Summary
Summary of Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Sacred stories have older relatives
T. W. Doane sets out to question the idea that the Bible stands apart from other religious traditions. He places its stories beside those of Egypt, India, Persia, Greece and Rome, looking for shared patterns in the lives of gods and heroes.
His argument ranges from creation and the flood to the birth, teaching, death and rising of Jesus. These comparisons serve a clear purpose: to show that biblical beliefs grew within a world already rich in sacred stories.
Key idea 2
Genesis belongs to a shared world
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Key idea 3
Extraordinary births signal extraordinary lives
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Key idea 4
Savior figures follow familiar patterns
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Key idea 5
Death and return need careful comparison
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Key idea 6
Church practices have a wider setting
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Key idea 7
Equal scrutiny requires reliable evidence
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Key idea 8
Keep the questions and the caution
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About 18 h 20 min to read.Who it’s for
For readers who love comparative religion, the history of religious doubt, and debates over the Bible, with an interest in shared stories of creation, floods, gods and heroes.
What this book is
Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions is a book of argument by T. W. Doane, an American writer who published it in the early 1880s. His aim is blunt. He wants to show that many stories, titles and beliefs found in the Bible, and above all in the life of Jesus, had close relatives in older religions of Egypt, India, Persia, Greece and Rome.
The book gathers its evidence in lists. It sets the birth, teaching, death and rising of Christian tradition beside the tales told of gods and heroes such as Krishna, Buddha, Osiris, Mithra and Dionysus. It also looks at the Old Testament stories of creation, a great flood and a fall from paradise. You get a view into how nineteenth century critics read scripture, and into a debate that has not gone away. Let us begin with the claim that the Bible grew in a crowded world of older stories.
In this summary
- 1The Bible grew among older storiesFree
- 2Divine births are a common pattern
- 3Savior gods share a life story
- 4Death and rising are an old theme
- 5Doctrines and rites have older roots
- 6The case has been tested and challenged
Key point 1 of 6
The Bible grew among older stories
Doane starts from a simple idea. No religion appears out of nothing, and the Hebrew scriptures were written by people who lived beside Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians. He argues that the earliest Bible stories carry marks of those neighbors. The tales of creation, of a garden with a forbidden tree, and of a flood that wipes out the world all have cousins in other lands.
The flood is one of his main cases. Nineteenth century scholars had recently read Babylonian tablets that told of a great deluge, a chosen man, and a boat. Doane seizes on this to say that the Genesis account was not a unique report of history. In his view it belonged to a shared stock of Near Eastern tradition, retold in a Hebrew voice. This part of his case stands on firmer ground than most of the book, because later scholars also see links between Genesis and Mesopotamian texts.
He also points to the habit of nations to say that their law and their customs came straight from heaven. He wants the reader to apply one standard to all sacred books. This is the engine of the whole work: if we doubt the myths of others, we should be willing to doubt our own.
For a modern reader, the lesson is about method as much as content. Doane invites you to ask where a story came from, who else told it, and what it meant before it entered scripture. You may not accept his conclusions. The questions are still the ones that students of religion ask today.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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How does Doane understand the Genesis flood story?
Right. “In his view it belonged to a shared stock of Near Eastern tradition, retold in a Hebrew voice.”Not quite. “In his view it belonged to a shared stock of Near Eastern tradition, retold in a Hebrew voice.”
What pattern does Doane see in stories of miraculous births?
Right. “People in many cultures felt that a being of special worth must have a special beginning, and they described that beginning in familiar terms.”Not quite. “People in many cultures felt that a being of special worth must have a special beginning, and they described that beginning in familiar terms.”
Why have later scholars criticized Doane's comparisons?
Right. “Some of the parallels he lists do not appear in the original texts at all, and others come from sources written after Christianity began.”Not quite. “Some of the parallels he lists do not appear in the original texts at all, and others come from sources written after Christianity began.”
Go deeper: the whole of Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions
About 18 h 20 min to read.Questions about Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions
What is Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions about?
It argues that many Bible stories and Christian beliefs, such as miraculous births, savior figures and a risen god, have older counterparts in religions of India, Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. Doane uses these matches to question the uniqueness of the Christian story.
Who was T. W. Doane?
Doane was an American author of the nineteenth century who wrote from a freethinking point of view. He died in 1885, and this book is his best known work, drawing on popular scholarship and comparative studies of his time.
Are the parallels in Doane's book accurate?
Some are sound, such as links between the Genesis flood and Babylonian flood tales. Many others are exaggerated or rest on late or unreliable sources, so modern scholars treat the book with caution and recommend checking each claim.
When was Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions written?
It was published in the early 1880s, a time of growing interest in comparative religion, new translations of Eastern texts, and Babylonian discoveries. Doane wrote it as an argument, not a neutral survey of the evidence.
Is Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions worth reading?
It is worth reading as a record of nineteenth century skepticism and as a source of questions about borrowed stories.
Cite this edition
Doane, T. W. Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/bible-myths-and-their-parallels-in-other-religions.
Doane, T. W. (2026). Bible myths and their parallels in other religions. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/bible-myths-and-their-parallels-in-other-religions (Original work published 1882)
Doane, T. W. Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/bible-myths-and-their-parallels-in-other-religions.
@book{doane2026bible,
author = {Doane, T. W.},
title = {Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/bible-myths-and-their-parallels-in-other-religions},
note = {First published 1882}
}
