A Book of the Beginnings by Gerald Massey
According to Massey, all evidence cries aloud its proclamation that Africa was the birthplace of the nonarticulate and Egypt the mouthpiece of articulate man. A Book of Beginnings, first published in 1881 in a limited edition, introduced the public to the author's extensive research that transcended conventional opinions of race supremacy.
The Natural Genesis. Gerald Massey.
The Second Part of A Book Of The Beginnings. "The work culminates in tracing the transformation of astronomical mythology into the system of Equinoctial Christology called Christianity, and demonstrating the non-historic nature of the canonical gospels by means of the original mythos in which the Messianic mystery, the Virgin motherhood, the incarnation and birth, the miraculous life and character, the crucifixion and resurrection, of the Saviour Son who was the Word of all Ages, were altogether allegorical.
During a dozen years the writer has put his whole life into his labour, fully facing the fact that the most important parts of his work would be the least readable, and that the more thorough the research, the more fundamental the interpretation, the more remote would be its recognition and the fewer its readers."
Ancient Egypt by Gerald Massey (2 vols)
Volume 1 - Egyptian Origins in the British Isles. Chapters on: the Comparative Vocabulary of English and Egyptian Words; Hieroglyphics in Britain; Egyptian Names of Personages; British Symbolical Customs and Egyptian Naming, etc.
Volume 2 - Egyptian Origins in the Hebrew, Akkado-Assyrian and Maori. Chapters on: Moses and Joshua; The Two Lion-Gods of Egypt; The Phenomenal Origin of Jehovah-Elohim; Comparative Vocabulary of Akkado-Assyrian and Egyptian Words, etc.
Gerald Massey's Lectures by Gerald Massey
The Historical (Jewish) Jesus and the Mythical (Egyptian) Christ; Paul as a Gnostic Opponent, not the Apostle of Historic Christianity; The Logia of the Lord; or the Pre-Christian Sayings ascribed to Jesus the Christ; Gnostic and Historic Christianity; The Hebrew and other Creations fundamentally explained; The Devil of Darkness; or Evil in the Light of Evolution; Lumiolatry; Ancient and Modern; Man in search of his Soul, during Fifty Thousand Years, and how he found it; The Seven Souls of Man, and their Culmination in the Christ; and The Coming Religion.
The Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gerald Massey
Massey was an Egyptologist who wrote a tremendous body of scholarly work. He concluded that much of Christianity and its belief structure was rooted in ancient Egyptian mythology. At first this sounds strange, but a large number of people have agreed, including some of the most respected scholars and researchers in the field of religious studies. If you want a different and compelling view of Christianity and its roots, this is the book to read.
The Book Of The Secrets Of Enoch. (1896). Translated from the Slavonic by W.R. Morfill, and Edited, with Introduction, Notes and Indices by R.H. Charles. "This book cannot fail to be of interest to students of Apocalyptic literature and of the origins of Christianity...
In certain respects also it will appeal to specialists in Assyriology... the book was much read in many circles in the first three centuries of the Church, and has left more traces of its influence than many a well-known book of the same literature and it is undoubtedly of much greater importance in respect of exegesis."
The Faiths Of Man. (1899 ?). J.G.R. Forlong.
This is the first reprint ever of this foundational work on spiritual evolution. This book is so scarce that copies sell fast at over one thousand dollars if you can find one. Contained herein is the catalyst of all human mystical, religious, and spiritual thought that eventually evolved into the mystery schools, such as Freemasonry, Theosophy and Rosicrucianism. Contents: Tree Worship; Serpent and Phallic Worship; Fire Worship; Sun Worship; Ancestor Worship; Early Faiths of Western Asia; Faiths of Western Aborigines in Europe and Adjacent Countries; Faiths of Eastern Aborigines, Non-Aryan, Aryan and Shemitik. No other source work describes in this magnificent detail our great spiritual heritage. Out-of-print for over 100 years, now you have the opportunity of embellishing your own library with this very rare and illuminating book.
Warning $125.00
The Religion Of Ancient Greece. (first published 1905).Jane Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is a book that breathes life. It is an exciting, deeply felt intellectual quest, with a broad view of the role of religion in life, ancient and modern. Harrison is not afraid to look for relevance in archaic cult, and doesn't flinch on finding it. From a study of Greek anthropomorphism, she can conclude, like a seeress looking beyond the early twentieth century: 'to be human is not necessarily to be humane.'
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Jane Harrison examines the festivals of ancient Greek religion to identify the primitive "substratum" of ritual and its persistence in the realm of classical religious observance and literature. In Harrison's preface to this remarkable book, she writes that J. G. Frazer's work had become part and parcel of her "mental furniture" and that of others studying primitive religion. Today, those who write on ancient myth or ritual are bound to say the same about Harrison. Her essential ideas, best developed and most clearly put in the Prolegomena, have never been eclipsed.
The Book Of Enoch, or, 1 Enoch. Translated from the Editor's Ethiopic Text and Edited with the Introduction, Notes and Indexes of the First Edition wholly recast, enlarged and rewritten. Together with a Reprint from the Editor's Text of the Greek Fragments, by R.H. Charles, D.Litt., D.D. (1912).
