Bishop Spong wrote the following answer to a question about the pagan beliefs and practices that Christianity appears to have borrowed.

It is now quite obvious that as Christianity moved out of its Jewish womb into the Mediterranean world, it was introduced to, conformed with and shaped by the culture.

For example, the virgin birth did not enter the Christian story until the 9th decade. There were lots of virgin birth stories in the pagan religions of the Empire. They were clearly mythological interpretive devices. The cannibalistic ideas associated with the Christian Eucharist in which the flesh and blood of the savior figure are eaten and drunk clearly have pagan origins. The account of a hero figure dying and returning from death is also present in many ancient pagan sources. Easter was a pagan word for spring and the return of the earth to life after the winter. That is why the crucifixion of Jesus was moved to the season of the Passover so that his victory over death could be celebrated at the same time the forms of life showed victory over the death of winter by coming to life again.

Christmas and Hannukah were attached to the return of the sun from its retreat into darkness. Hence both celebrations come at or near the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

Every religious system is layered over ancient roots. Christianity is no different. That is why anyone who literalizes the Jesus story or the Bible is revealing little more than profound ignorance. That is also why it is my experience that studying the Christian faith requires a lifetime. None of these things, however, distorts the basic Christian message that God calls us to live, to love and to be.

John Shelby Spong