Zeitgeist: The Movie

Zeitgeist: The Movie | A REVIEW OF PART I: THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

By: Lun Hangluah

zeitgeist movie

Zeitgeist: the Movie is a 2007 documentary film by Peter Joseph, an American non-commercial film director and activist, examining possible historical and modern conspiracies surrounding Christianity, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve Bank. It was officially released online on June 18, 2007 on zeitgeistmovie.com, and distributed free on the internet via Google Video and BitTorrent. A sequel, Zeitgeist: Addendum, has been released in October 2008 while a third film called Zeitgeist: Moving Forward is scheduled to be released in October 2010. Peter Joseph has also created an organization called ‘The Zeitgeist Movement’ to promote a holistic readjustment of society through technology and science. The following is a review of the movie episode titled ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ which forms Part I of the movie documentary. This 30-minute movie clip is a denigration of religion at large and Christianity in particular. The creator of Zeitgeist allege (using the words of Thomas Paine) that—

The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.” 

Following from there, Jesus Christ is reduced to a mythical figure based on earlier sun gods, a creation of the early Gnostic Church by plagiarism, non-existent in history. Zeitgeist argues that the historical Jesus is a literary and astrological hybrid, nurtured politically in the interest of control & hold on the social system. 

SYNOPSIS 

Peter Joseph alleges that the Christian religion is shrouded in solar symbolism and astrological myths, which in turn were borrowed from or shared with other solar deities of different times. 

He begins by building a case that certain characteristics so far attributed to Jesus Christ in the Bible and in Christian tradition are in reality traits borrowed from the age-old adoration/worship of the Sun which find varied expressions in different world cultures of different times in such prominent deities as Horus of Egypt, Attis of Greece, Krishna of India, Dionysus of Greece, Mithra of Persia, and a host of other mythical gods. These deities allegedly subscribe to certain common characteristics as virgin birth on Dec 25, miracles and 12 disciples, 3-day death/burial, and resurrection. 

Next, the creator probes into the recurrence of these traits in different mythical characters, taking the case of Jesus Christ, and seeks to explain the same by appealing to an elaborate astrological & solar symbolism surrounding the Jesus figure. It sees all the motifs and characters in the NT as coded astrological or solar references. And everything about Jesus is taken to be an allegory of one astrological phenomenon or the other. 

1. The Nativity. The star in the E is Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, which lines up with three bright stars on Orion’s belt often called the “three kings.” Sirius, with the 3 Kings point to the Sun’s rise on Dec 25. Hence the 3 kings follow the star in the Nativity story. 

2. Virgin Mary. Mary is a virgin because she personifies the constellation Virgo, aka the “House of Bread,” or, in Hebrew beth-lehem, “a place in the sky, not on earth.” 

3. The Crucifixion/the Phenomenon around Dec 25. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection symbolize the observable solar phenomenon around Dec 25 at winter solstice.[1] The gradual shortening of the sun’s solstice as it moves South in winter symbolizes the process of the sun’s demise, which is fully realized on Dec 22, when at winter solstice the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. Residing there/or setting in the vicinity of the Crux constellation for 3 days (Dec 22, 23, 24), ensnared in the ‘Southern Cross,’ the sun starts moving back toward the Northern hemisphere on Dec 25, that is, is resurrected. Easter is celebrated, however, as late as the Vernal Equinox[2] because it was then that the sun officially conquered darkness (longer days superseding longer nights). 

4. 12 Disciples. Jesus’ 12 disciples represent the Zodiac signs, the 12 constellations revolving round the sun, the Sun’s travelling places. 

5. The Cross. The cross is a pagan adaptation of the Cross of the Zodiac or the Solar Cross, a pagan spiritual symbol, not the symbol of Christianity. And Jesus’ head shown against the cross (in Jesus-portraits) is representative of the Sun in the Zodiac Cross. In short, Jesus represents the Sun. 

