Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous
Review: Revealing the source of the Jesus stories in pre-existing pagan myths is worth the price of the book alone. Whether or not you choose to follow the Gnostic trail of evidence is, in my opinion, secondary. The central tenet of Christianity, death and resurrection of a hybrid man-god that offers redemption for mankind in the afterlife, is all there in Dionysis, Osiris and Mithras. This is a death-blow to literal Christianity, as it should be.This is a profusely annotated work for anyone who chooses to check the accuracy of these authors. I did, on numerous occasions and was reassured by the high degree of accuracy.
Rating:
Summary: Highly enlightening
Review: This book requires an open mind, willing to take in information not particularly complimentary to the forms of Christianity we see practiced around us.....but highly complimentary to what Christianity might have been, and still may be. The relationship of the Jesus story to the other mystery religions involving dying and resurecting god/men is well documented. There is also a very good description of how and when Gnosticism was practiced, and by whom. A thoery is advanced about how Orthodox Christianity came to become the accepted version, while Gnostic Christians were literally killed for their supposed heresy. My feeling is that what was lost to us during the formative years of what came to be known as Christianity is a tragedy.
Scotty
Rating: 
Summary: Good but is misses the mark
Review: The authors start off with the interesting thesis that Jesus Christ is actually another archetype of the dying godman prevalent in ancient mythology, just like Dionysis or Osiris. They can make a convincing case for this. But I agree with the reader above who thought that while the gospels are not biography they are based on the teachings of a real person. What probably happened is a real, though not particularly prominent, teacher was executed in Jerusalem. As his followers spread their stories about their beloved teacher, and as those stories and teachings were rejected by their fellow Jews but accepted by the surrounding Gentiles, the real teacher became conflated with the mythological dying and resurrected god/men of the Pagan mystery religions with whom the Gentiles were already familiar. In order to make their case, Freke and Gandy have to separate the historical Jesus completely from his Jewish moorings and they are not convincing at this. In order to advance their argument that Jesus was really the Pagan god/man, they try to show that his teachings were not unique to Christianity but had a lot in common with the prevailing Pagan mystery cults. They've done a lot of research and have a lot of documentation in their book to prove the point. But they totally ignore the ways that Jesus also is similar to other Jewish teachers and sages at the time. Their only quoting of the Talmud, for example, is from a secondary source who is not even Jewish. They annoyingly keep insisting that Pagans like Socrates and Plato were actually monotheists who believed the diverse Greek Gods were actually archetypes and not to be taken literally. But Plato and other philosphers were monists, not monotheists. They believed there was a divine force in everything and that the mythological gods were real emanations of the divine force - much the way modern Hindus view their gods as real, but as being emanations of one ultimate Reality that flows through everything and everyone. Hence, you can have a multitude of gods and also insist on an underlying oneness of reality. That, however, is not monotheism. Which doesn't mean it's not true - nobody has ever actually proven monotheism to be true. Freke and Gandy constantly refer to the Jewish, lesser in their opinion, god as Jehovah and assert that he is a tribal, anthropomorphic deity. They seem not to realize that Jehovah is not a proper name but is the Hebriew letters of an acronym that roughly translates as "I will be what I will be." Jews have long insisted that God is not a person but is spirit. The early Hebrews probably were primitive in their belief in a vengeful thunder god who dwelled in a mountain - just as very primitive early pagans really believed in a multitude of deities that literally had to be appeased. But by the time period that they are comparing their Pagan religious beliefs to Judaism, that was a straw dog issue. The Jewish deity of those contemporary with the philosophers was not a literal anthropomorphic deity. Indeed, he was as abstract as the ancient Pagan Absolute. Jews had long insisted that their God could not be imagined or visualized and that terms like the "face of God" or "God's hand" or any such phrases were to be understood as metaphor. Many of Jesus's teachings were not unique. They were found in Hillel and other ancient scribes. And they were found in the Pagan philosphers too. Where Freke and Gandy truly show their ignorance of ancient Judaism is when they talk about the number 666 in Revelations. They assert that the ancient Greeks practiced gematria, the art of assigning numerical value to letters of the alphabet to write in a code. The Greeks may have practiced this. But so did the ancient Jews. Biblical scholars believe that 666 in Revelations was code - but not for a Greek musical tone as Freke and Gandy assert - but that it was the coded name of a Roman emperor, either Nero or Domiclitian - either of whom to ancient Jews and Christians - was the Great Beast. They have a good and interesting thesis that what later developed into the Christian Mass and religion had some of its roots in Paganism. But it also had some roots and teachings in the Judaism of its time. I agree with their aims but wished they had made a more accurate case.
