From: Acharya S <acharya_s@...>
Date: Sat May 7, 2005 10:32 am
Subject: Fwd: Comment and question acharya_s
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Hi there -
Some "Berserker" is obsessively trashing my work on the board:
http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-afterlife-knowledge/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=a\
fterlife_knowledge;action=display;num=1114608160
If any of you kind listers would like to go there and straighten thisguy out, please do so. I don't have the time or inclination to spend on him. The first thing you could point out is that it seems he hasn't
read "Suns of God," which addresses practically all of these shallow criticisms. Another thing is that he spends a great deal of time denigrating me with ad hominems, rather than addressing the facts I
bring up, which is a sign of intellectual weakness. He also has to fall back on the "nobody believes her" argument, which is like "everyone believes Jesus was a real person." A non-argument. His
claim that the first century Palestinian Jews could not know about all these characters is ridiculously ignorant of the vast intercourse of the time between cultures. Gee, there was this HUGE library collected at Alexandria, with books from around the known world. Alexander had thoroughly opened up the lines of communication to India three centuries previously. Also, I don't address the "Palestinian" Jews so much as the Alexandrian Jews and others of the Diaspora (does this know-it-all know about the Diaspora?) Are you trying to tell me that
Jews of Alexandria--who made up about 50% of the population of that city--never went into the library there or attended the university?
It's ridiculous. The other of this smart aleck's arguments can be as easily refuted.
Regardless of the anal nitpicking, the fact will remain that Jesus Christ appears nowhere in the contemporary historical record, despite the repeated claim in the New Testament that he was widely famed. The fact will also remain that much of the gospel story was already in existence long before the Christian era, in bits and pieces, before it was amalgamated into the Christ myth. Also, the sayings that supposedly distinguish a "real guy" were in existence--and can be found in pre-Christian texts--long before Jesus supposedly lived. There is nothing new under this sun (god). Jesus Christ is a mythical character. You can rail against me until the veins pop out of your neck, but nothing will change that fact.......
From my previous BCC to you, perhaps you can tell that I can readily demolish this persons "arguments," which are shallow indeed. Talk about sloppy research! He seems to have gone nowhere further than encyclopedias for his "expertise!"
Do feel free to join my discussion groups, as in the "to" line of the message I bcc'ed to you. In any event, I would heartily recommend that you read "Suns of God," which handily deals with and refutes all of these infantile criticisms. Naturally, I haven't heard from the likes of Price and Licona--perhaps they have eggs on their faces, but I doubt
it, because their egos and arrogance are too big.
My pen name is not "pretentious." I took it mainly because WESTERN WOMEN could never be called "Acharya," as that is a spiritual title reserved for the pious Hindu priests. This angry, ranting berserker cannot understand humor, obviously. Nor does he realize that his reaction to my pseudonym is precisely when I took it.
Again, Suns of God shows that this fool's hostile ranting is completely erroneous
http://www.truthbeknown.com/sunsofgod.htm Not only is there an outstanding quote by a REAL SCHOLAR, Barbara Walker, who makes Robert Price look like a peon, but there are some pertinent excerpts.
One of the world's leading mythologists, a bestselling author, Barbara Walker, had the following to say about Suns of God:
I received your Suns of God… What a magnificent work! I do wish you had a major publisher who would promote it as The Da Vinci Code was promoted, to convince the world about the true fishiness of Christian mythology. But of course Dan Brown threw in some action-suspense-murder stuff, which is apparently what sells books these days, and his scholarship was nowhere near the quality of yours.
You deserve to be recognized as a leading researcher and an expert in the field of comparative mythology, on a par with James Frazer or Robert Graves--indeed, superior to those forerunners in the frankness of your conclusions and the volume of your evidence.
Seldom have I read a book that so delighted me, and had me nodding in agreement on every page. It is truly wonderful. It gives me hope that some day, maybe, the civilized world may grow out of its superstitious adolescence.
Heartfelt wishes and hopes for your success.
Barbara Walker
Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Women's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects
The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power, Restoring the Goddess: Equal Rites for Modern Women