Freke and Gandy suggest that, at some point, groups of Christians who had only experienced the Outer Mysteries was an exoteric push under Constantine in the 3rd Century, to align and organize the Roman state religion.

Where those who opposed, along with the extensive mass destruction of supporting text, were silenced, with all trace of opposition to the Roman designated state religion destroyed.

Chris Forbes, an ancient historian and senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney has criticised the work, noting that Freke and Gandy are "not real scholars, they are popularisers."

"[4] Paul Barnett, a bishop and New Testament scholar who has authored several books on the historical Jesus, argues that a good proportion of the citations are out of date.

"They hate the idea that the incarnation of the Son of God and his resurrection could have been a matter of actual flesh and blood and time and place.

"[5] New Testament scholar and secular agnostic Bart D. Ehrman, in a 2007 interview with the Fortean Times, was similarly asked for his views on the work of Freke and Gandy.

[8] Author and activist Richard Carrier has stated that The Jesus Mysteries "will disease" a reader's "mind with rampant unsourced falsehoods and completely miseducate".