Product Description

• Clearly written and easily understandable by the lay reader.
• Thoroughly researched: author's points are backed by references in the writings of acknowledged scholars.
• Special features of the book: lavishly illustrated with multiple images in each illustration that show at a glance the mythic themes paralleling the bible.

This book demonstrates that the stories and themes of the Bible were part of the great mythic systems of the ancient world by u sing comparative mythology, tell tale verses in the Bible and archaeology. The abstract God of modern monotheistic Judaism, Christianity and Islam is a comparatively recent creation. In later times the myth of a messianic deliverer was combined with that of the pagan god-man who suffered a horrible, excruciating death but was physically resurrected to produce the Christ myth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #715245 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 468 pages

About the Author
Tim Callahan has written numerous articles on religion and mythic themes in popular belief, as well as book reviews, for Skeptic Magazine.

He has also had articles published in the Humanist. For many years he has studied the myths of the Mesopotmians, Egyptians, Canaanites and Greeks as well as those of the Celtic, Teutonic and Slavic peoples.

Customer Reviews

Great introduction to rational Biblical research.
This book is an excellent layman's introduction to the "documentary hypothesis" and an excellent starting point for someone interested in a truly analytical analysis of scripture based on it's historical context. The author presents the scholarly debates and questions regarding the history of the Bible in enough detail to understand the arguments and yet maintain a level that is accessible to the layman. He also provides an extensive bibliography that provides an interested reader with ample opportunity to verify the material for themselves. Tim Callahan himself states in this book that this material is well known among scholarly circles and has been debated endlessly and refuted, without success outside their own clique, by apologists. This book is simply presenting core scholarly arguments that have been hidden behind, what the general public sees, as an incoherent and hopelessly daunting mountain of verbose and conflicting and outrageous interpretations of scripture made by apologists and mystics. This is the book the fundamentalists don't want people to see. It is a book that presents the scholarly criticisms, which fundamentalists have fought vainly against for decades, in a format that people can understand. Now people can read this book and use it's bibliographical references to pursue biblical research for themselves and not rely on the fundamentalists' arguments from authority.

Now just a few personal words about some of the criticisms I have seen posted.

Beware of the arguments of Christian fundamentalists and apologists. These people will argue that any evolutionary biologist with a strong background in evolutionary theory has been brainwashed by being too educated in his academic field to provide an unbiased interpretation of evidence, however, they don't seem to feel that a strong religious background taints scriptural interpretation at all. They feel it is necessary to understand the evidence. The same people that are criticizing Tim Callahan as "unqualified" to present an opinion on scripture because he does not present a dozen degrees from theological seminaries and a long background as a "Christian" scholar will argue endlessly against evolutionary theory without so much as a single respectable class in evolutionary theory. We usually refer to these people as hypocrites.

Additionally Tim Callahan is quite correct when he attributes the roots of Christianity to the same roots as modern Islam and Judaism. Christians need to understand that radical Islamic fundamentalists are no different from radical Christian fundamentalists. In spite of the peaceful messages espoused by their mainstream followers religious, social and political extremists can be capable of acts of unspeakable violence and hatred like 9-11, medieval witch and heretic burnings, the KKK, the Holocaust and a million other examples throughout history. The author is not blaming Christianity for 9-11 but is, quite accurately, showing how any form of religious fundamentalism or extremism can lead to this form of horrific behavior.

While the majority of Americans are Christians America was never a "Christian country', our constitution is not based on the 10 commandments and our founding father's were not, as a group, more religious than any other randomly selected group of Americans today. Our founding fathers were very careful to keep references to specific faiths or doctrine out of our governments founding documents. Our country was founded during a rebirth of rational thought and humanism and our, sometimes imperfect, adherence to those ideals is why our country is the land of freedom it is today. I defy any Christian fundamentalist to find anything in the 10 commandments that espouse freedom of religion, freedom of speech, right to bear arms, right to trial by jury, and right of The People to freely elect their leaders. The point Tim Callahan is trying to make is that fundamentalist Christians are just as dangerous to the freedoms America holds dear as fundamentalist Muslims.

Tim Callahan's book is a rational and entirely American way to look critically at any material that proclaims divine authority. It is a great introduction to the rational and scholarly side of research into the origins of the Bible. It is not complete by any means but it is a very good place to start.

Satisfying delve into mythological origins.
This is a wonderful book, and packed with research about the mythological origins of the bible. A great read for those who don't want to blindly accept the bible as some mystical holy writ, but as a conglomeration of many different mythological themes that
were floating about and/or were created directly by the first city-state of civilization in fertile mesopotamia. All religion can be traced to this wonderous valley of the crescent. Callahan does his work thoroughly in tracing bible origins old and new. His writing is easy to follow and interesting throughout, never too 'scholarly'. Quite enjoyable and not cynical or 'bible-bashing', this book respectfully satisfies any curious mind. It also confirms how detrimentally arrogant the folly and laziness of fundamentalist literalism is.

Reason & knowledge are more important than faith & ignorance
Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it even when you smack them over the head with the truth. It takes a special kind of fool to believe that the particular 66 (or 73 for the Catholics) books of the Bible just appeared inspired and in their final form to lead mankind for all ages. Like any ancient work, they have origins and it's refreshing to see someone look at the Bible as what it is: an organic outgrowth of even older religious ideas as well as multiple revisions to eliminate contradictions or censor unpopular notions (about 75% of the original books have been purged altogether and there isn't a single extant book in the modern Bible that has survived unaltered from its earliest forms).

Unless you simply enjoy having your comfortable beliefs unchallenged, this book is a great read. Further, this is the sort of factual information needed to combat the often overwhelming ignorance in the world.