Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled

by D.M. Murdock

Picking up where the bestselling and controversial The Christ Conspiracy leaves off, Suns of God leads the reader through an electrifying exploration of the origin and meaning of the world's religions and popular gods. Over the past several centuries, the Big Three spiritual leaders have been the Lords Christ, Krishna and Buddha, whose stories and teachings are curiously and confoundingly similar to each other. The tale of a miraculously born redeemer who overcomes heroic challenges, teaches ethics and morality, performs marvels and wonders, acquires disciples and is famed far and wide, to be persecuted, killed and reborn, is not unique but a global phenomenon recurring in a wide variety of cultures long before the Christian era.

These numerous godmen were not similar "historical" personages who "walked the earth" but anthropomorphizations of the central focus of the famous "mysteries." A major element of the cryptic, international brotherhood, these mysteries extend back thousands of years and are found worldwide, reflecting an ancient tradition steeped in awe and intrigue. The reasons for this religious development, which has inspired the creation of entire cultures, are unveiled in this in-depth analysis containing fascinating and original research based on evidence both modern and ancient, captivating information kept secret and hidden for ages.

Suns of God is possibly the most complete review of the history of religion from its inception ever composed in a single volume.

Genres: Religion, History, Theology, Christianity, Spirituality

595 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2004

Reviews

[Alfred Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will make you think

It is full of references and answers as to why there is so many similarities in the major religions. It is for those who want those answers or are genuinely interested in this subject. It is not for those who are satisfied with the status quo and/or are unwilling to challenge what we have been taught. Clearly written and though it is a long read, well worth the time.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, sometimes repetitive, but overall a grand compilation (considering how long it took to read it must be minute compared to how long it took to write it)

Overall it was a rollercoaster that at points changed the way I see religion. At first it was unfortunate that we had lost the merely symbolic meaning of our stories of the celestial bodies and began worshipping them as gods and "real" people. Feeling as though (just giving an idea of how long ago)4,000-10,000 years ago we had much of the knowledge that we've only since regained in the last (1,000 years?) The age of the Earth, it being an orb as well as the Sun, the Moon needing the Sun to reflect, the heliocentricity of our galaxy, etc. I felt we could be so much farther scientifically and asked how they could lose such knowledge for so long. The section on Human Sacrifice made me glad that real or fake, the once and for all sacrifice was created to get people out of this barbaric way of thinking. Much later in the book I found the answer to the lost knowledge question with "Mystery Cults". Brotherhoods that for some reason believed that common people couldn't comprehend the idea of religions being astrotheological. Then, it shed light on how the New Testament was intended to reveal these "mysteries" but having no other info, people took it allegorically. The cults were able to keep the secrets and it became about ruling the world with fear and profiting from it. By the conclusion, I was feeling like I shouldn't tolerate anyone believing in such nonsense because it's holding all of us back from living the only life we have, but I don't wish to stoop to the same level and argue with them that they should not accept Christ. I don't believe we have the right to tell them not to. However, they have no right to have a belief be the inheritance of their children, rather than allowing them the freedom to come to their own conclusion. Evidently they don't have enough faith in their own belief to risk it.

Four instead of five stars because of a few things. One being the continuous names of more like every Sun God plus the relating of Sun God A to Sun God C and Sun God E(who is an avatar of Sun God D) is a rehash of Sun God B, who would then also be the same as Sun God A and C. This was only one section of the book so it doesn't determine all. Second, the title of the book should be renamed to "Suns of God: Krishna + Buddha = Christ. It goes over all three of them, but it always seems to have the focus on Jesus(or rather Christianity). By this I mean that after a point is made about one of the other gods(not only the ones listed) it quite frequently states that such and such "predates Christianity by hundreds of years or a millennia", "Christianity is not the original and of divine revelation as it claims to be", "the bible is obviously not the Infallible Word of God". These are paraphrased, but it is often that the author seems to have "an axe to grind" about the Jesus part of the title. Even when talking about other characters stories and names, the focus always went to Jesus. I get that these characteristics were used to create him, but to have even the names constantly equated, it felt more like reading the origins of Christianity, when it had been about how All religions are astrotheological. Finally, when I got to the Human Sacrifice, I couldn't help but feel alleviated that the idea of a once and for all sacrifice was produced. I know (not sacrifices but rather mass murder over centuries) happened despite of it, but it bothers me that the author(until the end of the book) was more focused on how this religion was a hypocrite for telling followers in the Old Testament not to sacrifice their children and then having God sacrifice his only son. Yes, it's hypocritical, but to me there's a much bigger picture there of what the world might be like if people still thought it mundane to sacrifice people and even eat them. Today we think of it as one of the worst acts you can do is to eat another person. Would it still be that way if they hadn't put forth the idea? I'm not condoning the lives taken in the name of it, but taking the consideration of what it stopped.

