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The Legend of Saint Peter: A Contribution to the Mythology of Christianity
Arthur Drews, 1910/1924
This is
The Legend of Saint Peter: A Contribution to the Mythology of Christianity
Arthur Drews (translated into English by Frank Zindler, from 1910 edition)
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Contents:
3.
In the Epistles of St. Paul
The
Mythical Background of the Character of St. Peter
2.
Petros, Mithra, Atlas, Proteus, Petra.
This edition is an update of earlier editions since 1910, in a line with many other of Drews' works like the Christ Myth underlining the patchwork of legends and fiction that constitutes our gospels. All criticism used against Drews' revelations about St. Peter had been based on misreadings, lack of reading, and distortions. Drews also recognises that the conservative 'proofs' based on recent excavation are nothing but deceit based on theological stubbornness , pious fraud, and lack of thought.
In Mt 16:18f, Peter 'recognises' Jesus as the Messiah, and
Jesus in turn endows Peter with the 'keys to heaven' , which is the foundation
of Apostolic Succession, the cornerstone of the self-justification of the
Catholic church. Protestant critics thus is not comfortable with this point. And
in deed, the immediate-eschatological character of Jesus' preaching is at odds
with founding a church organisation. Singling out a disciple is also against
the usually proclaimed equal mission of all disciples as judges over
In Mark's Gospel, Peter is a fisherman originally named Simon, his brother Andrew is also made disciple and apostle. They are made fishers of men. This is midrashic on the relation of Eliah and Elisha. Also Peter's mother in law is mentioned as one of those healed by Jesus, in analogy to Paul's healing of Publius Senior. Only once Jesus gathers the twelve, Simon is renamed to Peter. Peter also assists the revival of Lazarus, once more in midrashic analogy to E&E.
Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ in much simpler and more original manner than in Mt, but after this point, Mk and MT follow the same lines with respect to Peter. Later Jesus assimilates Peter to Satan, without any reason, but in the very next stage, Peter may accompany Jesus to the mount of transfiguration, along with the Yebedee brothers. Peter turns insanely exstatic when having the vision of Moses and Eliah. This story is once more Toraic midrash (Sinai).
At the mount of olives, Peter claims to be the most faithful disciple. There is once more midrash at work, see the scandalous stone (petros) also used by Paul based on Isaiah 8:14. Same is valid for the denial of Jesus by Peter. Thus Mark's representation is just midrash and legend with no historical base.
Matthew's and Luke's make several amendments proving as more fairy tales. For example peter is deemed as lacking confidence and faith when failing to float on the lake as Jesus does. And the Peter of Matthew's is apparently the favourite disciple! Luke adds folklore miracles like the miraculous fish catch.
John's is more dogmatic than the synoptics, and what he has to add to the representation of Peter is done for dogmatic reasons, and not a iota based on history. John Zebedee is here often preferred over Peter. Peter is only the third disciple called by Jesus and needs the mediation of Andrew. On the other hand, Petrus courageously defends Jesus with his sword against the temple militia, yet gets rebuked for this action.
So all found about St. Peter in our gospels is legend, midrash, and dogma.
Peter's thaumaturgic deeds , which the apostles 'inherited' from Jesus, are praised here, but Peter runs a second behind James, the brother of the Lord. Peter is also prominent in the pentecostal miracle, supernatural from front to back with no historical anchor.
James rebukes Peter for baptising an uncircumcidsed. Peter is very stern and arrogant, as if he had not committed the denial reported in the gospels.
Peter is in a prominent role when spreading the gospel to
Peter also against any reason revives decease Tabitha, as Jesus did with Yair's daughter. More and more the Holy Spirit becomes companion and object of Peter's mission. Peter is able to persuade the James-crew that objected to Peter's mission among gentiles, just as Jonah did at Ninive. The synoptics call Peter also son of Jonah.
Peter escapes multiple times from Herod's prison in miraculous manner.