6. The Crown of Thorns. Jesus’ crown of thorns is a picture of the Sun’s emanating rays. 

The movie then proceeds with a documentation of the term ‘Ages.’ Using a 2150 Yr = ‘Age’ formula derived with great obscurity from what he calls ‘the precession of the equinoxes,’ Peter Joseph divides world history into neat 2150-Yr ages each dominated by a specific sign of the Zodiac — 

Taurus (4300 – 2150 bc): the age of the Bull 

Aries (2150 bc – ad 1): the age of the Ram Pisces (ad 1 – 2150): the age of the 2 FishesAquarius (ad 2150 – 4300): the age of the Water-Bearer 

and so on. 

According to this scheme the Age of Taurus (the Bull) had ended when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and was being superseded by the Age of Aries (the Ram). The Arian age, in turn, was superseded by the Age of Pisces, in which we now live, which will soon be followed by the Age of Aquarius. 

This explains (so the movie claims) Moses’ anger/antagonism toward the worship of the golden bull calf, a throwback to an earlier age. The blowing of ram’s horn in the Mosaic era has to do with it being the age of the Ram. Fish symbolism is particularly common in Christianity because the NT coincides with the beginning of the Age of Pisces. Jesus hinted at the coming Aquarian Age when he tells his disciples in Luke 22:10 to follow “a man bearing a pitcher of water” (i.e. Aquarius, the water-bearer) to find a place for Passover meal. 

THE ALLEGATION 

Finally, PJ makes his assault on Jesus and Christianity: Jesus is a mythical creation, and Christianity is a conspiracy. 

1. The Jesus-character is borrowed. 

“The imagery of Jesus is explicitly a plagiarism of the Egyptian Sun-god Horus.” 

2. Jesus is a literary-astrotheological hybrid, created by the early Church by transference of attributes from precedent solar deities. 

“Jesus is the solar deity of the Gnostic Christian sect. And like all the pagan gods he was a mythical figure.” 

3. Jesus never existed. He is mythical. 

“Once the evidences weighed, there are very high odds that the figure known as Jesus did not even exist.” 

4. Christianity is a hoax. 

“The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.” 

  “We don’t wanna be unkind, but we wanna be factual. We don’t wanna cause hurt feelings, but we want to be academically correct in what we understand and know to be true. Christianity just is not based on truth.” 

5. Christianity is a conspiracy. The Christian religion is a creation of political authority in history for manipulation and control. 

“We find that Christianity was in fact nothing more than a Roman story developed politically.” 

“It was a political establishment that sought to historize the Jesus figure for social control.” 

The film flashes the names of 23 writers from the 1st century ad who do not mention Christ. The narrator then disputes the credibility of Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius and Josephus’ references to Christ, and argues that outside the Bible, there is little historical evidence that Jesus ever existed. 

CRITIQUE 

Most academic reviews dismiss Zeitgeist[3] as historical fiction, mainly lumping the movie in with other conspiracy movies. Peter Joseph uses filmmaking propaganda techniques and makes unsourced and unreferenced assertions to make truth claims wrapped in infotainment units. One non-Christian critic comments: “Unfortunately, this material is liberally — and sloppily — mixed with material that is only partially true and much that is plainly and simply bogus” [Tim Callahan, The Greatest Story Ever Garbled, in eSkeptic, Feb 25, 2009]. 

The movie betrays biases and naïve inconsistencies, and is guilty of manipulation of facts and figures, distortion of texts, random allegory, sweeping assertions, ingenious fabrication, and an overall spurious scholarship. Following is a few which are most evident: 

Spurious Solar Symbolism 

· HORUS. Horus, in Egyptian mythology, is more accurately the ‘Sky god’ rather than being the ‘Sun god.’ If, as alleged, solar-god attributes were subscribed for subsequent deities from Horus, the main link with the Sun, so elaborately built by Peter Joseph, is lost at the very beginning—the first twist or inaccuracy. 

· THE SOLAR CROSS. The allegation that the Cross as the symbol of Christianity finds its source in the Cross of the Zodiac is spurious. The cross became a Christian icon not by its solar/pagan associations, but because of the great act of redemption accomplished on it by Christ. 

· DEC 25TH. No tradition has Horus, Attis, Krishna, or Dionysus born on Dec 25, except Mithra (in his solar aspect as Sol Invictus or ‘Unconquered Sun’). 

