus an Essene
- Was Jesus a Nasoraean
- John the Baptist
- Traces of vegetarianism/veganism among the Disciples
- Was Jesus against animal sacrifice
- Did Jesus think he was the Messiah
- Did Jesus plan his own death
- What did Jesus believe about himself
- Did Jesus think he was the Son of God
- How Jesus became the Word/Logos
- Jesus as a Jewish Wisdom teacher
- Did Jesus give secret teachings
- Pagan mysteries in the Gospels
- Who were the Gnostics
- Was Jesus a Gnostic
- The Mandaeans – the surviving ancient Gnostics
- Did Jesus have “Christ Consciousness”
- Jesus’ central message
- What did he believe about the Kingdom of God
- Does the Gospel of Thomas record Jesus’ secret sayings
- Did Jesus really die
- Did the resurrection happen
- Did people see Jesus risen physically or spiritually
- Did secretive people help Jesus
- Who were the mysterious men in white robes
- Did Jesus attain a Light Body spoken of in Tibetan Buddhism
- Why does Jesus appear in visions and NDEs
- Does the Turin Shroud prove Jesus resurrected
- Did Jesus perform miracles
- Evidence for Jesus’ practicing “magic”
- Similarities between Jesus and ancient sun gods
- Early Christian solar mysteries
- Traces of sun worship in Christianity
- Why is Jesus portrayed like the sun
- Ancient Greek and Egyptian influences on Christianity
- Jesus and the ancient concept of the solar logos
- Does Jesus symbolize a timeless reality
About the Author
Lara Atwood is an author, researcher, and practitioner of the Religion of the Sun—an ancient religion she and her husband uncovered in 2013. She has spent more than a decade researching ancient spiritual traditions, religious texts, and sacred sites from across the world. She runs the website SakroSawel.com where she presents her findings (“Sakro Sawel” means “sacred sun” in the Proto-Indo-European language).
Why We Don’t Receive Royalties
We believe spirituality is not something you can price tag, and that it should be passed onto others just as freely as it’s received. We work in the ancient and time-honored way of running on what people give voluntarily in donations alone and receive no money from the sale of this book. Its price is set to cover costs, and any excess made goes toward covering publishing costs. Find out more.
