Psychedelics Influenced Christianity? Responding to Brian Muraresku and Lex Fridman

Summary

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Episode Overview

Title: Psychedelics Influenced Christianity? Responding to Brian Muraresku and Lex Fridman
Host: Michael Horton
Date: July 1, 2025

In this episode of Know What You Believe, Michael Horton critically examines claims made by author Brian Muraresku (in conversation with Lex Fridman) regarding the alleged influence of psychedelics and Greek mystery cults—particularly Dionysian practices—on the origins of Christianity. Horton unpacks Muraresku’s arguments and investigates the validity of proposed links between ancient psychedelic rituals and core Christian beliefs, specifically focusing on the historical and theological context of early Christianity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brian Muraresku’s Thesis ([01:45]–[04:14])

• Muraresku’s Focus: Muraresku outlines his 12-year quest for scientific evidence of psychedelic substances used ritually in classical antiquity, positing possible connections to early Christianity.
  • Quote:

    “It’s my 12 year search for the hard scientific data for the ritual use of psychedelics in classical antiquity... what looks like a kind of psychedelic wine just outside pompeii from the 1st century AD at the right place, at the right time, when the earliest Christians were showing up in Italy.”
    – Brian Muraresku [01:45]

• He references academic predecessors and mentions discoveries of substances like ergot-based LSD and psychoactive beer and wine in ancient Roman and Greek religious contexts.

2. The Pagan Context: Mystery Cults, Dionysus, and Ritual Intoxication

• Horton’s Scholarly Affirmation (with Caveats):
  • Acknowledges that psychedelic and narcotic use was present in Greco-Roman cults (e.g., Asclepius, Dionysus).
    • Quote:

      “They would have cocaine and it would fill the room with steam. There was LSD... numerous bowls of poppy in caves where mystery religions emerged.... So there definitely was some help, let’s say a little magic in the room for some of these groups.”
      – Mike Horton [03:09]

  • Stresses these practices are not evidence of continuity or direct influence on Christianity.

3. Were Psychedelics Used by Early Christians? ([04:21]–[09:32])

• Muraresku’s Argument:
  • Claims it’s critical to understand Jesus and early Christianity via the lens of ancient Greek culture and the psychoactive “sacred pharmacopoeia.”
  • Asserts parallels between Dionysian wine rituals (consuming ‘the god’ in wine) and Christian sacraments.
    • Quote:

      “The sacramental drinking of the wine was interpreted ... as consuming the God himself in order to become one, one with the God. This is where we get the idea of enthusiasm... to be filled with the spirit of the God.”
      – Brian Muraresku [05:32]

• Horton’s Response:
  • Emphasizes the New Testament’s strict complaints and prohibitions against pagan ritual intoxication or ecstasy.
  • Points out clear distinctions:
    • Early Christians viewed such behavior as demonic, requiring exorcism at baptism.
    • Paul’s instructions to avoid drunkenness, and value sobriety and intelligibility in worship (cf. Ephesians 5:18; Corinthians).
    • Theologically and ritually, early Christians sought self-control versus the loss of control in pagan rites.
    • Quote:

      “Christians wanted to be in control of themselves in public worship because they wanted to hear and understand the word of God... They were certainly not getting drunk.... There just isn't any historical evidence to suggest that there is any link at all between the Dionysian cult or any Greco Roman cult and Christianity.”
      – Mike Horton [06:45]

4. Interpretation of John’s Gospel and Wine Imagery ([10:22]–[14:23])

• Muraresku’s Parallel:
  • Leans heavily on Dennis MacDonald and classicist comparisons between Jesus and Dionysus.
  • Points to the Wedding at Cana as a mythic echo of Dionysian “water into wine” miracles, reinforcing his “visionary continuity” hypothesis.
    • Quote:

      “Once you start to analyze the Greek of John’s Gospel, it seems to be a presentation of Jesus very much in the guise of Dionysus. The most obvious example is the wedding at Cana...”
      – Brian Muraresku [10:22]