  Mithra’s B’day on winter solstice also moved to Dec 21 due to imperfections & modifications on the Roman/Julian calendar. 

Most importantly, Christ’s birthday is nowhere documented (in/outside the Bible) to be on Dec 25. The date is disputed and controversial. 

Christianity deliberately co-opted a pagan festive day as a way of occupying a rival’s holiday, rather than this being the result of Jesus being a solar saviour. 

· WINTER SOLSTICE. The allegory of Sun’s death-burial-resurrection from Easter based on the solar phenomenon around Dec 25th is a mismatch. Dec 25 relates to the Nativity, not the Passion, and can have no metaphorical tie with Jesus’ or the Sun’s crucifixion, burial & resurrection. Besides, Easter does not coincide with the spring equinox to be a celebration of the Sun’s triumph over darkness. 

This story, like most of the film, is “a pastiche of factoid, fiction and ingenious invention. It also betrays a certain naïveté on the part of Peter Joseph in regard to his knowledge of the Bible.” (Callahan/eSkeptic) 

· CROWN OF THORNS. Jesus’ wearing the crown of thorns pictures shame and mockery and has no correspondence with the radiance and glory of the Sun’s emanating rays. 

Astrological Fantasies 

· 3 KINGS & STAR IN THE EAST. Both Sirius and the 3 stars are part of larger constellations (Canis Major and Orion) and cannot be so neatly isolated to form a ‘Star in the East’ and ‘3 Kings.’ Besides, the biblical account of the visit of the Magi in Matthew 2:1-2 has different details. Those who saw the star were “wise men.” And nowhere is it said there were ‘three of them.’ They were just ‘wise men.’ 

· VIRGIN MARY. The Mary-Virgo allegory fails for lack of correspondence. For Mary to represent the constellation Virgo or the celestial Beth-Lehem (house of bread), the constellation must be the place of Sun’s birth. But Virgo is not even the vicinity where the sun rises (or is born) on Dec 25, being away from the line of ‘Sirius – 3 Stars.’ 

· BETH-LEHEM. Bethlehem’s association with Christ’s birth has to do with Davidic kingship, not astrology. He is born in Bethlehem because that was David’s home town, and Jesus must be born there to fulfill the prophecy in Micah 5:2. The 3 gifts the Child receives were gifts of royalty, the same Queen of Sheba brought for King Solomon (1Ki 10:10), and reflect his Davidic royalty. 

· 12 DISCIPLES. The 12 disciples are just disciples, and twelve of them. For the twelve to represent the signs of the Zodiac, as PJ asserts, they should be expected to be given specific zodiacal characteristics in the canonical gospels. Instead, most of the disciples are little more than names, obscure, and lacking any character whatsoever. 

The ‘Ages’ Fabrication 

The neat dissection of history into 2150-yr ages is without clear basis and clearly a fictitious fabrication. 

• · The normal succession of zodiac signs corresponding to the 12 months is anti-clockwise in the zodiac circle. Zeitgeist’s ages proceed in clockwise succession, a strange reversal. 

• · Zeitgeist fails to specify the ages for all Zodiac constellations. It picks only four – Taurus, Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius, and neglects to expound the rest. 

• · Solomon’s bull carvings on the Temple furnishings contradict Moses’ antagonism against bull imagery in the same age of Aries. Moses’ anger was against idolatry not against the Taurean bull. 

• · Olive and fig trees, sheaves of grain, lambs and lost sheep feature as much as fishes in the NT. None, however, rank as icons. 

• · Early Church ‘fish’ symbolism featured most likely because the Greek word for fish, ichthus (icqu"), was an acronym for Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter, or “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.” 

I = Ihsou"/Iesous = Jesus 

C = Cristo"/Christos = Christ 

Q = Qeou/Theou = of God 

U = ‘Uio"/Huios = Son 

S = Sothr/Soter = Saviour 

· Nothing in Luke 22:10 or in surrounding text talks about or even hints at the transition of ages from Piscean to Aquarian. Jesus only meant to direct his disciples to a house where they must prepare Passover meal. 

· Ist Century Christian thought looks forward to an immediate return of Christ and the ‘end of the ages’ in their times, not after 2150 years (cf Matt 24:3). 

