The Person and Work of Jesus Christ 101 The specific contribution of Babylonian mythology to the picture of Christ, as depicted in the Gospels, consists, accord- ing to Professor Zimmem, of the following points: (1) “The conception of Christ as a pre-mundane, heavenly, Divine being, who is at the same time the Creator of the world; (2) The accounts of the miraculous birth of Christ, of the homage offered to the new-born child, and of the persecutions; (3) The conception of Christ as the Saviour of the world, and as ushering in a new period of time, appearing as He does in the fullness of time; (4) The conception of Christ as being sent into the world by the Father; (5) The doctrinal aspects of the- suffering and death of Christ, apart from the his- toric facts; (6) The doctrine of the descent of Christ into Hades ; (7) The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ on the third day after His death.; (8) The doctrine of His ascension after forty days; (9) The doctrine of Christ’s glory, sitting at the right hand of God and reigning with the Father; (10) The belief in the coming again of Christ at the end of days in kingly glory, and also of the last conflict with the powers of evil; (11) The idea of the marriage of Christ with His Bride at the beginning of the new time, of the new heaven, and the new earth.” While Professor Zimmern advances these.thoughts very carefully and guardedly, Professor Jensen, of the University of Marburg, affirms most positively that the whole life of Christ is essentially a Jewish version of the Babylonian Gil- gamesh Epos. His book appeared February, 1907, is a large volume of over one thousand pages, and bears the title, “The Epos o f Gilgamesh in the World Literature. The Origins of the Old Testament Patriarch, Prophet, and Redeemer Legends, and of the New Testament Jesus Legend.” The main contention of the book is stated by the author himself in the following words: “That practically all of the Gospel narrative is* purely legendary, and that there is no reason at all to consider anything that is told of Jesus as
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