It might seem confusing about the star rating vs. the review, but I will assure you in that I was happy to have read it. Before this I read Zealot, which uses a "Q" source, which at the time made sense. Acharya had a bit on it here and suddenly it was obvious that just because these books have more similarities doesn't mean that they are any more truthful than the others. However, in light of what this book is about, it truly doesn't matter which is closer to the original fable.
I am but a curious reader and wish no ill will to a scholar, I do not know these things as the author does. This is only my perspective.

Reading this will give you a different perspective and that is always a great thing.

[David Montaigne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acharya S further develops the theory she put forth in "The Christ Conspiracy," stating not only that Jesus was not a historical figure (but merely the personification of sun-god ideas) but that Krishna, Buddha, and many other "gods" are one and the same solar myth, all derived from a very ancient school of thought that occasionally is dressed up as something new. Astrotheology, the idea that gods are really the personification of celestial objects like the sun and planets, is the main theme of the book, and an idea that anyone who questions their religious beliefs should consider. There is a great deal of documentation referencing ancient beliefs and teachings showing enormous similarities going back beyond Jesus, beyond Mithras, even Horus and Osiris. The facts are many, the scholarship is deep. Devoutly religious readers will not enjoy a thorough and logical dissection of their beliefs as merely one myth among many others which are similar - but any student of ancient mystery schools will appreciate that the main theme of such ASMs or brotherhoods may have been to carry their astronomical ideas on via the ignorant public through solar cult religions which mask the astronomical nature of ancient wisdom to the uninitiated.

This book may not be popular in a culture that prefers simple explanations, but eventually it should be recognized for its value alongside other seminal works like "Hamlet's Mill." As the author of a book covering some of the same topics (religion, astronomy, mythology) myself (End Times and 2019) I can say that despite twenty years of research on these topics (including Acharya S's earlier "Christ Conspiracy") I still learned a lot of new information, and better understood a lot of old topics which Acharya S covered in great detail, explaining ideas I had learned elsewhere.

[Rob Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in depth justification for the idea that Jesus is a myth based on ancient stories told about celestial objects. The theory is well presented and convincing. If you pick up any story, be it a book, film, or play, you will find it is based on an older story.

This book, more than anything, made me appreciate the power of storytelling. From our primitive 'around the camp fire' days where stories of heroics, tragedy, loyalty etc were told, to the stories written on the walls of pyramids, there can be seen a human need for story telling. When our ancient ancestors looked up to the skies and gave personality and character to the constellations they set us on the path of fiction.

So powerful is our need for stories that a large number of us now believe fiction as fact. This book tries to show us this.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acharya S, aka Dorothy Milne Murdock, was not an academic historian nor an scholar-level classical/biblical literature specialist, but a self-trained amateur historian of religion. So, many of her assertions are a bit weird and not in sync with more rigorous studies of the origins of religion, particularly those which developed in, or influenced, christian and Jewish thought. Her views fit within the “mythicist” camp, but in a way that gives fuel to the “historicists” who are opposed to that school of thought. Many of her connections and conclusions demonstrate some misunderstanding of the evidence (note that Suns of God is probably better researched than her earlier “The Christ Conspiracy” [1999]). That being said, after one throws in a few grains of scholarly salt, she did have some interesting ideas regarding the history of religion. In particular, AS/DMM’s central thesis regarding how many (most?) major religions may have been influenced by sun worship cults and astrology/astronomy in general (i.e., “Astrotheology”) is an interesting perspective on the development of religiosity, particularly christian theology. If nothing else, this tome (550+ pages!) is a useful framework, with many references, to try to build a better understanding of the relationships between belief systems in the ancient world. For a better (and more concise) introduction, I would recommend the amusingly titled “Jesus from Outer Space: What the Earliest Christians Really Believed about Christ” by Richard Carrier (2020).

[Hank Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative!

[S.Kalirajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was super information about god
Krishna

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting subject-- how modern religions came from earlier sun worship. The author is as dogmatic as any religious person and even when the topic is Buddha or Krishna brings the subject back to her own rant against Christianity. The book also attributes too much to the cult of the sun. Marduk was the planet Mercury-- not the sun. Molech was clearly Saturnine and the morning star is Venus. Anyone who has done any naked eye astronomy would know Venus is the morning star and ancient people would have no reason to think of the sun as a star. Venus was extremely important to the indiginous people of America. The fact that various heavenly bodies figured in these beliefs suggest a pantheon of deities and not the monotheism of a single solar god. The author has an atheistic agenda and wants to show that the concept of God is based on primitive solar worship.

[Roger Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now on page 6, I read by bits because I'm inpatient I can't sit for hours reading. I stopped reading it page by page, I've been jumping from chapter to chapter, right now I'm on Krishna born of a virgin (page 199), everything I've read is awesome.

[Marius Croeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply excellent.

[Ian Totten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. One of those ones that has so much information you may feel overwhelmed at times.

[Mejonu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is interesting but the way this book tells about Jesus is not credential and if you want to read this read the Bible first