Pagan Christs

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 176 pages
• Published by: Barnes Noble January 1996
• ISBN 10 Number: 0880291419
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0880291415
• Book Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Description
"My purpose in grouping the four ensuing studies is to complement and complete the undertaking of a previous volume, entitled Christianity and Mythology. That was substantially a mythological analysis of the Christian system, introduced by a discussion of mythological principles in that particular connection and in general. The bulk of the present volume is substantially a synthesis of Christian origins, introduced by a discussion of the principles of hierology. Such discussion is still forced on sociology by the special pleaders of the prevailing religion. But the central matter of the book is its attempt to trace and synthesise the real lines of growth of the Christian cultus." --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Pagan Christs (Hardcover) This book, while very thorough, is not terribly useful. The problem is that the book uses some seriously specious logic, along the lines of the argument that if something could be fake, than it is. Strangely enough, Appolonius is the only messiah-like character who is considered authentic by the author. However, there are more greivous problems even than this. For example, the author assumes that many of the teachings of Middle Eastern prophets and messiahs came from India originally. I don't personally know that he is wrong, but I am fairly sure that most people in the Middle East had little or no contact with people from India, especially since there existed, many years later, stories of men who existed solely on steam, people with beaks, etc. The view of the author that Buddha was a messiah as well was interesting, but wrong. Buddha never claimed to be a messiah, he merely claimed that he had become enlightened. As far as I know, he never even claimed that his teachings were original. Buddhism is more centered on enlightenment, rather than on discovering the life of Buddha. The author spends a significant amount of time tracing back the ideas of New World religions to Asian origins. However, his method (including calling a shared zodiac of four of twelve symbols "remarkable") was a bit disheartening. Don't get me wrong, though. There are points in this book's favor. It is very informative, and it has quite a bit of anthropological data about God-making and myth-derivation. However, the book is still incredibly dense. It is only 170 pages, about what I read in an average sitting, and it took me several days to finish it. I would definately recommend this to people searching for a discourse on alternate, mainly Pagan, prophets and religious leaders, but I don't know that I would recommend it to anyone past that.