Nothing new about it!

So, I'm at the local font of theology, listening as the shaman proclaims that Jesus was the originator of all the stories and parables attributed to him by those who made up much of the Jesus narrative about a hundred years after his death. It amazed me that a man with (allegedly) a master's degree in a Social Science field could elide right over The Buddah, Confucius, Aesop, Socrates and Plato, Ashoka and Lao Tsu (to name just a few) most of whom told stories akin to most of the parables hundreds of years earlier.

In the case of the "Prodigal Son" fable, It is attributed to the Buddha around 500 years earlier, with a far more humanistic message. He (the poohbah in charge) mentioned that Jesus tried to "get people to think and was punished for it" as if that had never happened to anyone previously. I stopped myself from asking him later if he'd ever heard of Socrates or the Socratic method, which is precisely the way Jesus is alleged to have posed questions to his followers, or Socrates' death because of his willingness to ask difficult moral questions and question authority. As a semi-literate Galilean, Yeshua Bar Joseph probably was unaware of Socrates and his followers, or that most of the moral issues he posed had already been visited multiple times.

Ashoka's Rock Edicts, scattered throughout his Indian realm during the third century BCE, could also easily have been inspiration for many of those things modern Christians are sure Jesus innovated. 
Try this one for example:
"'When an unconquered country is conquered, people are killed... . That the beloved of the Gods finds very pitiful and grievous. ... If anyone does him wrong, it will be forgiven as far as it can be forgiven... . The beloved of the Gods considers that the greatest of all victories is the victory of righteousness."

Or this: "Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others with the thought "Let me glorify my own religion," only harms his own religion. Therefore contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others"

Or: "Every religion has the wholesome core of love, compassion and good will. The outer shell differs, but give importance to the inner essence and there will be no quarrel. Don't condemn anything, give importance to the essence of every religion and there will be real peace and harmony."

Or attributed to The Buddha (as well as the original Prodigal Son narrative): "He who gives away shall have real gain. He who subdues himself shall be free; he shall cease to be a slave of passions. The righteous man casts off evil, and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and illusion do we reach Nirvana."

Or Confucius: "To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness."

Or Socrates: "One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him."

 I also like this one, from Socrates, since it's the "canned" answer offered by clergy when prayers aren't answered "Our prayers should be only for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us."

Plato: "We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise."

Lao Tsu: "Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained."

And all these men arrived at these conclusions and philosophies hundreds of years BCE. Sounds to me like Yeshua bar Josef was a plagiarist!