Rating: 
Summary: What the creators of Christianity were really doing
Review: This book is very easy and quick to read -- which is a feature
I always appreciate. The book essentially describes a theory
as to why Christianity was created. That is, they explain the
ancestry of the Christian faith (ie it is descended from pagan
Mystery cults). It explains what motivated the ancients to
create it and describes at a high level some of the techniques
they used in creating Christian theology. I would recommend
this book as well as the following: 1. The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark
2. Who Wrote the New Testament (Burton Mack)
3. James the Brother of Jesus (Robert Eisenman) The Jesus Mysteries completes ideas presented only hinted at
in Mack and Eisenman. I was delighted to see them fleshed out.
Rating: 
Summary: Literally hooey!
Review: Just one of the prophesied false shepards leading their sheep astray. For more accurate info, read "The Signature of God".
Rating:
Summary: The Jesus mysteries
Review: This is the most informative, authoritive, erudite, but highly readable, book detailing the beginnings of Christianity in a Pagan World that I have ever read. If you are in search of some historical facts about how, for example, the new testament was put together and how and when and why it was created, then you must read this book. It may well however be something of a shock for the committed conventional Christian. So if you want the truth then make sure that your mind can handle the truth before you open the first page. Although I would add that the authors are probably very religeous in their own way and not necessarily anti Christian. This book has answered so many questions that the church cannot or will not answer! But, it has made me view Christianity and in fact all religions in a far more sympathetic and understanding light - even though I am an atheist! One of the most important books that I have ever read in my life.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, mind-blowing stuff
Review: I was raised in a Roman Catholic/Fundamentalist family, tried as hard as I could to be a "literalist" but ALWAYS saw the Bible as mythology and felt that the Church was not something I could believe in (for the most part). Somehow, I just knew it was symbolizing something else. Reading this book has been a revelation to me. The authors present this as a THEORY and are not anti-Christian. The authors are not hateful and don't have an axe to grind. They admit that no one really knows what happened 2000 years ago. But the theories they present are impressive and they resonate in me. They make sense. When I finished this book I felt a great hope for the future. I felt that the long-lost Inner Mysteries of Christianity represent a timeless truth. This book has changed the way I think about life. Amazing.
Rating:
Summary: It was okay.
Review: I liked the idea of the book: it was a belief I had long held and was thrilled to pieces when I saw that there was some published material. This book holds some very good points and is very thought provoking...BUT, I think it could have been better researched, and alot of their "facts" were actually their theories, some of those theories were very flimsy at that. They often presented it like a novel or a work of fiction...while that might hold attention, it makes the reader wonder why they have to resort to those tactics in the first place. Get the book if you have a good historical, mythological and religious background. That will help you sort through the fact and the opinion.
Rating:
Summary: The Jesus Mysteries
Review: Simply put this is possibly one of the clearest books written on the subject of shared spiritual heratage through the centuries. Focusing on the mythalogical motifs common to Greek, Roman and Christian traditions "The Jesus Mysteries" offer an astonishing insight into the possible origins of the Christian belief.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good or as bad as other reviews would suggest
Review: A careful study of the gospels could lead anyone to conclude that they cannot be biographical, however there would seem to be no viable alternative to thinking they ultimately arise from the teachings of a real man. This book is not one of history but of comparative mythology, and sets out an interesting thesis that is difficult to dismiss. That is, that the figure of Jesus is an incarnation of the mythical dying and resurrected god figure that existed at the center of common pagan religion. But the book might be less interesting if you know how they prove this, so I won't get into the arguments. Some of its points are not surprising, and often there is no attempt to separate what are early parallels with paganism with later adoption of pagan ceremonies and dates to make Christianity more palatable. It relies heavily on certain sources deemed more reliable and also on the genuine letters of Paul. As such it can easily be dismissed by some as being selective in its evidence, and it still leaves the possibility that Jesus lived and was later equated with the pagan god. Also at times they aren't entirely convincing and occasionally make sloppy arguments and weak associations. The last fifty pages seem to be the weakest, when they attempt to reconstruct true history. Always a difficult task, but it clearly is meant as an attack on the traditional Christian histories, and is not in any way meant to be balanced (since it is always uncovering the hypocrisy and degenerate nature of the early catholic Christianity while praising the pagans and Gnostics throughout), but they are not unreligious or hostile to religion and God. The authors at least have made their point well and have done their best to provide evidence when they can, but on the very last page there is a statement that says "[the authors] are now offering lectures and seminars exploring the mystical Inner Mysteries of the ancient Pagans and the original Christians" which, together with their concluding chapter, suggests they are attempting to revive these ancient pagan rites in preparation for the age of Aquarius. Its rating derives from the book itself, plus an additional star for how compelling it was to read.
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