The Book of Enoch "from the fourth century of our era onward fell into discredit... it gradually passed out of circulation... till over a century ago when an Ethiopic version of the work was found in Abyssinia by Bruce... The Book of Enoch is for the history of theological development the most important pseudepigraph of the first two centuries B.C.
Some of its authors - and there were many - belonged to the true succession of the prophets, and it was simply owing to the evil character of the period, in which their lot was cast, that these enthusiasts and mystics, exhibiting on occasions the inspiration of the Old Testament prophets, were obliged to issue their works under the aegis of some ancient name... To describe in short compass the Book of Enoch is impossible. It comes from many writers and almost as many periods. It touches upon every subject that could have arisen in the ancient schools of the prophets, but naturally it deals with these subjects in an advanced stage of development.
Nearly every religious idea appears in a variety of forms, and, if these are studied in relation to their context and dates, we cannot fail to observe that in the age to which the Enoch literature belongs there is movement everywhere, and nowhere dogmatic fixity and finality."
Harris, in an essay he published called "Eucharistic Origins," attempted to determine the original form of the celebration He traced a few social influences that led to its institution, and compared those with customs in the mystery cults of the Roman Empire. His study begins with a discussion on sacraments in general, particularly as practiced in paganism and in the church. This is followed by a brief treatment on the history of the Eucharist and its relation to the agape meal. All of this set the stage for the main argument of his essay: that there were strikingly similar customs in the Egyptian cults involving Osiris. The controversial conclusions Harris draws have rendered his work very little circulation, for they identify the Last Supper in the gospels with the Mysteries of Osiris. His previous research on "Jesus and Osiris" in the Woodbrooke Essays provided a preliminary study for his conclusions. The present article is not intended for the conservative in thought, but is an interesting study on the quick acceptance of the Eucharist in Egypt.
The Didache was a foundational document that later became incorporated into a number of works. Some of these documents, such as the Church Orders, quote directly from the Didache; others, like the Epistle of Barnabas, draw from a common source or redact its text for a specific purpose. At times, the Didache and other works of similar apocalyptic setting borrow from language representing an early age of the church. Therefore, a more indirect literary relationship may be established. Like the Didache, the Sibylline Oracles set the tone for their genre. A Sibyl, in Greek legend, was depicted as an ecstatic woman uttering prophecies, often of woes and disasters about to befall mankind. Her oracles were recorded in Greek hexameters, and were a widely attested phenomenon. The most famous collection in antiquity was officially maintained at Rome, but Greco-Roman writers from all regions cited them. The Sibylline Oracles is a collection of prophetic utterances that address both Jewish and Christian themes and issues.
Source: Amazon.com
The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, Together With the Apocalypses of Each One of Them by J. Rendel Harris
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From a very early date, already widespread by the time of Paul, the term Eucharist was used for the Sunday celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ceremony involved the symbolic ingestion of bread and wine. The meal, accompanied by the giving of thanks in a solemn act, constituted a sacrament. Ignatius described its implementation in the opening years of the second century, and Justin Martyr outlined in detail the entire event in his first apology. The earliest record of the prayers offered and the elements employed is found in the Didache. Although the practice is certain, its origin is not. Several questions persist regarding the influence of the mystery cults, or certain practices in Judaism, on the Christian custom. Paul's epistles and the Book of Acts, for example, distinguish between the agape and Eucharistic meals. Such religious meals of various types were known in Greek and Roman religion; however, none have an exact parallel to th! e Christian practice. Any light shed on Eucharistic origins is welcomed in scholarship.
Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning
by Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was a well-regarded English poet and scholar. He studied at Brighton College and then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Carpenter was close friend to E. M. Forster and Laurence Houseman and was a member of The Fabian Society.
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This book provides a systematic and logical approach to the origins of religion. Many common themes are shown to exist between Christianity and earlier Pagan religions that go back in time centuries before Christianity itself. Carpenter makes an effort to get to the very roots of religion in this book. He's trying to uncover where our religious concepts first originated, and reveals an evolutionary sequence which starts with phallic and procreative cults as having the earliest known impact. Following this came a cult of magic, much along the lines of Frazier's The Golden Bough, where spirits and earth divinities were worshipped. Lastly, came the belief in actual God-figures that came down from heaven. A big part of early religion also concerns the consciousness of man, which Carpenter divides into three stages. Simple consciousness was when man's mind was instinctive and similar to that of the animal, followed by self consciousness which is generally found today. Lastly, and most importantly, Carpenter mentions a third type of consciousness found in many of the rites and beliefs of ancient religions, but which we seem to have lost today. He considers this form of consciousness "unnamed," but provides an Appendix on the doctrines of the Upanishads which, he says, at least gives us an idea concerning this third stage of consciousness and the mental attitude required. Only here, in this higher stage that we've been striving for, are the real facts of the inner life found
The Origin And Evolution Of Religion. (1927). Albert Churchward.
"I dedicate this work to all humanity who wish to learn and know the truth." Recognized as one of the greatest books on religious origins ever written, a true classic from 1924. From the dawn of religious ideas up through every major cult and religion that developed thereafter. Tremendous research. Please specify Churchward, as we have another book available (also quite good) with the same title. 422 pages 8 1/2 x 11 comb binding.