• Horton’s Historical Rebuttal:
  • The Gospel of John is rooted in Jewish festivals and the Old Testament—not Greek mythic cycles.
  • References Rudolf Bultmann’s outdated theory of Gnostic influence and notes the scholarly consensus against it.
    • Quote:

      “If you want to talk about turning water into wine ... Jewish culture was pretty fine about wine. And the imagery ... goes back centuries in Israel’s history. It is a sign of the new kingdom coming that it’s full of gladness and hope. And so you find that very positive view of wine in the Old Testament as well, where there obviously was no influence of the Dionysian cult whatsoever.”
      – Mike Horton [11:04]

  • Stresses that similarity (“wine” in both Dionysus and Christianity) does not demonstrate connection (“analogy is not correlation”).
    • Quote:

      “Similarities don’t mean correlations. Just because there is an analogy ... doesn’t mean that they’re connected, just that they’re similar in that respect.”
      – Mike Horton [14:23]

5. The Question of Christianity’s Historic Growth ([15:20]–[15:47])

• Muraresku’s Suggestion:
  • Argues that Christianity’s emergence and spread may be best explained not by psychedelic rituals, but “visionary experiences”—again appealing to continuity with surrounding cults.
    • Quote:

      “The answer to that extraordinary growth is not psychedelics, but I do think it’s Visionary experiences. And I do think it’s this continuity from the pagan world into early Christianity.”
      – Brian Muraresku [15:20]

• Horton’s Response:
  • Refutes the “visionary continuity” thesis, arguing the New Testament evidence is for a movement marked by sobriety, restraint, and careful differentiation from both pagan mysticism and enthusiastic excess.
    • Quote:

      “Actually, the early Christians from the New Testament onward were very sober people. They actually warned people against the sin of unsobriety, to lose their wits, to be out of their wits ... Christians weren’t meeting to have Bacchanalia. They were meeting quite the contrary, to hear God’s word, to pray together, to gather together for the Lord’s Supper.”
      – Mike Horton [15:47]

  • Recognizes that Greco-Roman background is important, but Christian distinctives—rooted in Judaism and “deeply different” from pagan cult religion—must be central.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Pagan Cultic Practice:

  “There was LSD ... numerous bowls of poppy in caves where mystery religions emerged.... So there definitely was some help, let’s say a little magic in the room for some of these groups.”
  – Mike Horton [03:09]

• On Wine Symbolism:

  “The sacramental drinking of the wine was interpreted ... as consuming the God himself in order to become one, one with the God. This is where we get the idea of enthusiasm.”
  – Brian Muraresku [05:32]

• On Christian Worship Distinctives:

  “Christians wanted to be in control of themselves in public worship because they wanted to hear and understand the word of God.”
  – Mike Horton [06:54]

• On Argument from Analogy:

  “Similarities don’t mean correlations. Just because there is an analogy ... doesn’t mean that they’re connected.”
  – Mike Horton [14:23]

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |---|---| | 01:45 | Brian Muraresku outlines his thesis on psychedelics and ritual use | | 03:09 | Horton acknowledges ancient cultic substance use, refutes direct Christian link | | 05:32 | Muraresku: Parallels Dionysian and Christian rituals, "consuming the God" | | 06:45 | Horton: Christian warnings against pagan intoxication and ecstasy | | 10:22 | Discussion of Dionysian imagery in the Gospel of John; Muraresku cites Greek scholarship | | 11:04 | Horton: Wine’s Jewish roots and Old Testament imagery | | 14:23 | Horton: Similarities ≠ correlation between Christianity and Greek cults | | 15:20 | Muraresku: “Visionary experience” thesis | | 15:47 | Horton: Early Christianity’s distinct sobriety and worship practices |

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Summary

Michael Horton provides a thoughtful, critical, and well-sourced response to claims that early Christianity was exerted upon or shaped by psychedelic-infused rituals of Greek and Roman mystery cults. While acknowledging the syncretistic environment of the ancient Mediterranean—where Dionysian and similar mysteries flourished—Horton emphasizes the clear distinctions between Christian and pagan worship, as evidenced in both New Testament texts and early Christian practice. Horton’s tone is scholarly yet accessible, dismantling speculative analogies and reminding listeners that, although cultural context matters, Christian origins are most faithfully understood within their Jewish matrix, marked by sobriety, theological clarity, and an aversion to the very kinds of ecstatic intoxication associated with pagan cults.

