^{page 167 note 1} ‘Christianity Challenges the University: An International Conference of Theists and Atheists’, which took place in Dallas, Texas on 7–10 02 1985.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 2} Price, Robert, ‘Is There a Place for Historical Criticism?’ especially pp. 2–3, 14–25.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 3} For an example, see Pfleiderer, Otto, The Early Christian Conception of Christ: Its Significance and Value in the History of Religion (London: Williams and Norgate, 1905).Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 1} Even Pfleiderer, for instance, is critical of his own work (Ibid. pp. 153–9) and agrees that such mythology cannot account for the earliest Christian origins (Ibid. pp. 157–8).

^{page 168 note 2} Price, , pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 3} Examples of such would include stories that Romulus was taken to heaven and glorified, later appearing to Proculus, Julius (Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.805–51;Google ScholarFasti 2.481–509). Conflicting reports are given by Livy, who states that Romulus either disappeared in a storm, later being declared a god or that he was killed by senators (The History of Rome 1.16). (Interestingly enough and similar to problems pointed out below, Ovid and Livy wrote about 700 years after Romulus was supposed to have lived. This large gap is in addition to questions pertaining to the likelihood that Romulus even existed at all.) Hercules, a hero of Greek mythology, is said to have burned to death on a funeral pyre, afterwards-being taken to heaven and glorified by Jupiter. See Bullfinch, Thomas, Mythology (New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc., 1959), pp. 122–3.Google Scholar But Rouse reports the conflicting tale that Hercules died after putting on an enchanted robe, after which his soul went to heaven. See Rouse, W. H. D., Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece (New York: New American Library, 1957), p. 70.Google Scholar Aeneas, a hero of Homer's Iliad and the chief character in Virgil's Aeneid, is said to have settled near the Tiber River later in life. Having disappeared after a battle, it was reported that he joined the gods (Price, , pp. 28–9).Google Scholar Aristaeus is said to have entered a fuller's shop, where he died. When his relatives arrived, he was nowhere to be found. So it was assumed that he had been taken to heaven. He was then supposed to have reappeared seven years later, disappeared, and reappeared yet again, 340 years later (Origen, , Against Celsus 3.26Google Scholar). Origen provides numerous criticisms of these stories (Against Celsus 3.27–9). Lastly, Asclepius was a physician who was said to have healed through the use of medicines and ointments. He was killed by Jupiter (Zeus) but revived again and placed either among the stars (Rouse, , p. 87)Google Scholar or among the gods (Bullfinch, , p. 106).Google Scholar For accounts of the mystery (or vegetation) ‘gods’ see Pfleiderer, , especially pp. 91–100Google Scholar.

^{page 168 note 4} Suetonius, , The Twelve Caesars, translated by Graves, Robert (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1957), 1.88.Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 5} Ibid. v.46 and x.23, respectively.

^{page 169 note 1} Ibid. n.100.

^{page 169 note 2} Cassius, Dio, Roman History, 69.1 1.2.Google Scholar See Cartlidge, David R. and Dungan, David L., Documents for the Study of the Gospels (Cleveland: William Collins, 1980), p. 199.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 3} Ibid. p. 198.

^{page 169 note 4} Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, translated by Conybeare, F. C., two volumes, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969), especially VIII.31.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 5} Slotki, Israel W., editor, The Babylonian Talmud (Seder Nashim, Kethuboth), translated by Daiches, S. (n.p.: The Rebecca Bennett Publications Inc., 1959), Vol. III, XII. 103a.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 6} Hastings, James, editor, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, s.v. ‘Kabir, Kabirpanthis’, pp. 632–4.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 1} See especially Scholem, Gershom, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 917–29.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 2} Yogananda, Paramhansa, Autobiography of a Yogi (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1956), Pp. 348–50.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 3} Ibid. pp. 413–33.

^{page 170 note 4} Price, , especially pp. 14–25, 28–30.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 5} Yogananda, , p. 313;Google Scholar cf p. 349.

^{page 171 note 1} Price, , pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

^{page 171 note 2} Robinson, John A. T., The Human Face of God (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1973), pp. 138–9.Google Scholar

^{page 171 note 3} See Charles Hartshorne's response in Habermas, Gary R. and Flew, Antony, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), p. 137.Google Scholar

^{page 171 note 4} See Graves', Robert Foreword to Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, p. 7.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 1} Price, , pp. 19, 23, 28–9.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 2} It should be carefully noted here that Price does not doubt that there is much legend in Philostratus' account, as he points out (pp. 23, 29). Yet again, he does not subject Philostratus' account to the same sort of historical criticism which he applies to Christianity.

