Acharya S
Dorothy Milne Murdock | |
---|---|
Born | 1961 Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | December 25, 2015 | (aged 53–54)
Pen name | Acharya S |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Education | Classics (Ancient Greece) |
Alma mater | Franklin & Marshall College |
Subject | History of religions |
Years active | 1999–2014 |
Notable works | The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (1999) |
Website | |
truthbeknown |
Dorothy Milne Murdock[1][2][3] (1961 – December 25, 2015),[4] better known by her pen names Acharya S and D. M. Murdock,[5][6] was an American internet personality and a proponent of the Christ myth theory.[7] She wrote and operated a website focused on history, religion and spirituality, and astro-theology. She argued that the Christian canon, as well as its important figures, were based on Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other myths.[8] Her theories have been poorly received by mainstream scholars.[9]
Life
Murdock was born to James Milne Murdock and Beatrice Murdock in Massachusetts and grew up in Avon, Connecticut.[4][10] She received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics, Greek Civilization, from Franklin and Marshall College, after which she spent a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece.[4][11]
She died of breast cancer that spread into her immune system and liver on December 25, 2015. Murdock had one son, Jason, and she was known as "Dori" to loved ones.[4][12][13]
Writing career
Murdock began her website, Truth Be Known, in 1995.[14]
In 1999, as Acharya S, she published her first book, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, arguing the concept of Jesus Christ and his story is a fabrication.[15]
Her 2007 book, Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ continues the theme of The Christ Conspiracy by expanding her theory questioning the historicity of Jesus, alleging "early Christian history to be largely mythical, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data."
In 2009 she released Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection and The Gospel According to Acharya S.[16]
Reception
Acharya's work has been well received by Jesus mythicists, but mostly ignored or castigated by biblical scholarship.
Writer Russ Kick, in his book You Are Being Lied To, describes The Christ Conspiracy as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion."[17] Conspiracy theorist and publisher Kenn Thomas calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity".[18]
Meanwhile, Baptist comparative religion scholar Clinton Bennett compares her views to those of radical freethinker Robert Taylor (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and Christ-mythicist John M. Robertson, and American mythographer Joseph Campbell.[19] Butler University religion professor James F. McGrath describes her viewpoint as one that "once had some currency among scholars" in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but was subsequently abandoned.[20]
Atheist activist and Christ mythicist Richard Carrier criticized her use of the inscriptions at Luxor to make the claim that the story of Jesus' birth was inspired by the Luxor story of the birth of Horus.[21] Theologian and Christ-mythicist Robert M. Price also criticized Murdock's first book,[9] while promoting her Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled,[22] and writing the foreword to her Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ.[6]
Her work has also been criticized by New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, who, in his Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth calls Murdock's The Christ Conspiracy "the breathless conspirator's dream". He says "all of Acharya's major points are in fact wrong" and her book "is filled with so many factual errors and outlandish assertions that it is hard to believe the author is serious." Taking her as representative of some other writers about the Christ myth theory, he continues "Mythicists of this ilk should not be surprised that their views are not taken seriously by real scholars, mentioned by experts in the field, or even read by them."[23]
Publications
- Murdock, D.M. (as Acharya S) (1999). The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 0-932813-74-7.
- Murdock, D.M. (as Acharya S) (2004). Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 1-931882-31-2.
- Murdock, D.M. (2007). Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-0-0.
- Murdock, D.M. (2009). Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-1-7.
- Murdock, D.M. (2009). The Gospel According to Acharya S. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-2-4.
- Murdock, D.M. (2014). Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 0-9799631-8-4.
See also
References
- ^ Picknett, Lynn; Prince, Clive (2008). The Masks of Christ. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4165-9446-8.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Lake Forest College Program in Greece & Turkey 1981 Dorothy Milne Murdock
- ^ a b c d "Dorothy Murdock". Hartford Courant. January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
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(help) - ^ Murdock, D. M. "Who is Acharya S?". Truth Be Known. Archived from the original on May 7, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b Price, Robert M. (2011) [2007]. "Foreword". In Murdock, D.M. (ed.). Who Was Jesus?: Fingerprints of the Christ. Seattle: Stellar House. pp. v–vii. ISBN 978-0-9799631-0-0.
- ^ Bennett, Clinton (2001). In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 208. ISBN 0-8264-4916-6.
- ^ "The Christ Conspiracy – Home". Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ^ a b Price, Robert M. (Summer 2001). "Aquarian Skeptic". Free Inquiry. 21 (3): 66–67.
- ^ ExChristian.net - Tribute to Mythicist D.M. Murdock, 1961-2015
- ^ Acharya S. "What Are Acharya's Credentials?". Retrieved July 1, 2008.
- ^ Barker, N.W. (December 27, 2015). "December 27th update". GiveForward. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Barker, N.W. (January 16, 2016). "Acharya S/D.M. Murdock Memoriam". Freethought Nation. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
- ^ "Welcome to the world of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock!". Truth Be Known. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
- ^ Adventure Unlimited Press, rear cover of Murdock (1999)
- ^ "The Gospel According to Acharya S". Stellar House Publishing. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Kick, Russ (2001). You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. New York: The Disinformation Company. p. 272. ISBN 0-9664100-7-6.
- ^ Thomas, Kenn (2006). Parapolitics: Conspiracy in Contemporary America. Adventures Unlimited Press. pp. 15, 127. ISBN 1-931882-55-X.
- ^ Bennett, Clinton (2001). In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 339. ISBN 0-8264-4916-6.
- ^ McGrath, James F. (November 15, 2011). "Fringe View: The World of Jesus Mythicism". The Christian Century. Vol. 128, no. 123. p. 12.
- ^ Carrier, Richard C. (2004). "Brunner's Gottkoenigs & the Nativity of Jesus: A Brief Communication". Frontline Apologetics. Archived from the original on January 23, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
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- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2012). Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 20–24. ISBN 978-0-06-208994-6. OCLC 808490374.
External links
- Official website
- Stellar House Publishing - publishing house she founded
- 1961 births
- 2015 deaths
- 20th-century American writers
- 21st-century American writers
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American women writers
- American non-fiction writers
- American School of Classical Studies at Athens
- Bible conspiracy theories
- Christ myth theory proponents
- Deaths from breast cancer
- Franklin & Marshall College alumni
- People from Avon, Connecticut
- Pseudohistorians
- Writers from Massachusetts
- Writers from Connecticut