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Transcript

[Solar Media Announcer]

The church is growing around the world and so is the need for deep rooted, faithful theology. That's why we launched Theology Together, a groundbreaking five volume series created in partnership with Zondervan. This series brings together leading Protestant and evangelical scholars from across the globe to explore timeless truths through diverse cultural lenses. The first volume, Prophet, Priest and King, Christology and Global Perspective, has just been released. Voices from Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, India, Egypt and beyond join in shared reflection on who Christ is. As Prophet, Priest and King, we believe this kind of work shapes the church for generations. If this resonates with you, would you consider giving to support our work? When you do, we'll send you a copy of this groundbreaking book as a thank you. Just visit solarmedia.orgtheology together to donate and receive your copy. That's solarmedia.orgtheology together.

[Mike Horton]

Hi, I'm Mike Horton, I teach theology and apologetics. And going to take a look at some of the comments that were made in a conversation between Lex Friedman and Brian Muirscu. And Brian Muirscu has written on the relationship between psychedelics and the origins of Christianity. So let's take a look at this book.

[Brian Muirscu]

Immortality.

[Solar Media Announcer]

What's the story that you tell in this book?

[Brian Muirscu]

Which part of human history are you Studying? It's my 12 year search for the hard scientific data for the ritual use of psychedelics in classical antiquity. So we're talking about amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans and the Paleo Christians, so the generations that would give birth to the largest religion the world's ever known. Christianity today was two and a half billion people. The big question for me is were psychedelics actually involved? There was a lot written about this in the 60s. Gian Marco Allegro. The book that I follow was published in 1978, before I was born. The Road to Eleusis by Gordon Walter, who we talked about already. Albert Hoffman, who famously discovers LSD or synthesizes it from Ergot. And Carl Ruck, who is still a professor of classics at Boston University, the only surviving member of that renegade Trio and now 85 years old. So this all predates us. The book is essentially my search for that data and the eventual uncovering of two what I think are key pieces of data. One data point shows the ritual use of a psychedelic beer in classical antiquity in Iberia, what today is Spain. And the other shows what looks like a kind of psychedelic wine just outside pompeii from the 1st century AD at the right place, at the right time, when the earliest Christians were showing up in Italy.

[Mike Horton]

Yep, this is something actually I studied for my first volume of Shaman and Sage. And there was quite a bit of this going on, in fact, in the Asclepius cult, which was a healing cult, Asclepius being the God of medicine and healing. They would go to spas, they'd have a spa day and boy, was it a fun spa day, sort of spa day in Haight Ashbury. They would have cocaine and it would fill the room with steam. There was lsd, there was. They have found numerous bowls of poppy in caves where mystery religions emerged and where people met for these mystery religions. So there definitely was some help, let's say a little magic in the room for some of these groups. But this connection with Christianity. Well, let's. Let's listen a little further.

[Brian Muirscu]

Speaking of early Christians, what role do you think psychedelic infused wine could have.

[Solar Media Announcer]

Played in the life of Jesus Christ?

[Brian Muirscu]