^{page 172 note 3} For details, see Kee, Howard, Miracle in the Early Christian World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), p. 253;Google ScholarHastings, , p. 699;Google ScholarCook, S. A., editor, The Cambridge Ancient History, XII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), p. 611.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 4} For instance, it is also recognized by most scholars that Philostratus placed conversations in Apollonius' mouth which the latter could not have spoken, as indicated by the fact that some of these portions are taken from other works by Philostratus himself (namely from the Lives of the Sophists).

^{page 172 note 5} Ferguson, James, The Religions of the Roman Empire (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1970), p. 51.Google Scholar Cf. Cook, , p. 613;Google ScholarHastings, , p. 610.Google Scholar

^{page 172 note 6} Ferguson, , p. 182;Google ScholarKee, , p. 256;Google ScholarBigg, Charles, The Origins of Christianity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910), p. 306.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 1} For these problems, see Conybeare's ‘Introduction’ to Philostratus' work, pages vii–x. Cf. Cartlidge, and Dungan, , p. 206.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 2} Philostratus, , VIII. 29.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 3} Ibid. V111.31.

^{page 173 note 4} Personal conversation with Finkel, Asher, Seton Hall University, 24 May 1988.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 5} While some of Kabir's sayings were copied down about 50 years after his death, contemporary scholarship is not certain exactly which of these teachings are actually his and which are ascribed to others, especially since the poems and verses are frequently mixed with those of other authors. But at any rate, these writings do not include the historical data in question. See, for example, Archer, John Clark, The Sikhs (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946), pp. 50, 52–3.Google Scholar

^{page 174 note 1} Singh, Mohan, Kabir and the Bhagti Movement (Lahore, 1934).Google Scholar See Archer, (pp. 63–4)Google Scholar who summarizes Singh's demarcation of the steps by which legend appeared in the teachings about Kabir.

^{page 174 note 2} Price, , pp. 4–5, 9–10, 27.Google Scholar

^{page 174 note 3} Sharot, Stephen, Messianism, Mysticism and Magic: A Sociological Analysis of Jewish Religious Movements (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), pp. 87–8, 90.Google Scholar

^{page 174 note 4} Ibid. p. 88.

^{page 174 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 174 note 6} Ibid. pp. 87–8.

^{page 175 note 1} Ibid. p. 91; Scholem, Gershom G., Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken Books), p. 90.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 2} For Sharot's report of these events, see pp. 115–17.

^{page 175 note 3} Scholem, , Sabbatai Seri, pp. 920, 922–4;Google ScholarSharot, , p. 122.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 4} Scholem, Ibid. pp. 919–20.

^{page 175 note 5} Ibid. p. 925.

^{page 175 note 6} Yogananda, , pp. 313, 349.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 7} For instance, one former Indian guru states: ‘My world was filled with spirits and gods and occult powers, and my obligation from childhood was to give each its due.’ See Maharaj, Rabindranath R. (with Dave Hunt), Escape into the Light (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1984), p. 24.Google Scholar This volume was formerly published as Death of a Guru (Philadelphia: H. J. Holman, 1977).

^{page 176 note 1} Yogananda, , p. 413.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 2} The simply incredible nature of the claim to have seen Krishna above a nearby building, I dare say, would bother many researchers. But beyond even that (because again, we ought not to reject claims in a priori manner), how could Yogananda recognize and identify Krishna, for instance, even if he had seen him? And if there is a problem here, what about in the next instance (with Yukteswar) ? In other words, if Yogananda presumably cannot positively identify Krishna for sure (at least in any evidential sense), what can be said about the next appearance claim, which was also quite subjective? In fact, this writer, at least, would say that Yogananda has hereby seriously compromised his testimony as a reporter.

^{page 176 note 3} Price, , p. 13.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 4} Generally speaking, I think it is often true that persons require more evidence to believe an extraordinary event than to accept a regular occurrence. While I disagree with David Hume's position that virtually no evidence can ever establish a miracle, I think it is correct that we ought to have strong evidence for one. (For Hume's position at this point see ‘Of Miracles’, section 10, part I of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.)

^{page 176 note 5} Strangely enough, even though Price is quite critical of Christian claims, he concludes his discussion of Jesus' resurrection with the intriguing comment: ‘ … one need not assume that there was no resurrection. Indeed it was precisely because of experiences of some kind … that anyone cared to glorify Jesus’ (p. 20).