Richard Carrier covers a lot of ground in this article, attempting to summarize and perhaps expand upon a recent debate he had with a particularly ignorant Afro-centrist, one Brother Jabari.
Among the topics covered: Jewish borrowing from Zoroastrianism, the character of Zoroastrianism itself, the origins of mystery religions in general and the Dionysus cult in particular, the (unknown?) origins of the dying-and-rising god meme, the difference between original Egyptian religion and Hellenistic ditto, the nature of Christianity as a Judeo-Hellenic syncretism, and how to demonstrate cultural diffusion. More in passing, he also disses a certain Herodotus.
Not sure how Afro-centrism can survive this flexing of intellectual muscle, but there you go! OK, Afro-centrism is actually a much broader concept than just the idea that Christianity "stole" its ideas from ancient Egypt, so there´s that...
Still, an interesting tour de force in its own right.
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