Peter barely appears later in the Acts, only during the
apostolic meeting conservatively dated around 53. Here Peter boasts with the
event of converting heathen Cornelius. Absurdly Peter dares to appear again in
After all, the Acts of the Apostles present nothing more than superstition and patched legends, just as the gospels do.
Paul usually calls Peter by his semitic name Cephas. 14
years after a first meeting of the two superapostles at
Galatians, which reports the Petro-Paulinic struggle w.r.t.
dealing with the uncircumcised, is thought buy many mainliners as the one
epistle authentic beyond any doubt. But this is doubtful. Rather, the epistle
gives an apology for Paul by gentile Christians against Judeochristians,
praising Paul's independance from
All this is clumsy and ridiculous, one can't make any historical sense from this pesky polemics between the two currents of Christianity.
Paul was forced to preach only among the gentiles, but
that's practically absurd as the interested gentiles were found in the
environment of Jewish diaspora communities. Steck and the Dutch [Naber,
Pierson, Loman,
The mere historicity of Paul is doubtful, and same is to be said about Peter - all the NT stuff in any case holds no historical value concerning those pretended towering figures of young Christianity.
Drews allows for the possibility of concluding Pauline existence from the style of the apostolic Acts (many "we"- sentences) [ as does conservative scholar *Chris* Price], but the real Paul , if at all, was a marginal figure far from the pretended significance of the strawman Paul of early church tradition.
It also remains to wonder what was the proper subject of the struggle between the two parties. The NT only gives rudimentary hints that practically don't justify such a discrepancy.
The Pauline epistles had an impact on the gospels. Paul praises himself as the apostle of divine inspiration. Mark and Matthew copy Paul's confession and assign it to Peter. Matthew exaggerates this even much beyond Mark's and Paul's measure. Even before Mt 16 jesus was already titled as Christ, Son of God, David etc., so one has to wonder why Peter is praised in Mt16 as if he were the only or first one to acclaim Jesus as the Christ. The Markan original is simpler.
The dependance of Mt 16:18 on Galatians makes any historical value absurd. The exaggeration of Mt over Mk is even more noteworthy as tradition calls Mark the Greek-speaking companion of Peter who made his mission across the diaspora possible in the first place.
Even more, the role of Peter as key power over heaven and hell are representation of celestial constellations (Scorpio/ Cepheus/ Cassiopeia). Scorpio is also the sign of Satan, which explains Jesus conflating Peter with Satan.
Of course the reason for Mt16:18 is of merely church political nature, the establishment of the authority of the Roman church utterly depends on it.
Mt 16:18f gives St. Peter the authority that is base of the apostolic succession. Yet Paul, John, and James have been held in this position elsewhere in the Early Christian Writings. Paul doesn't know about the apostles being 12, and the continuation of the disciples, apart from the extreme strange I Cor 15 which must be in part interpolated. The number 12 in the gospels seems to be enforced by manipulation. Neither do the gospels agree in the names of the disciples, nor do all disciples have a significance in the story. Some are statists, apparently chosen in order to complete the circle of 12 which is
midrashic: Already the Jewish scriptures use the number 12 a
lot, e.g. tribes of
The old oriental astronmythical world is not only home of the 12 disciples or apostles, but also of Peter in particular. Now it's already clear that the circle of disciples has no historical value.
Apostles were the envoys of the central Jewish authority at
We see that the very disciples/apostles are nothing but astromythical and midrashic fiction.
Catholic scholars claim also John 21:15ff for their cause, which turns once more out as an astromythical legend referring to Cepheus. The latter's appearance also is similar to the iconography of St. Peter and the outfit of the Pope. Eben the head-down crucifixion is seen in the sky around Cepheus.
In The Christ Myth, Drews had shown that Jesus is derived from a paleosemitic solar deity relating especially to paschah and circumcision. Gnostic sects had revived this myth allegorically and represented that deity as crucified.