I've been saying recently that, and I hope this doesn't sound obscurantist, but I think it's impossible to understand Jesus and the birth of Christianity in the absence of ancient Greek. If you look at the literature from the first century ad, Dioscorides, for example, he writes this massive treatise at the exact same time the Gospels are being written. And Dioscorides, in just one of his Books talks about 56 detailed recipes for spiking wine with all kinds of things like salvia and hellebore and frankincense and myrrh, these spice perfumes, but also more dangerous things like henbane and mandrake, which. Which he says in Greek can be fatal with just one cupful. And in book 474 of his materia Medica, he talks about black nightshade producing fantasias u aedais, not unpleasant visions, what today we would say is psychedelics. And so if it's impossible to understand paleo Christianity in the absence of ancient Greek, I think it's equally difficult in the absence of the sacred pharmacopoeia or wine itself. Right. Just think about wine at the time. I think that the ancient Greek audience would have heard that in a very different way from us. And so they're referring to it maybe as a pharmakon, but the followers of Dionysus, which precedes Jesus, and in some cases the story of Jesus is kind of a recapitulation of the mysteries of Dionysus. But when you think about Dionysus, maybe from your high school mythology, you think about him as the God of theater or the God of wine, which is typically what it is, or the God of ecstasy, you know, again, Dionysus is not the God of alcohol. There's no concept of fermented grapes. The power of Dionysus and the ability to commune with Dionysus through his blood and before Christianity, the blood of Dionysus is equated to his wine. The sacramental drinking of the wine was interpreted, and classicists write about this, including Walter Burker, it was interpreted as consuming the God himself in order to become one, one with the God. This is where we get the idea of enthusiasm, because the language matters. Enthusiasm to be filled with the spirit of the God so that you became identified with Dionysus and acquired his divine powers.

[Mike Horton]

Okay, so Dionysus, first of all, he had his followers going around pricking each other with wands that had a pine cone and a needle at its tip. Not sure exactly what was on the needle, but it may have been a little ecstasy. That is possible. But look at the early Christians, first of all, all of the warnings against paganism, against magic. These practices were considered worthy of being excommunicated if you participated in them. Included in your baptism was a prayer of exorcism because it was assum that if you were a pagan, you were filled with demons, that you'd participated in these idol feasts. And so there definitely was an antipathy of Christians toward all of these Dionysian or other sects that we're talking about here. Furthermore, look at the way, for example, the Apostle Paul talks to Gentile Greek Christians in the early Church. Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. And what happens when you're filled with the spirit? Not ecstasy, love, joy, peace, long suffering, patience, self control. Christians wanted to be in control of themselves in public worship because they wanted to hear and understand the word of God. They wanted to experience God through his Word and through baptism in the Lord's Supper. These tangible means of grace. They weren't drinking their own goblet of wine. They were certainly not getting drunk. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians, one of the reasons why they have to suspend communion is because there were people getting drunk. So you just don't have any historical evidence to suggest that there is any link at all between the Dionysian cult or any Greco Roman cult and Christianity. And by the way, Dionysus was cut up. He came back to life in another incarnation. He was reincarnated three times. That's very different from Jesus. God becoming flesh, assuming our debt, paying our debt, and then rising bodily on the third day in the same body that he assumed at the incarnation.

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[Brian Muirscu]

Again, he's not the God of alcohol. He is the God of wine. But he's really the God of madness and delirium and frenzy. And his principal followers are women. They're called the maenads. And the way they get in touch with him is through the consumption of this sacramental wine. And in my book, I rely a lot on the scholarship of Dennis McDonald, who writes a fabulous book called the Dionysian Gospel. And this is again, why the Greek matter. Because once you start to analyze the Greek of John's Gospel, it seems to be a presentation of Jesus very much in the guise of Dionysus. The most obvious example is the wedding at Cana, right? That only occurs in John's Gospel, the famous transformation of water into wine.

[Mike Horton]

Now, first of all, John shapes all of his gospel around the festivals of the Jewish calendar. It's a thoroughly Jewish gospel. Rudolf Bultmann and the 1950s made this argument that the Gospel of John was influenced by Gnosticism. There isn't a respected New Testament scholar who holds that view today. In fact, the book that he was just referring to has been massacred in reviews by scholars, not even necessarily Christians. This is a view that really attracts people when they first hear it. It sounds plausible, but you have to ask, so far, what evidence has he given to actually make a connection? If you say, for example, today, isn't it interesting that there's so much drug use, there's so many people looking for psychedelics in American society in the 21st century, and it just so happens that there are many Christians in America, too. It's a non sequitur. It doesn't follow. The second point doesn't follow from the premise. And it's the same in the ancient world. If you want to talk about turning water into wine. If you guess that from Dionysus, Jewish culture was pretty fine about wine. And the imagery of I am the vine, you are the branches. This imagery of wine that gladdens the heart, as the psalmist says, goes back centuries in Israel's history. It is a sign of the new kingdom coming that it's full of gladness and hope. And so you find that very positive view of wine in the Old Testament as well, where there obviously was no influence of the Dionysian cult whatsoever.

