Author : Charles Kovacs
Publisher :
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 30,43 MB
Release : 2018-01-15
Category : Christianity and other religions
ISBN : 9781782504474
Brings insight and fascinating background to one of Steiner's key works on the development of Christianity.
Author : Marvin W. Meyer
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 46,21 MB
Release : 1999-05-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780812216929
Zeus and the other gods of shining Olympus were in reality divine only by popular consent. Over the course of time Olympian luster diminished in favor of religious experiences more immediate to the concerns of people living in an increasingly cosmopolitan ancient world. These experiences were provided by the mysteries, religions that flourished particularly during the Hellenistic period and were secretly practiced by groups of adherents who decided, through personal choice, to be initiated into the profound realities of one deity or another. Unlike the official state religions, in which people were expected to make an outward show of allegiance to the local gods, the mysteries emphasized an inwardness and privacy of worship within a closed band of initiates. In this book, Marvin W. Meyer explores the sacrifices and prayers, the public celebrations and secret ceremonies, the theatrical performances and literary works, the gods and goddesses that were a part of the mystery religions of Greece in the seventh century B.C. to the Judaism and Christianity of the Roman world of the seventh century A.D.
Author : Mike Aquilina
Publisher : Our Sunday Visitor
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 43,85 MB
Release : 2008-08-04
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1592767745
Imagine the dangerous life of an early Christian. You've embraced your newfound faith in Christ but fear the risk of persecution or death at the hands of the pagans living around you. Then a trusted friend tells you about some of Jesus' followers who secretly meet. He whispers into your ear, "Look for a fish carved in a paving stone" by a certain home on the Via Tiburtina. You smile in gratitude. Still today, modern society recognizes those Christian symbols that kept the early Christians safely connected: they appear on churches, bumper stickers, mugs -- even mints and stuffed animals. Yet we are often ignorant of the rich meaning of these symbols: their origins in Scripture, in ancient culture, and in the preaching of the Church Fathers. In this book, noted author Mike Aquilina conducts an intriguing and insightful tour of the symbols that expressed the life and devotion of the Church through the first four centuries of its existence. He explains how Christians freely borrowed pagan and Jewish symbols, giving them new, distinctly Christian meanings. Recover the zeal of our spiritual ancestors as you learn to read their symbolic language -- and discover the impact the symbols still have on your life today. More than a hundred illustrations, reproduced by artist Lea Marie Ravotti from the ancient originals, beautifully complement the text. View a mulitmedia presentation and listen to an interview of the author here.
Author : Richard Reitzenstein
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 584 pages
File Size : 41,44 MB
Release : 1978-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0915138204
Author : Walter Burkert
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 12,22 MB
Release : 1989-10-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0674253159
The foremost historian of Greek religion provides the first comprehensive, comparative study of a little-known aspect of ancient religious beliefs and practices. Secret mystery cults flourished within the larger culture of the public religion of Greece and Rome for roughly a thousand years. This book is neither a history nor a survey but a comparative phenomenology, concentrating on five major cults. In defining the mysteries and describing their rituals, membership, organization, and dissemination, Walter Burkert displays the remarkable erudition we have come to expect of him; he also shows great sensitivity and sympathy in interpreting the experiences and motivations of the devotees.
Author : Smith, Morton
Publisher : Hampton Roads Publishing
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 26,57 MB
Release : 2014-08-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 157174715X
"A twentieth-century classic, uncannily smart, incredibly learned."--from the foreword by Bart Ehrman This book challenges traditional Christian teaching about Jesus. While his followers may have seen him as a man from heaven, preaching the good news and working miracles, Smith asserts that the truth about Jesus is more interesting and rather unsettling. The real Jesus, only barely glimpsed because of a campaign of disinformation, obfuscation, and censorship by religious authorities, was not Jesus the Son of God. In actuality he was Jesus the Magician. Smith marshals all the available evidence including, but not limited to, the Gospels. He succeeds in describing just what was said of Jesus by "outsiders," those who did not believe him. He deals in fascinating detail with the inevitable questions. What was the nature of magic? What did people at that time mean by the term "magician"? Who were the other magicians, and how did their magic compare with Jesus' works? What facts led to the general assumption that Jesus practiced magic? And, most important, was that assumption correct? The ramifications of Jesus the Magician give new meaning to the word controversial. This book recovers a vision of Jesus that two thousand years of suppression and polemic could not erase. And--what may be the central point of the debate--Jesus the Magician strips away the myths and legends that have obscured Jesus, the man who lived.