The fishermen brothers Simon and Andrew also stand for the sign of Pisces, square to Gemini (twins). Cepheus is in opposition to Gemini.
Among the sons of Jacob of the Torah there was a pair of twins, one of them called Sim(e)on.
Solar deities of a given use to adopt imaginery from the constellation at the primaveral equinox. Those of the Aion of Gemini had often names coetymological with Simon. It also had the significance of 'name'.
Other terms of that etymology : ha-shem (the name as
substitute for the Tetragrammaton), Semitic,
The Phoenicians synonymised Simon with Melkart. The Greek
adopted the same as Heracles. In
The apochryphal church tradition knows of a consort of Simon
Magus called
(Sophia) in a similar relation. The Apostolic Acts euhemerise this Semo Megas into an adversary of the apostles. This gives raise to the conjecture that also Simon Peter is the result of euhemerisation.
Struggles between old and new deities abbound in mythology: Kronos vs. Ouranos, Heracles vs. Thyrios, ... a struggle imitated by the battle between the apostles and Semo M., in some Christian tradition ending with a deadly duel where Peter defeats the false Simon.
Both Samson and heracles were known for tearing columns from buildings.
Peter derives from petros, rock, which already points to the
rock-born Mithra, a mystery deity of the
Mithra was a typical solar deity, therefore epitheted as invincible sun, overcomer of darkness. The association with rocks will derive from the sun rising beyond rocky mountains. The deity Cervan Acarana , the Timelord, is closely connected to Mithra. This Timelord holds the key power over the portals to divinity. In Gree culture this deity turned into Kronos. He was depicted as a hybridic beast (lion-serpent) .. The columns are carried over from Heracles who carried the weight of Atlas during one of his deeds. Atlas was master of the columns that carried and supported the world, according to Homer. Assyrian jews equated Atlas with Henoch. Atlas was also related with Proteus, a most ancient Greek maritime deity. The Orphics depicted him , among other ways, also as lionheaded snake.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead knows of a guardian to the
realms of the dead, named
The symbolism of the columns already explains why Simon Peter was called a column of ear;y Christianity in Paul's epistles. Peter's unreliability and inconsistency relates him once more with Proteus who was famous for shape changes. Horus, Egyptian counterpart of Heracles, was both ferrymen between the world of the living and the dead, and also ferrymen for the heroes of the sun bark. Zeus endowed Heracles with the power to solve and coaggulate. As Peter does in folklore, those deities were also responsible for the weather.
Dupuis was the first scholar to identify St. Peter as Janus [the term janitor, originally keyholder, derives from janus]. Janus in turn derives fron Dianus (>> day), a god of the daylight hours, male form of Diana, the famous lunar- and wildlife deity. Janus was considered the god of all doors, especially responsible for the portal to heaven. The month January is named after Janus.
One star in Virgo is called Janus. This implies astromythical imagery. In the old days, Janus was at the Medium Coeli at sunrise around the winter solstice, thus opening a new year. Janus was not only competent for opening and closing days and years, but also war and peace. Janus was here seen as superior to Jupiter, the father of the gods. As Janus leads the annual circle of the zodiacal signs, St. Peter leads the twelve apostles of Roman Christianity.
Hercules is called a mace bearer, but key and mace can be expressed as synonymous in Latin: Hercules is thus a key holder like Janus.
The regions of the near East get most rain in winter. This leads to the picture of Janus as a ferrymen across the invernal flood. Argo, called the ship of Janus, was back then seen in the medium coeli during rain time. Janus as a ferryman again alludes to Peter's activity as a fisherman.
Janus was depicted not only with the key to heaven, but also with a long staff that can be reinterpreted as the shepherd's staff with which St. Peter watches over the 'sheep' of the Catholic church.
Janus was depicted as two-faced, watching both ahead and back, from horizon to horizon.