[Brian Muirscu]

Now, again, to any Greek speaker of the first century, they would have known about the Greek district of Elis on the Peloponnese. And in Elis, around the epiphany, every January, the priests of Dionysus would deposit these water basins, empty basins in the temple of Dionysus. They'd return the next morning and find them magically filled with wine. Now, on the island of Andros, it's even more interesting. Around the same epiphany date, the God's gift day, dies Theodosia, the wine would emanate from the temple and run like a river for a week. And you can Google the Bacchanal of the Andrians, a wonderful painting by Titian, which hangs in the Prado, and you'll see a river of wine behind these people having a great time. This exists for centuries and centuries before the wedding at Cana and before Jesus begins his public ministry with what these scholars call the signature miracle of Dionysus. It would not have been lost on the Greek audience that something very specific is being communicated here. What's being communicated that you just might find in early Christianity what you hold strong to in these mysteries of Dionysus.

[Mike Horton]

You know, John's Gospel doesn't even include the institution of the Lord's Supper. It's the only gospel that doesn't mention Christ's institution of the Lord's Supper with wine and bread. This is my body, this is my blood. Our friend here just simply, he's obviously brilliant, but has gone down one of these rabbit holes that just is based on pure speculation. And sort of what it is is similarities. Similarities don't mean correlations. Just because there is an analogy that can be drawn to wine being used in Holy Communion and wine being used in Dionysian mysteries doesn't mean that they're connected, just that they're similar in that respect.

[Brian Muirscu]

There was a perfectly good religion, there were perfectly good mystery cults in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. And here comes this new untested, illegal cult of a dozen or so illiterate day laborers that go on to convert the empire in a few hundred years. The answer to that extraordinary growth is not psychedelics, but I do think it's Visionary experiences. And I do think it's this continuity from the pagan world into early Christianity.

[Mike Horton]

There again just is no evidence for anything that he's saying here. Actually, the early Christians from the New Testament onward were very sober people. They actually warned people against the sin of unsobriety, to lose their wits, to be out of their wits. The Apostle Paul was quite aware of people who were enthusiasts in the church in Corinth who were influenced by, by Greek mystery religions. Very harsh pastoral language he uses, upbraiding them for that. He said, I would rather speak one intelligible word that people can understand than speak with the tongues of angels. Christians weren't meeting to have Bacchanalia. They were meeting quite the contrary, to hear God's word, to pray together, to gather together for the Lord's Supper. And this was a very uncommon thing in the Roman world. Have to remember John was Jewish, his Gospel is Jewish. It bears all the marks of a Gospel that is speaking to the Jewish world, which was also influenced by the Greek world. To say you have to understand the background of the Greek world is absolutely correct to understand the New Testament. But you have to also recognize how different Christianity was in ancient Rome.

[Solar Media Announcer]

The Church is growing around the world and so is the need for deep rooted, faithful theology. That's why we launched Theology Together, a groundbreaking five volume series created in partnership with Zondervan. This series brings together leading Protestant and evangelical scholars from across the globe to explore timeless truths through diverse cultural lenses. The first volume, Prophet, Priest and Christology and Global Perspective, has just been released. Voices from Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, India, Egypt and beyond join in shared reflection on who Christ is as prophet, priest and king. We believe this kind of work shapes the church for generations. If this resonates with you, would you consider giving to support our work? When you do, we'll send you a copy of this groundbreaking book as a thank you. Just visit solarmedia.orgtheologytogether to donate and receive your copy. That's solarmedia.orgtheology together.