[Buddha-l] Pure Land

[Richard Hayes]

On Wednesday 11 July 2007 10:31, Steven Rhodes wrote:
> Dear Richard,
>
> I was told in a medieval history class long ago, but have never seen it
> in print, that Dec. 25 was in fact the winter solstice in the old Roman
> calendar, and that the Christians chose this day for  "Christmas" to
> keep their adherents from being tempted to go to the local Mithraeum on
> the same day.  Perhaps others on the list have seen this theory in print
> (?).

I have seen in print that December 25 was celebrated as Mithra's birthdate. 
Unfortunately, I recently sold the book in which I read this. If you will 
accept an Internet reference as an ersatz for a print reference, the Catholic 
encyclopedia has quite a long and informative article on the history of 
speculations that Christianity had borrowed important elements from 
Mithraism. The first people to write about that topic were some of the Church 
Fathers, such as Tertullian. You can read more at 
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm (which cites the book that I 
recently sold, which was my source).

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico