The neutrality of this article's title, subject matter, and/or the title's implications, is disputed. This is a dispute over the neutrality of viewpoints or other implications of the title, or the subject matter within its scope, rather than the actual facts stated. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (November 2011)

This section has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (November 2011)

The examples and perspective in this article may not include all significant viewpoints. Please improve the article or discuss the issue. (November 2011)

This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (November 2011)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

It has been suggested that Thirty Tyrants (Roman) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2011.

The Augustan History (Lat. Historia Augusta) is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284. It presents itself as a compilation of works by six different authors (collectively known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae), written in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I, but the true authorship of the work, its actual date, and its purpose, have long been matters for controversy.^{[citation needed]} Major problems include the nature of the sources it used, and how much of the content is pure fiction. Despite these conundrums - all of which are of considerable interest - it is the only continuous account for much of its period and is thus continually being re-evaluated, since modern historians are unwilling to abandon it as a unique source of possible information, despite its obvious untrustworthiness^{[citation needed]} on many levels.

Title and scope[link]

The name originated with Isaac Casaubon, who produced a critical edition in 1603, working from a complex manuscript tradition with a number of variant versions.^[1] How widely the work was circulated in late antiquity is unknown, but lengthy citations from it are found in authors of the sixth and ninth centuries AD, and the chief manuscripts also date from the ninth or tenth centuries.^[2] (The editio princeps was published at Milan in 1475). The six Scriptores – "Aelius Spartianus", "Iulius Capitolinus", "Vulcacius Gallicanus", "Aelius Lampridius", "Trebellius Pollio", and "Flavius Vopiscus (of Syracuse)" – dedicate their biographies to Diocletian, Constantine and various private persons, and so ostensibly were all writing c. the late third and early fourth century. The biographies cover the emperors from Hadrian to Carinus and Numerian. A section covering the reigns of Philip the Arab, Decius, Trebonianus Gallus, Aemilian and all but the end of the reign of Valerian is missing in all the manuscripts,^{[citation needed]} and it has been argued that biographies of Nerva and Trajan have also been lost^{[citation needed]} at the beginning of the work, which may suggest the compilation might have been a direct continuation of Suetonius. (It has also been theorized that the mid-3rd century lacuna might actually be a deliberate literary device of the author or authors, saving the labour of covering Emperors for whom little source material may have been available.)^{[citation needed]} Despite devoting whole books to ephemeral or in some cases non-existent usurpers,^{[citation needed]} there are no independent biographies of the Emperors Quintillus and Florian, whose reigns are merely briefly noted towards the end of the biographies of their respective predecessors, Claudius Gothicus and Tacitus. For nearly 300 years after Casaubon's edition, though much of the Augustan History was treated with some scepticism, it was used by historians as an authentic source – in the first volume of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, for example.^{[citation needed]} In modern times most scholars read the work as a piece of "deliberate mystification" written much later than its purported date, however the "fundamentalist view" still has distinguished support.^[3]

The dating problem[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2011)

In 1889, Hermann Dessau, who had become increasingly concerned by the huge amount of anachronistic terms, Vulgar Latin vocabulary, and especially the host of obviously bogus proper names in the work, proposed that the six authors were all fictitious personae, and that the work was in fact composed by a single author in the late fourth century, probably in the reign of Theodosius I.^[4] Among his supporting evidence was that the life of Septimius Severus would have appear to make use of a passage from the mid-4th century historian Aurelius Victor, and that the life of Marcus Aurelius likewise uses material from Eutropius. In the decades following Dessau many scholars fought rearguard actions to try to preserve at least some of the six Scriptores as distinct persons and some first-hand authenticity for the content. As early as 1890 Mommsen postulated a Theodosian 'editor' of the Scriptores' work, an idea that has resurfaced many times since.^[5] Others, such as Norman H. Baynes, abandoned the early 4th century date but only advanced it as far as the reign of Julian the Apostate (useful for arguing the work was intended as pagan propaganda). In the 1960s and 70s however Dessau's original arguments received powerful restatement and expansion from Sir Ronald Syme, who devoted three books to the subject and was prepared to date the writing of the work closely in the region of 395 AD. Other recent studies also show much consistency of style,^{[citation needed]} and most scholars now accept the theory of a single late author of unknown identity. Computer-aided stylistic analysis of the work has, however, returned ambiguous results; some elements of style are quite uniform throughout the work, while others vary in a way that suggests multiple authorship. To what extent this is because portions of the work are obviously compiled from multiple sources is unclear.^{[citation needed]}

Primary and secondary Vitae[link]

A unique feature of the Augustan History is that it purports to supply the biographies not only of reigning Emperors but also of their designated heirs or junior colleagues, and of usurpers who unsuccessfully claimed the supreme power.^[6] Thus among the biographies of 2nd-century and early 3rd-century figures are included Hadrian's heir Aelius Caesar, and the usurpers Avidius Cassius, Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, Caracalla's brother Geta and Macrinus's son Diadumenianus. None of these pieces contain much in the way of solid information: all are marked by rhetorical padding and obvious fiction. (The biography of Marcus Aurelius's colleague Lucius Verus, which Mommsen thought 'secondary', is however rich in apparently reliable information and has been vindicated by Syme as belonging to the 'primary' series)^[7] The 'secondary' lives allowed the author to exercise free invention untrammelled by mere facts, and as the work proceeds these flights of fancy become ever more elaborate, climaxing in such virtuoso feats as the account of the 'Thirty Tyrants' said to have risen as usurpers under Gallienus. Moreover, after the biography of Caracalla the 'primary' biographies, of the emperors themselves, begin to assume the rhetorical and fictive qualities previously confined to the 'secondary' ones.^{[citation needed]} The biography of Macrinus is notoriously unreliable,^[8] and after a partial reversion to reliability in the Elagabalus, the life of Alexander Severus, one of the longest biographies in the entire work, develops into a kind of exemplary and rhetorical fable on the theme of the wise philosopher king.^[9] Clearly the author's previous sources had given out, but also his inventive talents were developing. He still makes use of some recognized sources – Herodian up to 238, and probably Dexippus in the later books, for the entire imperial period the Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte – but the biographies are increasingly tracts of invention in which occasional nuggets of fact are embedded.

Genre and purpose[link]

Interpretations of the purpose of the History also vary considerably, some considering it a work of fiction or satire intended to entertain (perhaps in the vein of 1066 and All That), others viewing it as a pagan attack on Christianity, the writer having concealed his identity for personal safety. Syme argued that it was a mistake to regard it as a historical work at all and that no clear propaganda purpose could be determined. In his view the History is primarily a literary product – an exercise in historical fiction (or 'fictional history') produced by a 'rogue scholiast' catering to (and making fun of) the antiquarian tendencies of the Theodosian age, in which Suetonius and Marius Maximus were fashionable reading and Ammianus Marcellinus was producing sober history in the manner of Tacitus. (The History implausibly makes the Emperor Tacitus (275-276) a descendant and connoisseur of the historian.) In fact in a passage on the Quadriga tyrannorum - the 'four-horse chariot of usurpers' said to have aspired to the purple in the reign of Probus - the History itself accuses Marius Maximus of being a producer of 'mythical history': homo omnium verbosissimus, qui et mythistoricis se voluminibis implicavit ('the most long-winded of men, who furthermore wrapped himself up in volumes of historical fiction'). The term mythistoricis occurs nowhere else in Latin.^[10] Of considerable significance in this regard is the opening section of the life of Aurelian, in which 'Flavius Vopiscus' records a supposed conversation he had with the City Prefect of Rome during the festival of Hilaria in which the Prefect urges him to write as he chooses and invent what he does not know.^[11]

Bogus documents and authorities[link]

A peculiarity of the work is its inclusion of a large number of purportedly authentic documents such as extracts from Senate proceedings and letters written by imperial personages.^{[citation needed]} Records like these are quite distinct from the rhetorical speeches often inserted by ancient historians – it was accepted practice for the writer to invent these himself – and on the few occasions when historians (such as Sallust in his work on Catiline or Suetonius in his Twelve Caesars) include such documents, they have generally been regarded as genuine; but almost all those found in the Historia Augusta have been rejected as fabrications, partly on stylistic grounds, partly because they refer to military titles or points of administrative organisation which are otherwise unrecorded until long after the purported date, or for other suspicious content. The History moreover cites dozens of otherwise unrecorded historians, biographers, letter-writers, knowledgeable friends of the writers, and so on, most of whom must be regarded as figments of the author's fertile and fraudulent imagination.^{[citation needed]}

Examples of falsehood: a small selection[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2011)

As indicated above, the untrustworthiness of the HA stems from the multifarious kinds of fraudulent (as opposed to simply inaccurate) information that run through the whole work, becoming ever more dominant as it proceeds. Species of fraudulence begin with the ascription of the various biographies to different invented 'authors', and continue with the dedicatory epistles to Diocletian and Constantine, the quotation of fabricated documents, the citation of non-existent authorities, the invention of persons (extending even to the subjects of some of the minor biographies), presentation of contradictory information to confuse an issue while making a show of objectivity, deliberately false statements, and the inclusion of material which can be shown to relate to events or personages of the late 4th century rather than the period supposedly being written about. Specific examples would be endless: the following, both minor and major in effect, are merely typical.^{[citation needed]}

• The biography of Geta states he was born at Mediolanum on 27 May; the year is not specified but it was 'in the suffect consulships of Severus and Vitellius'. He was actually born at Rome on 7 March 189; there was no such pair of suffect consuls in this or any other year.

• A letter of Hadrian written from Egypt to his brother-in-law Servianus is quoted at length (and was accepted as genuine by many authorities well into the 20th century). Servianus is saluted as consul, and Hadrian mentions his (adopted) son Lucius Aelius Caesar: but Hadrian was in Egypt in 130, Servianus's consulship fell in 134, and Hadrian adopted Aelius in 136. The letter is said to have been published by Hadrian's freedman Phlegon (whose existence is mentioned nowhere except in the HA, in another suspect passage). A passage in the letter dealing with the frivolousness of Egyptian religious beliefs refers to the Patriarch, head of the Jewish community in the Empire. This office only came into being after Hadrian put down the Jewish revolt of 132, and the passage is probably meant in mockery of the powerful late 4th-century Patriarch, Gamaliel. (See R. Syme, Emperors and Biography, pp. 21–24.) Christian theologian Joseph Barber Lightfoot argued for the authenticity of the letter since it doesn't state it was written in Egypt (132) and that an alternative date for the adoption of Aelius was on or before 134.^[12]

• Decius revives the office of Censor; the Senate acclaims Valerian as worthy to hold it in a decree dated 27 October 251. The decree is brought to Decius (on campaign against the Goths) and he summons Valerian to bestow the honour. The revival of the censorship is fictitious, and Decius had been dead for several months by the date stated. (Syme, op. cit., p. 215)

• Valerian writes to 'Zosimius', procurator of Syria (otherwise unknown) instructing him to furnish the young Claudius with military equipment including a pair of aclydes. The aclys (a kind of Homeric javelin) is a weapon only found in poetry (e.g. Virgil, Aeneid VII.730). (Syme, op. cit., p. 216)

• Valerian holds an imperial council in Byzantium, attended by several named dignitaries, none of them otherwise attested and some holding offices not known to exist till the following century, at which the general 'Ulpius Crinitus' (a name apparently chosen to evoke the military glories of the Emperor Trajan) takes the young Aurelian (destined to be another military Emperor) as his adopted son. There are no grounds to believe this is anything other than invention.

• In the Tyranni Triginta, the author 'Trebellius Pollio' sets out to chronicle 'the 30 usurpers who arose in the years when the Empire was ruled by Gallienus and Valerian' (I, 1). The number 30 is evidently modelled on the notorious 'Thirty Tyrants' who ruled Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War. The chapter contains 32 mini-biographies. They include two women, six youths, and seven men who never claimed the imperial power; one usurper of the reign of Maximinus Thrax, one of the time of Decius, and two of the time of Aurelian; and four who are entirely fictitious.

• The Emperor Tacitus is acclaimed by the Senate, meeting in the 'Curia Pompiliana' (no such building) and after orations by the consul 'Velius Cornificius Gordianus' (no such person) and 'Maecius Faltonius Nicomachus' (ditto: most of the 'Maecii' in the HA are invented), he goes to the Campus Martius and is presented to the troops by the Prefect of the City 'Aelius Cesettianus' (no such person) and the Praetorian Prefect 'Moesius Gallicanus' (ditto: the HA has several invented 'Gallicani'). Private letters commending Tacitus are quoted from the senators 'Autronius Tiberianus' and 'Claudius Sapilianus' (no reason to believe in them, either). (Syme, op. cit., pp. 238–239)

• In the Quadrigae Tyrannorum, the author includes Firmus, said to have been a usurper in Egypt under Aurelian. There is no certainty that this person ever existed, and the HA's wealth of detail about him is wilful invention: he would eat an ostrich a day, he had a carriage drawn by ostriches, he would swim among crocodiles, he built himself a palace out of cubes of glass, and so on.

• In the Life of Probus (Ch.XXIV, 1-3), the author 'Flavius Vopiscus of Syracuse' states that the Emperor's descendants (posteri) fled from Rome and settled near Verona. There a statue of Probus was struck by lightning, a portent according to soothsayers 'that future generations of the family would rise to such distinction in the senate they all would hold the highest posts', though Vopiscus (supposedly writing under Constantine) says this prophecy has not yet come to pass. This is one of the strongest indications of the HA's late fourth-century date, as it seems to be a fairly transparent allusion to the rich and powerful senator Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus (consul in 371) whose two sons held the consulship together in 395. Petronius Probus was born in Verona.

Marius Maximus or 'Ignotus'?[link]

Certain scholars have always defended the value of specific parts of the work. Anthony Birley has argued, for instance, that the lives up to Septimius Severus are based on the now-lost biographies of Marius Maximus, which were written as a sequel to Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars. As a result, his translation of the History for Penguin Books covers only the first half, and was published as Lives of the Later Caesars, Birley himself supplying biographies of Nerva and Trajan (these are not part of the original texts, which begin with Hadrian). His view (part of a tradition that goes back to J. J. Müller, who advanced Marius's claims as early as 1870) was vigorously contested by Syme, who held that virtually all the identifiable citations from Marius Maximus are more or less frivolous interpolations into the main narrative source, which he postulated was a different author whom he styled 'Ignotus ("the unknown one"), the good biographer'. He argued that as far as is known Marius did not write a biography of Lucius Verus, even though the biography of that prince in the History is mainly of good quality, and that 'Ignotus' only went up to Caracalla, as is revealed by the lamentable biography of Macrinus.

Historical value[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2011)

More than a century of criticism, argument and counter-argument have argued that the Augustan History is not a reliable source for the period that it purports to cover,^{[citation needed]} and it is especially unreliable in that era for which it is one of the very few written sources, the years 253–284.^{[citation needed]}

Inextricably entangled in its fictions and jokes, however – and especially in the earlier biographies – is a wealth of genuine historical information of which it is often the sole transmitter. For example, it is the sole ancient authority for the construction of the Antonine Wall in Scotland during the reign of Antoninus Pius.

Criticism of the current orthodox view[link]

It is worth considering that not all scholars have accepted the theory of a forger working around the last decades of the fourth century or beginning of the fifth. Arnaldo Momigliano and A.H.M. Jones^[13] were the most prominent critics of the Dessau-Syme theory amongst English-speaking scholars during the 20th century. Momigliano, summarizing literature from Dessau down to 1954, defined the question as “res iudicanda” and not as “res iudicata”. Momigliano reviewed every book published on the topic by Sir Ronald Syme, and was able to provide counter arguments to most if not all of Syme’s arguments^[14]. Recently Alan Cameron has been able to demolish all of Syme's and Barnes' arguments for a composition date c.395-400, suggesting a composition date between 361 to the 380s.^[15]

Bibliography[link]

An English translation of the complete work (by David Magie, London & Harvard 1932) with facing Latin text, is available in the Loeb Classical Library. Partial translation by Anthony Birley as Lives of the Later Caesars in Penguin Books.

• Norman H Baynes, The Historia Augusta. Its Date and Purpose (Oxford, 1926)
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. “An Unsolved Problem of Historical Forgery: The Scriptores Historiae Augustae.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 17, no. 1/2 (1954): 22-46. In JSTOR
• Ronald Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta (Oxford, 1968)
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. “Review: Ammianus and the Historia Augusta by Ronald Syme.” The English Historical Review 84, no. 332 (1969): 566-569. In JSTOR
• Ronald Syme, Emperors and Biography (Oxford, 1971)
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. “Review: Emperors and Biography. Studies in the Historia Augusta by Ronald Syme.” The English Historical Review 88, no. 346 (January 1, 1973): 114-115. In JSTOR
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. “Ammiano Marcellino e la Historia Augusta (a proposito del libro di Ronald Syme).” In Quinto contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico, 1:93-103. Roma, 1975.
• Ronald Syme, Historia Augusta Papers (Oxford, 1983)
• Alan Cameron, The Last Pagans of Rome (Oxford, 2011)

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Thirty Tyrants (Roman) – about the Tyranni Triginta, one of the books of the Historia Augusta
• Titus Aurelius Fulvus
• Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte

External links[link]

• Latin text and English translation at LacusCurtius
• Latin text with concordance and frequency list at the IntraText Digital Library
• Latin text at The Latin Library
• Livius.org: Introduction

Pat Robertson
Robertson during an Operation Blessing International appearance at Victory Fellowship Church in Metairie, Louisiana, providing relief to Hurricane Katrina victims (February 12, 2006)
Born	Marion Gordon Robertson (1930-03-22) March 22, 1930 (age 82) Lexington, Virginia, United States
Occupation	Televangelist
Spouse	Adelia Elmer
Children	Timothy Bryan Robertson Elizabeth Faith Robertson Gordon Perry Robertson Anne Carter Robertson
Parents	Absalom Willis Robertson Gladys Churchill

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930)^[1] is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who politically aligns himself with the Christian Right in the United States.

He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family Entertainment Inc., Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, CBN Asia and Regent University.^[1][2] He is the host of The 700 Club, a Christian TV program airing on channels throughout the United States and on CBN network affiliates worldwide.^[1]

The son of U.S. Senator A. Willis Robertson, Robertson is a Southern Baptist and was active as an ordained minister with that denomination for many years, but holds to a charismatic theology not traditionally common among Southern Baptists. He unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election.^[3] As a result of his seeking political office, he no longer serves in an official role for any church. His media and financial resources make him a recognized, influential, and controversial public voice for conservative Christianity in the United States.^[4]

Life and career[link]

Family[link]

Robertson was born in Lexington, Virginia, into a prominent political family. His parents were Absalom Willis Robertson, a conservative Democratic United States Senator, and his wife Gladys Churchill (née Willis). He married Adelia "Dede" Elmer on August 26, 1954. His family includes four children, among them Gordon P. Robertson and Tim Robertson and, as of mid-2005, 14 grandchildren.

At a young age, Robertson was nicknamed Pat by his six-year-old brother, Willis Robertson, Jr., who enjoyed patting him on the cheeks when he was a baby while saying "pat, pat, pat". As he got older, Robertson thought about which first name he would like people to use. He considered "Marion" to be effeminate, and "M. Gordon" to be affected, so he opted for his childhood nickname "Pat".^[4] His strong awareness for the importance of names in the creation of a public image showed itself again during his presidential run when he threatened to sue NBC news for calling him a "television evangelist", which later became "televangelist", at a time when Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker were objects of scandal.

Education and military service[link]

When he was eleven, Robertson was enrolled in the preparatory McDonogh School outside Baltimore, Maryland. From 1940 until 1946 he attended The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He graduated with honors and enrolled at Washington and Lee University, where he majored in history. The claim that he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa is not substantiated by the Phi Beta Kappa membership directory.^[5] He also joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Robertson has said, "Although I worked hard at my studies, my real major centered around lovely young ladies who attended the nearby girls schools."^[6]

In 1948, the draft was reinstated and Robertson was given the option of joining the Marine Corps or being drafted into the army; he opted for the first.

In his words, "We did long, grueling marches to toughen the men, plus refresher training in firearms and bayonet combat." In the same year, he transferred to Korea, "I ended up at the headquarters command of the First Marine Division," says Robertson. "The Division was in combat in the hot and dusty, then bitterly cold portion of North Korea just above the 38th Parallel later identified as the 'Punchbowl' and 'Heartbreak Ridge.' For that service in the Korean War, the Marine Corps awarded me three battle stars for 'action against the enemy.'"^[7]

However, former Republican Congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey, Jr., who served with Robertson in Korea, wrote a public letter which said that Robertson was actually spared combat duty when his powerful father, a U.S. Senator, intervened on his behalf, and that Robertson spent most of his time in an office in Japan. According to McCloskey, his time in the service was not in combat but as the "liquor officer" responsible for keeping the officers' clubs supplied with liquor. Robertson filed a $35 million libel suit against McCloskey in 1986.^[8] He dropped the case in 1988, before it came to trial and paid McCloskey's court costs.^[9]

Robertson was promoted to first lieutenant in 1952 upon his return to the United States. He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale University Law School in 1955. However, he failed to pass the bar exam,^[10] shortly thereafter underwent his religious conversion, and decided against pursuing a career in law. Instead, Robertson attended the New York Theological Seminary, and was awarded a Master of Divinity degree in 1959.

Religious career[link]

In 1956 Robertson found his faith through Dutch missionary Cornelius Vanderbreggen, who impressed Robertson both by his lifestyle and his message. Vanderbreggen quoted Proverbs (3:5, 6), "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths", which Robertson considers to be the "guiding principle" of his life. He was ordained as a minister of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1961.

In 1960, Robertson established the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He started it by buying a small UHF station in nearby Portsmouth. Later in 1977 he purchased a local Leased access cable TV channel in the Hampton Roads area and called it CBN. Originally he went door-to-door in Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads, and other surrounding areas asking Christians to buy cable boxes so that they could receive his new channel. He also canvassed local churches in the Virginia Beach area to do the same, and solicited donations through public speaking engagements at local churches and on CBN. One of his friends, John Giminez, the pastor of Rock Church Virginia Beach, was influential in helping Robertson establish CBN with donations, as well as offering the services of volunteers from his church.

CBN is now seen in 180 countries and broadcast in 71 languages. He founded the CBN Cable Network, which was renamed the CBN Family Channel in 1988 and later simply the Family Channel. When the Family Channel became too profitable for Robertson to keep it under the CBN umbrella without endangering CBN's non-profit status, he formed International Family Entertainment Inc. in 1990 with the Family Channel as its main subsidiary. Robertson sold the Family Channel to the News Corporation in 1997, which renamed it Fox Family. A condition of the sale was that the station would continue airing Robertson's television program, The 700 Club, twice a day in perpetuity, regardless of any changes of ownership. The channel is now owned by Disney and run as "ABC Family". On December 3, 2007, Robertson resigned as chief executive of CBN; he was succeeded by his son, Gordon.^[11]

Robertson founded CBN University in 1977 on CBN's Virginia Beach campus. It was renamed Regent University in 1989. Robertson serves as its chancellor. He is also founder and president of the American Center for Law and Justice, a public interest law firm that defends Christians whose First Amendment rights have allegedly been violated. The law firm, headquartered in the same building that houses Regent's law school, focuses on "pro-family, pro-liberty and pro-life" cases nationwide.

Robertson is also an advocate of Christian dominionism — the idea that Christians have a right to rule.^[12]

In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

Pat Robertson was a fundraiser for the Nicaraguan Contras. In March 1986, he told Israeli Foreign Affairs that South Africa was a major contributor to the Reagan administration's efforts to help the anti-Sandinista forces.^[13]

1988 presidential bid[link]

In September 1986, Robertson announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Robertson said he would pursue the nomination only if three million people signed up to volunteer for his campaign by September 1987. Three million responded, and by the time Robertson announced he would be running in September 1987, he also had raised millions of dollars for his campaign fund. He surrendered his ministerial credentials and turned leadership of CBN over to his son, Tim. His campaign, however, against incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, was seen as a long shot.

Robertson ran on a standard conservative platform. Among his policies, he wanted to ban pornography, reform the education system, and eliminate departments such as the Department of Education and the Department of Energy. He also supported a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.

Robertson's campaign got off to a strong second-place finish in the Iowa caucus, ahead of Bush.^[14] He did poorly in the subsequent New Hampshire primary, however, and was unable to be competitive once the multiple-state primaries began. Robertson ended his campaign before the primaries were finished. His best finish was in Washington, winning the majority of caucus delegates.^[15][16] He later spoke at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans and told his remaining supporters to cast their votes for Bush, who ended up winning the nomination and the election. He then returned to CBN and has remained there as a religious broadcasting broadcaster.

Books[link]

Episcopalian professor of theology Ephraim Radner accuses Robertson of espousing anti-semitic beliefs in the book:

In his published writings, especially his 1991 book The New World Order, Pat Robertson has propagated theories about a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. Michael Land raised the issue in February in The New York Times Book Review, and in April Jacob Heilbrun, writing in The New York Review of Books, cited chapter and verse of Robertson's borrowings from well-known anti-Semitic works.^[17]

Business interests[link]

Robertson is the founder and chairman of The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Inc., and founder of International Family Entertainment Inc., Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, American Center for Law and Justice, The Flying Hospital, Inc. and several other organizations and broadcast entities. Robertson was the founder and co-chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc. (IFE).

Formed in 1990, IFE produced and distributed family entertainment and information programming worldwide. IFE's principal business was The Family Channel, a satellite delivered cable-television network with 63 million U.S. subscribers. IFE, a publicly held company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was sold in 1997 to Fox Kids Worldwide, Inc. for $1.9 billion, whereupon it was renamed Fox Family Channel. Disney acquired FFC in 2001 and its name was changed again, to ABC Family.

Robertson is a global businessman with media holdings in Asia, the United Kingdom, and Africa. He struck a deal with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based General Nutrition Center to produce and market a weight-loss shake he created and promoted on The 700 Club.

In 1999, Robertson entered into a joint venture with the Bank of Scotland to provide financial services in the United States. However, the move was met with criticism in the UK due to Robertson's views on homosexuality. Robertson commented that “In Europe, the big word is tolerance. You tolerate everything. Homosexuals are riding high in the media ... And in Scotland, you can't believe how strong the homosexuals are." Shortly afterward, the Bank of Scotland canceled the venture.^[18][19]

Robertson's extensive business interests have earned him a net worth estimated between $200 million and $1 billion.^[20]

A fan of Thoroughbred horse racing, Robertson paid $520,000 for a colt he named Mr. Pat. Trained by John Kimmel, Mr. Pat was not a successful runner. He was nominated for, but did not run in, the 2000 Kentucky Derby.^[21][22]

According to a June 2, 1999, article in The Virginian-Pilot,^[23] Robertson had extensive business dealings with Liberian president Charles Taylor. According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia's mineral-rich countryside. According to two Operation Blessing pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson's mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. In response to Taylor's alleged crimes against humanity, the United States Congress passed a bill In November 2003 that offered two million dollars for his capture. Robertson accused President George W. Bush of "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country." At the time Taylor was harboring Al Qaeda operatives who were funding their operations through the illegal diamond trade.^[24] On February 4, 2010, at his war crimes trial in the Hague, Taylor testified that Robertson was his main political ally in the U.S., and that he had volunteered to make Liberia's case before U.S. administration officials in exchange for concessions to Robertson's Freedom Gold, Ltd., to which Taylor gave a contract to mine gold in southeast Liberia.^[25] In 2010, a spokesman for Robertson said that the company's arrangements — in which the Liberian government got a 10 percent equity interest in the company and Liberians could purchase at least 15 percent of the shares after the exploration period — were similar to many American companies doing business in Africa at the time.^[26]

Political activism[link]

After his unsuccessful presidential campaign, Robertson started the Christian Coalition, a 1.7 million member Christian right organization that campaigned mostly for conservative candidates.^[4] It was sued by the Federal Election Commission "for coordinating its activities with Republican candidates for office in 1990, 1992 and 1994 and failing to report its expenditures".^[27]

In 1994, the Coalition was fined for "improperly [aiding] then Representative Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and Oliver North, who was then the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia."^[28] Robertson left the Coalition in 2001.

Robertson has been a governing member of the Council for National Policy (CNP): Board of Governors 1982, President Executive Committee 1985–86, member, 1984, 1988, 1998.^[29]

On November 7, 2007, Robertson announced that he was endorsing Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican nominee in the 2008 Presidential election.^[30]

While usually associated with the political right, Pat Robertson has endorsed environmental causes. He appeared in a commercial with Al Sharpton, joking about this, and urging people to join the We can Solve it Campaign against global warming.^[31]

In January 2009, on a broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson stated that he is "adamantly opposed" to the division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians. He also stated that Armageddon is "not going to be fought at Megiddo" but will be the "battle of Jerusalem," when "the forces of all nations come together and try to take Jerusalem away from the Jews. Jews are not going to give up Jerusalem — they shouldn't — and the rest of the world is going to insist they give it up." Robertson added that Jerusalem is a "spiritual symbol that must not be given away" because "Jesus Christ the Messiah will come down to the part of Jerusalem that the Arabs want," and that's "not good."^[32]

Robertson has repeatedly called for the legalization of marijuana, saying that it should be treated in a manner analogous to the regulation of alcohol and tobacco.^[33] Robertson has said, "I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hard-core criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of controlled substance. The whole thing is crazy."^[34]

Controversies and criticisms[link]

Robertson has made numerous statements on a wide-range of issues that have attracted criticism. Some of his remarks, such as those concerning the September 11th attacks, have been condemned by sitting Presidents and have been the subject of national and international media attention. Despite a long history of often extremely controversial statements, Robertson has remained a powerful figure both religiously and politically.

Controversies surrounding Robertson include his earlier work as a faith healer,^[35] his claim that some Protestant denominations harbor the spirit of the Antichrist,^[36] and his claims of having the power to deflect hurricanes through prayer;^[37] he has also denounced Hinduism as "demonic"^[38] and Islam as "Satanic."^[39] Robertson has issued multiple condemnations of feminism,^[40] homosexuality,^[41] abortion^[42] and liberal college professors.^[43] Robertson also had financial ties to former presidents Charles Taylor^[44] of Liberia and Mobutu Sese Seko^[24] of Zaire, both internationally denounced for their human rights violations. Robertson was criticized worldwide for his call for Hugo Chavez’s assassination^[24] and for his remarks concerning Ariel Sharon's health as an act of God.^[45] Robertson made American national news in October 2003 for interviews with author Joel Mowbray about his book "Dangerous Diplomacy", a book critical of the United States Department of State. Robertson made suggestions that the explosion of a nuclear weapon at State Department Headquarters would be good for the country, and repeated those comments on the air.^[46]

The week of September 11, 2001, Robertson discussed the terror attacks with Jerry Falwell, who said that "the ACLU has to take a lot of blame for this" in addition to "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians [who have] helped [the terror attacks of September 11th] happen." Robertson replied, "I totally concur."^[47] Both evangelists came under attack from President George W. Bush for their statements,^[48] for which Falwell later issued an apology.^[49]

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina killed 1,836 people, Robertson implied on the September 12th broadcast of The 700 Club that the storm was God's punishment in response to America's abortion policy. He suggested that September 11 and the disaster in New Orleans "could... be connected in some way".^[50]

On November 9, 2009, Robertson said that Islam is "a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination." He went on to elaborate that "you're dealing with not a religion, you're dealing with a political system, and I think we should treat it as such, and treat its adherents as such as we would members of the communist party, members of some fascist group."^[51]

Robertson's response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake also drew controversy and condemnation.^[52][53] Robertson claimed that Haiti's founders had sworn a "pact to the Devil" in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners and indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being "cursed" for doing so.^[54][55] CBN later issued a statement saying that Robertson's comments "were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Dutty Boukman at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French."^[56][57] Various prominent voices of mainline and evangelical^[58] Christianity promptly denounced Robertson's remarks as false, untimely, insensitive, and not representative of Christian thought on the issue.^[52][59]

Predictions[link]

Several times near New Year, Robertson has announced that God told him several truths or events that would happen in the following year. "I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss."^[60]

1982: Doomsday[link]

In late 1976, Robertson predicted that the end of the world was coming in October or November 1982. In a May 1980 broadcast of The 700 Club he stated, "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world."^[61]

In September 2011, Robertson and several others who incorrectly predicted various dates for the end of world were jointly awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for "teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations".^[62][63]

2004: Bush landslide[link]

In January 2004, Robertson said that God told him President Bush will be re-elected in a "blowout" in November. "I think George Bush is going to win in a walk," Robertson told viewers of his "700 Club" program. "I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way."^[64] Bush did in fact win re-election, but not in a landslide. The 2004 race between Bush and Kerry was one of the closest large elections in history.^[65]

2006: Pacific Northwestern tsunami[link]

In May 2006, Robertson declared that storms and possibly a tsunami would hit America's coastline sometime in 2006. Robertson supposedly received this revelation from God during an annual personal prayer retreat in January. The claim was repeated four times on The 700 Club.

On May 8, 2006, Robertson said, "If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms." On May 17, 2006, he elaborated, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."^[66] While this claim didn't garner the same level of controversy as some of his other statements, it was generally received with mild amusement by the Pacific Northwest media. The History Channel's initial airing of its new series, Mega Disasters, debut episode "West Coast Tsunami", was broadcast the first week of May.

2007: Terror attack[link]

On the January 2, 2007, broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson said that God spoke to him and told him that "mass killings" were to come during 2007, due to a terrorist attack on the United States. He added, "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."^[67] When a terrorist attack failed to happen in 2007, Robertson said, in January 2008, "All I can think is that somehow the people of God prayed and God in his mercy spared us."^[68]

2008: Worldwide violence and American recession[link]

On the January 2, 2008 episode of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson predicted that 2008 would be a year of worldwide violence. He also predicted that a recession would occur in the United States that would be followed by a stock market crash by 2010.^[68] However, there was a decrease in overall deaths for the period,^[69] and the American economy had already entered a recession in 2007, with increased household debt^[70] and the collapse of financial institutions.^[71]

2008: Mideast meltdown[link]

In October 2008, Robertson posted a press release on the Georgian Conflict speculating that the conflict is a Russian ploy to enter the Middle East, and that instability caused by a predicted pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran would result in Syria's and Iran's launching nuclear strikes on other targets. He also said that if the United States were to oppose Russia's expansion, nuclear strikes on American soil are also pending. "We will suffer grave economic damage, but will not engage in military action to stop the conflict. However, we may not be spared nuclear strikes against coastal cities. In conclusion, it is my opinion that we have between 75 and 120 days before the Middle East starts spinning out of control."^[72]

2009: Economic chaos and recovery[link]

On the January 1, 2009 broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson said, "If I'm hearing [God] right, gold will go to about $1900 an ounce and oil to $300 a barrel." He also suggested that Americans would broadly accept socialism. Despite these predictions, he also said that economically, "things are getting ready to turn around."^[73]

2012: Presidential Election[link]

On January 4, 2012, Robertson reported that God had spoke to him and he "thinks He showed me the next president" but wouldn't name who it is.^[74] He did give an indication that it wouldn't be President Obama since Robertson said God told him Obama's views were at "odds with the majority", but left some room for interpretation if the 2012 election expands beyond a two-person race.^[75]

Works[link]

• Shout it from the Housetops an autobiography with Jamie Buckingham (1972, repr 1995)
• The Secret Kingdom (1982)
• Answers to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions (1984)
• Beyond Reason: How Miracles can Change your Life (1985)
• America's Dates with Destiny (1986)
• The Plan (1989)
• The New Millennium (1990)
• The New World Order (1991)
• Turning Tide: The Fall of Liberalism and the Rise of Common Sense (1993) ISBN 978-0-8499-0972-6
• The End of the Age (1995, fiction)
• Bring It on: Tough Questions, Candid Answers, Nashville, Tenn: W Pub. Group, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8499-1801-8
• The Ten Offenses (2004)
• Courting Disaster (2004)

See also[link]

Biography portal

• The 700 Club
• Christian Broadcasting Network
• Christian right
• Christian fundamentalism
• Christian Coalition of America
• Christian Zionism
• Moral majority
• Operation Blessing

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Boston, Robert (1996). The Most Dangerous Man in America: Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-053-7. 
• Harrell, Jr., David Edwin (2010). Pat Robertson: A Life and Legacy. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub.. ISBN 978-0-8028-6384-3. 
• David John Marley. Pat Robertson: An American Life

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pat Robertson

	Wikinews has news coverage of Pat Robertson:
US televangelist Pat Robertson apologizes for assassination remark Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warns Pennsylvania town of disaster Televangelist Pat Robertson suggests Sharon's stroke is act of God in response to Gaza withdrawal

• Official Pat Robertson Website
• Brian Ross. Some Question Robertson's Katrina Charity, ABC News, September 9, 2005.
• "Preacher: God told him about storms, tsunami"
• "Pat Robertson Denounces Hinduism as 'Demonic'"
• 2000 lbs. leg press
• Robertson talks about his prostate cancer surgery with Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy
• NPR Audio Report: Televangelist Robertson Urges U.S. Hit on Chavez
• Archive of American Television interview with Pat Robertson

Order from Chaos was an extreme metal band formed in 1987 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA by Pete Helmkamp, Chuck Keller and Mike Miller. They are recognised as being an extremely influential group in the early US black metal scene, and served as a launching pad for its band members that went on to form such groups as Angelcorpse, Ares Kingdom, Revenge, Vulpecula, and Kerasphorus.

Biography[link]

Order from Chaos, a trio consisting of Pete Helmkamp (vocals/bass), Chuck Keller (guitar) and Mike Miller (drums), was formed in Kansas City, Missouri during 1987, playing a mixture of old school thrash, black and death metal, influenced by the likes of Venom, Bathory and Celtic Frost.^[1] The band released a trio of demos in 1988, until a fourth (Crushed Infamy), which sold 1000 copies, attracted the attention of Putrefaction Records who released the Will to Power 7" EP, limited to 1100 copies. The band then signed a record deal with Wild Rags in 1989, who released cassette versions of the Crushed Infamy demo and Will to Power.^[2][3] A final demo, Alienus Sum, was released in 1992 by the band, featuring three rough mixes from their delayed debut album and a couple of rehearsal tracks; an official cassette version of the demo was released through Chilean label Hexateuc Torment.

Despite being recorded in April/May 1991, Order from Chaos' debut album, Stillbirth Machine, was finally released in 1993 through Wild Rags, despite the label dropping the band in November 1992.^[3] Around the same time, the album was also released by Greek label Decapitated Records (now Unisound Productions). This version, which differs from the Wild Rags in terms of artwork and layout and contains numerous textual errors, is apparently considered a bootleg version by the band.^[3] The album was given official re-releases by Osmose Productions in 1998 (including the Crushed Infamy demo) and Nuclear War Now! in 2008 (on both black and clear yellow vinyl). The album has reviewed some critical acclaim; Terrorizer included it in their "top 40 death metal albums you must hear", at number 40. James Hoare commented, "The blasphemous babysteps of Peter Helmkamp, [...] Order from Chaos courted black metal's glass shards of spite and embittered, semi-mystical worldview in an ear when the two genres were defined by their opposition, setting down the foundations for further esoteric and impenetrable coupling.".^[4]

A series of further EPs were recorded and released throughout 1994 on various labels (Jericho Trumpet on Gestapo, Live: Into Distant Fears on Eternal Darkness and Plateau of Invincibility on Shivadarshana), followed by a second full-length, Dawn Bringer, on Shivadarshana, before the band decided to call it quits in 1995.^[1] After Shivardashana folded, French label Osmose picked up tracks recorded in 1995 for Order from Chaos' third and final album and released An Ending in Fire in 1998, as well as re-releasing their debut.

Pete Helmkamp went on to form death metal act Angelcorpse, as well as writing a book on occultism, entitled The Conqueror Manifesto: Capricornus Teitan.^[1] Chuck Keller and Mike Miller went on to form retro black/thrash band Ares Kingdom and blackened death metal act Vulpecula. With interest in Order from Chaos still prevalent in the extreme metal underground, Merciless records released a compilation of demos, 1994 live tracks and rehearsal sessions, entitled Imperium - The Apocalyptic Visions, in July 2005.

Last known line-up[link]

• Pete Helmkamp (vocals, bass)
• Chuck Keller (guitar)
• Mike Miller (drums)

Discography[link]

Demos[link]

• Demo I (self-released, January 1988)
• Inhumanities (self-released, July 1988)
• Rehearsal (self-released, 1988)
• Crushed Infamy (Wild Rags, July 1989)
• Alienus Sum (self-released, 1992; reissued by Hexateuc Torment, 1994)

EPs[link]

• Will to Power (EP, Putrefaction / Wild Rags, 1990)
• Jericho Trumpet (7" EP, Gestapo, 1994)
• Live: Into Distant Fears (7" EP, Eternal Darkness, 1994)
• Plateau of Invincibility (10" EP, Shivadarshana, 1994)
• Pain Lengthens Time (unreleased EP, 1994; included with the Dawnbringer CD)
• And I Saw Eternity (EP, Ground Zero / Shivadarshana, 1996)

Full-length LPs[link]

• Stillbirth Machine (Wild Rags, 1993; reissued by Osmose, 1998; reissued by Nuclear War Now!, 2008)
• Dawn Bringer (Shivadarshana, 1995; reissed by Fifth Division, 2003)
• An Ending in Fire (Osmose, 1998; reissued by Nuclear War Now!, 2008)
• Imperium - The Apocalyptic Visions (compilation, Merciless, 2005)

References[link]

D. M. Murdock, better known^[1][2] by her pen name Acharya S, is an American author and proponent of the Christ myth theory.^[3] She has authored six books and operates a website named Truth be Known. She argues that Christianity is founded on earlier myths and the characters depicted in Christianity are based upon Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other myths.^[4]

Early life[link]

According to her website, Murdock received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics, Greek Civilization, from Franklin and Marshall College, after which, she spent a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece.^[5]

Career[link]

As a writer she publishes under the title of acharya, a term from Hinduism usually denoting the formal head of a monastery, sect, or subsect, or a teacher who initiates a disciple into a movement.^[6]

In 1999, as Acharya S. she published her first book, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, arguing the concept of Jesus Christ as myth. She states the Christ story is a fabrication.^[3] In 2001, Acharya S. wrote the Foreword to a new edition of Kersey Graves's The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviours: Christianity Before Christ.

A follow-up book, Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled, was published in 2004. Acharya comments on the Hindu story of the life of Krishna, as well as the life of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). She claims parallels to the Christian stories of the life of Jesus as evidence that the story of Jesus was written based on existing stories, and not the life of a real man. Suns of God (with a foreword by author and theologian W. Sumner Davis) also seeks to address some of the criticisms leveled at Christ Conspiracy.^[7]

Acharya S. founded Seattle based Stellar House Publishing in 2005 through which she self-publishes a number of her books. According to the website, they claim to specialise in "Archaeology, History, Astrotheology, Mythology and Religion".^[8]

In 2005–06 she was one of fifty Fellows of The Council for Secular Humanism's Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER).^[9]

Her 2007 book, Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ continues the theme of The Christ Conspiracy by expanding her theory questioning the historical validity of Jesus Christ alleging "early Christian history to be largely mythical, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data."^[10]

In 2009 she released Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection and The Gospel According to Acharya S.^[11] Her work was used extensively in part 1 of the original movie Zeitgeist. She also acted as consultant only for part 1 of the movie.^[12]

In her various books, Acharya describes the New Testament as a work of mythic fiction within a historical setting. She claims that the story of Jesus Christ is a retelling of various pagan myths, representing "astrotheology," or the story of the Sun, and also incorporates the science of archaeoastronomy. She asserts the pagans understood the stories to be myths, but Christians obliterated evidence to the contrary by destroying and controlling literature when they attained control of the Roman Empire, which led to widespread illiteracy in the ancient world, ensuring the mythical nature of Christ's story was hidden.^[13]

Acharya S. compares Jesus' history to other "Saviour gods" such as Mithra, Horus, Adonis, Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, and Odin, claiming the similarities result from a common source: the myth of the sun-god or solar deity.^[14]

Popular reception[link]

Acharya S.'s positions have received criticism by Christian apologists, notably Mike Licona^[15] and James Patrick Holding,^[16] to whom she published a rejoinder.^[17] She was also attacked by Joel McDurmon,^[18] as well as atheist activist and fellow Christ mythicist Richard Carrier.^[19] Acharya S likewise produced a rejoinder to Carrier's critique.^[20] Glenn Peoples critiqued ideas and claims found in Zeitgeist: The Movie which were largely influenced by Acharya S's writings as unscholarly and demonstrably historically inaccurate.^[21] Theologian Robert M. Price, who is sympathetic to the Christ myth hypothesis, wrote a critical review of Murdock's first book.^[22] He has, however, retracted it previously from his website, for reasons unknown currently. He has been supportive of her subsequent work, promoting Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled in a recommended reading list^[23] along with promoting the same book in The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts,^[24] penning the foreword to Who Was Jesus: Fingerprints of the Christ and writing a positive review of Christ in Egypt.^[25] The Christ Conspiracy received a favourable review from author Earl Doherty.^[26]

Acharya S's presentation of Christianity as a "conspiracy" has drawn positive attention from other conspiracy theorists and critics of Christianity. In his book You Are Being Lied To, Russ Kick describes The Christ Conspiracy as "an essential book for anyone who wants to know the reality behind the world's dominant religion."^[27] In a book on American conspiracy theorists, Kenn Thomas calls her a "great chronicler of the conspiracy known as Christianity."^[28]

Acharya has been interviewed on a variety of radio stations,^[29] including the Alan Colmes Show. She also appears on less well known podcasts, such as Black Op Radio,^[30] and Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis.^[31] She has been interviewed in Paranoia magazine^[14] and by The Progressive Observer.^[32]

In his book In Search of Jesus, Baptist comparative religion scholar Clinton Bennett describes her views as being similar to those of radical freethinker Robert Taylor (nicknamed "the Devil's chaplain"), secularist MP and fellow Christ mythicist John M. Robertson, and American mythographer Joseph Campbell.^[33]

Publications[link]

• Murdock, D.M. (as Acharya S) (1999). The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 0-932813-74-7. 
• Murdock, D.M. (as Acharya S) (2004). Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 1-931882-31-2. 
• Murdock, D.M. (2007). Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-0-0. 
• Murdock, D.M. (2009). Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-1-7. 
• Murdock, D.M. (2009). The Gospel According to Acharya S. Stellar House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799631-2-4. 

See also[link]

• Bible conspiracy theory
• Christ myth theory
• Helena Blavatsky
• Historicity of Jesus
• Pseudohistory
• Zeitgeist: The Movie

References[link]

External links[link]

• Truth be Known Acharya S' web site
• Acharya S' blog
• Stellar House Publishing
• Free Thought Nation News site / blog by Acharya S
• Video interview with Acharya S on Conscious Media Network
• Documented Sources for Zeitgeist Part One
• Response to Richard Dawkins on Zeitgeist Part One
• Response to Richard Carrier on Zeitgeist Part One