Author : Tricia McCannon
Publisher : Hampton Roads Publishing
Page : 699 pages
File Size : 16,1 MB
Release : 2010-03-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1612831052
“[A] tour de force through an incredible array of myth, history and philosophy . . . that have shaped the teachings of the world’s Great Masters.” —Jim Marrs, author of the New York Times bestseller, Rule by Secrecy A breathtaking work of staggering research and synthesis that provides startling new information and context to the first thirty years of Jesus’ life Where was Jesus for the first thirty years of his life? Where and what was he taught? Who were his teachers? Based on new information culled from hard to find Vatican texts, theosophical classics, ancient texts, legends, and systems of hermetic symbolism, Tricia McCannon constructs a radical new timeline of Jesus’ life. She assert Jesus spent at least seven years of study and training in Egypt, a number of years in England, and visited both India and Tibet before beginning his public ministry in Palestine. This is a wide-ranging examination of the direct links and similarities between Jesus’ teachings and those of various Mystery religions and sects that were popular during his lifetime, including the Essenes, Buddhist, Mithrans, Zoroastrians, and Druids. McCannon offers compelling evidence that places Jesus’s life and mission firmly in the context of the profound spiritual teachings that came before him. Drawing on records from the Vatican, Tibet, India, and Egypt, along with Greek, Aramaic, and Pali text, as well as oral traditions of Jesus’s teachings, McCannon uncovers the real reason that he has remained such a powerful and pivotal figure in world consciousness for over two millennia. “Thoroughly researched, interesting, and highly readable. . . . Tricia McCannon has done modern readers a great service by compiling this very readable book about Jesus’s life and teachings.” —Chet B. Snow, Ph.D., author of Mass Dreams of the Future
Author : Jan N. Bremmer
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 33,71 MB
Release : 2014-07-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3110376997
The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book. It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity. Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
Author : Rudolf Steiner
Publisher : Rudolf Steiner Press
Page : 122 pages
File Size : 31,95 MB
Release : 2021-10-14
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1855845911
In a concise study, Rudolf Steiner presents an inspirational sketch of the evolution of the Mysteries – from ancient Persia through Egypt and Greece, to the Christian era and the present day. He traces the line of initiates from Egyptian divinities Isis and Osiris to Moses, King Arthur’s Round Table and the Holy Grail in the twelfth century. Steiner focuses on the process of initiation as a historical topic: how initiation worked in ancient Egypt and in the late Middle Ages. But his presentation is also inspirational, leading to the question: How can we advance to initiation now? He underscores the potential for achieving enlightenment today without a teacher in the flesh, and explains the four stages of the process towards initiation. He also highlights the need for strenuous efforts to overcome the subtle power of evil – in the form of Lucifer and Ahriman – through selfless work. The four lectures collected here form an important landmark in Rudolf Steiner’s biography: the first being delivered on 3 February 1913 – the very day that the Anthroposophical Society was founded. First published in English under the title The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity and unavailable for many years, this edition has been re-edited by Professor Frederick Amrine and features appendices, an index as well as an introduction by Robert McDermott.
Author : Rudolf Steiner
Publisher : SteinerBooks
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 25,79 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780880104197
In this major collection, Rudolf Steiner affirms the reality of esoteric Christianity and unveils many of its secret teachings. His lectures are on the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha and of the Blood that flowed on the Cross; the relationship of Christ and Lucifer (or Love and Knowledge); the various paths of initiation, including the Christian-Gnostic and Rosicrucian Paths; and Steiner's early interpretations of St. John's gospel and the sermon on the mount. All of Steiner's lectures on the Lord's Prayer are also included, as well as the version of the prayer that Steiner himself prayed throughout his life. This is an excellent book for all those who want to deepen their understanding of the Western stream of Christian esotericism and Rudolf Steiner's approach to Christianity as a spiritual practice.
