Ok so I shall add bit and piece to my comments on M&M:

Lale had previously mentioned:
Last night as I was reading M&M, I was very surprised to see that the existence of Jesus was in debate.

I had come across an article on Bulgakov that discusses the historical sources on Christianity referenced in Bulgakov's notebooks for M&M. We find the usual suspects, Renan & Farrar- but also Arthur Drew's The Christ Myth- the theme of which is simple: Jesus was a mythical character who never existed - and the materials that make up the gospels are simply an amalgamation of various pre "Christian" religions. (Which still begs the distinction between Truth and fact- many lanterns but one light).

The article is rather illuminating - especially in suggesting that in order to understand Woland's character- one cannot rely solely on Christian ideas about Good and Evil, God and Satan. Instead, Bulgakov used characteristics from various pre-christian religions (relying on Drews) to compose his character.

To give a brief but illuminating example:
""Mithras was the suffering Redeemer and mediator between God and the world, while Saoshyant, on the other hand, was the judge of the world who would appear at the end of all time and obtain the victory over Ariman"-the name, significantly, of one of the Master's literary persecutors in the novel"


The article if anyone is interested:

'The Mythic Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita and Arthur Drews's The Christ Myth appeared in Slavic and Eastern European Journal, 1999, Vol. 43, No. 2 pp. 347-360