Unfortunately, Barney's "thesis" is historical HOGWASH.
His claim that "Easter got it's first official start on 325AD which was long after Jesus resurrection" is nonsense.
Time for a History Lesson . . .
First off - all we need to do to refute this fairy tale is to point to the 2nd century Pope, Victor I in his ruling on the Quartodecimen Controversy.
The Quartodecimens were Early Christians who celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan (the same day as that on which the Jews celebrated their Passover), without regard to the day of the week. This group claimed to have gotten their tradition from the Apostles John and Philip.
To make a long story short – it was decided the Easter was to be commemorated on Sunday.
This had absolutely NOTHING to do with Constantine or pagan goddesses – and it happened in the 2nd century – NOT the 4th.
The idea that Easter was named after a pagan goddess named "Ishtar" or some other goddess named "Oestra", "Eoster", etc. is nonsense for serious linguistic students who understand that English is a relatively NEW language on the world stage.
Some sources point to the idea that Ostern/Easter is most likely derived from "erstehen", which is the old Teutonic form of "auferstehen/auferstehung" meaning "resurrection".
According to one scholarly linguistic source -
"More recent studies seem to indicate that Easter may be derived from the Latin phrase "hebdomada alba", the old term for Easter week based upon the wearing of white robes by the newly baptized. The octave of Easter, the following week, was known as "post albas", the time when the white robes were put away....Easter may thus mean "white" and be named from early Christian baptismal practices."
("Easter", The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1986) 287)
Don't forget - in all of the Latin and Middle Eastern languages - the word sounds NOTHING like "Easter",
So, IF Easter is derived from Eostra/Ostara, that would only prove a pagan influence on Christians who spoke Germanic tongues. NOT all Christians call the Feast of the Resurrection "Easter". Byzantine Christians use the Greek term "Pascha", a transliteration of the Hebrew word "Pesach", or Passover. "Pascha" is also the name of this feast in Latin, the official language of the Roman Rite. The Romance languages reflect this usage; the Italian word "Pasqua", the French "Paques" and the Spanish "Pascua" each derive from "Pascha", and ultimately from "Pesach".
So, it's absurd to assume that "Easter" comes from "Ishtar" or "Eostra" or "Ostara" - or ANY other such nonsense.