Jesus hands the keys to St. Peter in Mt16, thus must have held them before. This is underlined by John 10, where Jesus is the master of the doors, even the door itself.
The Apocalypse of John, probably a relict from a pre-Christian Jesus cult, explicitly deems Jesus to hold the keys to hell. Jesus is here also solar deity that died and revived in the annual zodiacal cycle. The sun dies in fall and enters the lower world in order to save the souls from there. In spring it overcomes the darkness.
Thus the solar deity controls the portals to the lower world and back.
Also the term Peter in its significance as rock is associated with Jesus. He's the cornerstone previously rejected. For Paul, he's a spiritual rock, midrashing a rock in the desert that refreshed the Jews on their exodus. Paul also sees Jesus as a cornerstone.
Zachariah prophesised
a seven-eyed mystic stone when talking about Jesus the High Priest. A shaped
stone had been set in the
The Mithra cult made it to
Excavation show that St. Peter's dome is build on the ruins of a previuous Mithraic temple site.
Many expressions and pictures from the Mithraic cult [albeit some are not really specific] made it into the Christian church: the crown of the Pope is called Mithra. Pope derives from Papa , father, which was already an epitheton for the Mithraic High Priest. Mary with new-born jesus is similar to Kybele with Attis. Attis-priests were celibate as are those of the Catholic Church. The sacraments are largely parallel.
The Roman church performed thus an euhemerisation or historisation of the previous mystery deity Mithra, resulting in St. Peter.
Another title for the Mithraic High Priest was Archigallus,
(<<gallus , cock) which leads to the role to the cock when Peter denied
Jesus before the passion. Cocks were not allowed in
The Apostolic Acts are not explicit about Peter's deeds in
Also I Peter seems to allude to Peter's and Paul's role in
Peter's meeting with Philo at
Many uncritical scholars think of the first epistle of
Clement as a witness for Peter's mission in
GA vdBvE reasonably disputed the authenticity of the
epistle. Many cautiously put the letter around 120, but that's probably much
too conservative. And the epistle doesn't even state that Peter was in
Next to Clement, Ignatius of Antioch, 'author' of fantastic letters, is often used as a
witness. Ignatius is fabled to have died in
Tertullian wrote a homily on the supposed martyrdom of Peter and Paul, which exposes that they have been constructed in analogy to Jesus (crucified) and John the B (beheaded).
Thus there's no witness for Peter's stay and deeds in
But the attempts to find the tombs of the apostles in
The mere existence of St. Peter and his deeds being unrecoverable, the stories about him based on mere midrash, myth, dogmatism, and forgery, the alleged historical foundation of apostolic succession via St. Peter is nothing but a joke.
Frank R. Zindler (editor, American Atheist Press) published an English translation of DIE PETRUSLEGENDE, together with a large appendix of translated Greek, Latin, and Hebrew references alluded to in the main text.
"The Legend of Saint Peter" (Zindler's translation based on the 1910 version) is available from American Atheist Press at www.atheists.org. Drews updated his book.
The first edition is from 1910, before the publication of the many debunkers of the historicity of Jesus and the gospel story in general by Drews, besides the Christ Myth (1909, but also updated in the sequel).
The Legend of St. Peter was conceived as an appendix to the Christ Myth, but in later editions of Christ Myth, the section on St. Peter was moved into a separate book.
The edition used for the above summary is from 1924, after Drews wrote several books showing the lack of historical background of the gospel story, including the following books which deconstruct the gospel story:
Drews' The Myth of St. Peter received subjection not only from Catholics, but also from Protestants. They mixed subsequently with the reaction against the other works of Drews' dedicated to the deconstruction of the Jesus myth.
The Christ Myth was already translated before the war. Don't know whether those three other works have been translated.
The Christ Myth
Arthur Drews (translated into English by C. Deslisle Burns)
Westminster College-Oxford Classics in the Study of Religion
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Arthur Drews
The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present
1926
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