In 2007, a documentary called Zeitgeist made waves across the internet. Directed by Peter Joseph, the film presented a provocative thesis in its opening segment, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”: that Christianity is not a historical faith rooted in real events, but rather a sophisticated plagiarism—a religious collage assembled from ancient pagan myths and astrological allegories, designed to control the masses.
The claims were bold. The presentation was slick. And for many viewers, the implications were devastating.
Why This Series?
Over the past several years, I have had numerous conversations with people who have encountered Zeitgeist and found its claims compelling—or at least deeply troubling. Friends, acquaintances, and even strangers online have raised questions directly inspired by the film’s assertions. “Did you know Jesus is just a copy of Horus?” “The Bible is just astrology, right?” “There’s no historical evidence for Jesus outside the Bible.”
Perhaps most memorably, my own uncle—a thoughtful man who takes ideas seriously—reached out after watching the documentary. He was genuinely alarmed. The film’s confident presentation of “facts” about Christianity’s pagan origins had shaken him. If these claims were true, what did that mean for the faith he had known his whole life?
That conversation stuck with me. Not because the claims were new to me—scholars have addressed these arguments for decades—but because of how effectively the film packaged them for a general audience. Zeitgeist didn’t invent these theories. But it made them accessible, shareable, and seemingly irrefutable to viewers who had never encountered the underlying scholarship (or lack thereof).
This series is my response. Not a defensive reaction, but a careful examination. We will look at what the film actually claims, trace those claims to their sources, and evaluate them against the historical and textual evidence. My goal is not to “win” an argument but to pursue truth—and to help others do the same.
The Claims We Will Examine
Zeitgeist Part I makes several interconnected claims. For clarity, I have organized them into four major categories. Each will receive dedicated treatment in upcoming articles.
Claim 1: Jesus Christ Is a Solar Deity
The film argues that Jesus is not a historical person but a personification of the Sun. According to this view:
- The twelve disciples represent the twelve constellations of the zodiac.
- The Virgin Mary corresponds to the constellation Virgo.
- The “star in the east” is actually Sirius, which aligns with Orion’s Belt (the “Three Kings”) to point toward the sunrise on December 25th.
- Jesus’ death and resurrection symbolize the winter solstice—when the Sun “dies” at its lowest point, remains stationary for three days near the Southern Cross constellation, and then “rises” again as daylight increases.
Claim 2: Christianity Is Plagiarized from Pagan Mythology
Zeitgeist presents a list of pre-Christian deities who allegedly share Jesus’ attributes:
- Horus (Egypt, c. 3000 BC): Born December 25th to a virgin, had twelve disciples, performed miracles, was crucified, and rose from the dead.
- Attis (Phrygia), Krishna (India), Dionysus (Greece), Mithra (Persia): All claimed to share similar birth narratives, miracle-working, and resurrection stories.
- Old Testament parallels: The film also asserts that Noah’s flood was copied from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Moses’ story was borrowed from Sargon of Akkad, and the Ten Commandments were taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Claim 3: The Bible Is Astrological Allegory
According to Zeitgeist, biblical narratives encode astronomical information about the precession of the equinoxes:
- Moses destroying the golden calf represents the transition from the Age of Taurus to the Age of Aries.
- Jesus as a fisherman and the ichthys symbol represent the Age of Pisces.
- The “end of the world” is a mistranslation of “end of the age”—referring to the coming Age of Aquarius, not an apocalyptic event.
Claim 4: Christianity Was Manufactured for Political Control
The film concludes that the “historical Jesus” was invented to consolidate Roman power:
- Despite numerous historians in the first-century Mediterranean, none documented Jesus’ life or miracles.
- References by Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius are dismissed as forgeries, interpolations, or references merely to the title “Christ.”
- The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD is presented as the moment when Christianity was politically codified, leading to centuries of “religious bloodshed and spiritual fraud.”
What This Series Will Do
In the articles that follow, we will examine each of these claims on its own terms. We will ask:
- What are the actual sources? Where do these claims originate, and what do scholars in relevant fields say about them?
- What does the historical evidence show? How do these claims hold up against Egyptian, Greek, Persian, and Jewish primary sources?
- What are the methodological problems? Are the comparisons fair? Are the parallels genuine, or do they depend on selective quotation and anachronistic interpretation?
- What does this mean for Christian faith? If some claims are partially true, how should Christians respond? If they are false, why do they persist?
I want to be clear about my approach. I write as a Christian. I believe the gospel accounts describe real events—that Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and rose from the dead in first-century Palestine. But I do not ask you to accept that on my authority. I ask only that you consider the evidence carefully. If Zeitgeist is right, that matters. If it is wrong, that matters too.
Truth is not threatened by scrutiny. It is revealed by it.
An Invitation
If you have watched Zeitgeist and found it persuasive—or troubling—I invite you to walk through this examination with me. Perhaps you have questions the film raised that no one has satisfactorily answered. Perhaps you are a Christian who wants to understand these claims better. Perhaps you are skeptical of Christianity and curious whether these objections hold water.
Whatever brought you here, you are welcome. Let’s pursue this together.
Next in the series: We examine the claim that Jesus is a solar deity and the alleged astronomical symbolism in the Gospels.