· The anticipated dawn of a new age is (throughout) Messianic, not Aquarian. 

Naïve Scholarship 

· THE OSIRIS/HORUS MYTH. PJ conflates/mixes Horus with his father, Osiris. 

The Osiris/Horus myth, in simplified terms, is something like this: 

The evil Set slays his good brother Osiris and mutilates his body into 14 pieces. Isis, the wife of Osiris reassembles the pieces, having to substitute a wooden phallus for that part of the dead god’s anatomy. She copulates with her dead husband in the form of a bird, conceives and gives birth to Horus. She also raises Osiris from the dead, although this very physical resurrection is in the underworld. When Horus comes of age he does battle with his uncle Set. Set tears out the eye of Horus, while Horus rips off Set’s genitals. Eventually, peace is made between the two, both are healed, and they divide the rule of the year by seasons of life and death. 

A few flaws in the movie is observable from here— 

=Isis is not a virgin but Osiris’ wife. 

=Horus’ conception is not by virginal conception, but by copulation with the father’s dead body. 

=It is Osiris, not Horus who was resurrected, that too in the underworld. 

· THE VIRGIN MYTH. PJ claims that an Annunciation scene from Luxor shows Isis being told by angelic beings she will bear Horus, and being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. The panels from Luxor actually depict the mother of Hatshepsut (not of Horus) being told she will bear the divine child. In the next scene, Amon-Ra consorts with (not overshadows) Hatshepsut’s mother. This was part of the standard Egyptian royal myth that each Pharaoh was engendered by Amon Ra. It has nothing to do with Isis. 

  PJ’s cases for the virgin birth of all the gods were not documented. The truth is no source or tradition has claimed that Horus' mother Isis was a virgin. Neither Krishna (the eighth son), Dionysus (whose mother had slept with Zeus) nor Attis were ever supposed to be virgin-born. 

· God’s Son = God’s Sun? PJ keeps using God’s Son and God’s Sun as if interchangeably. "Son" and "Sun" are obviously not homophonic words in either Ancient Egyptian, Greek or Latin, and therefore no such misunderstanding would occur in ancient astrology. 

Myth or History? 

· A long list runs across the screen of supposed contemporary historians who did not mention ‘Jesus.’ Historians say this is actually a list of geographers, gardening writers, poets and philosophers, who should not be expected to mention him.[4]

· The attempt to isolate the title ‘Christ’ from Jesus in the references of Pliny the Younger Plutonius, and Tacitus is not convincing. The Latin ‘Chrestus’ is a transliteration of the Greek ‘o Cristo" or ‘the Christ’ and refers to no one else but Jesus Christ. For eg, Tacitus speaks of “Christ” “their originator” who “had been executed in Tiberius’ reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilatus,” clearly a contemporaneous, historical figure. 

· The film misrepresents Constantine as making Christianity compulsory and inventing the historical Jesus, when he only legalized it (it was Theodosius I who made it compulsory later in the 4th century). 

CONCLUSION 

Zeitgeist is a highly motivated movie that freely modifies and manipulates historical facts and mythical stories, mixing them with fiction, to assert that Christianity is a fabrication, a political conspiracy for social control. It is a bold assault on Jesus and the Christian faith. Yet Christians need not be intimidated by its claims, almost all of which are spurious. 

In conclusion, the apostle John has to be quoted: 

“Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (1John 4:2-3). 

[1] The solstices are marked by the longest and shortest days of the year (21 Jun & 22 Dec) when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at midday.

[2] There are two equinoxes in the year (20 Mar & 22 Sep) when the sun is above the equator and day & night are of equal length.

[3] “Zeitgeist” is a German term (Zeit = time, Geist = spirit) for ‘trend’ or literally “the spirit of the times/age.” It translates the latin genius saeculi, “guardian spirit of the century,” and describes “the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambience, morals, and sociocultural direction or mood of an era.” 

[4] Chris Forbes/Zeitgeist: Time to Discard the Christian Story? Interview at the Centre for Public Christianity, Sydney, Aus. Chris Forbes is Sr Lecturer in Ancient History in Macquarie University.